THE PUCK IS ALWAYS ROUND –
Feb. 28, 2025 – It all began with a bad decision at a Manhattan bar in 1993.
Fresh off back-to-back Stanley Cup championships and a first-team all-star nomination, Pittsburgh Penguins power forward Kevin Stevens was on top of the world. At 6-foot-3, 230 pounds, nothing had ever stood between him and success — until he was offered narcotics. Stevens wrestled with the decision in his mind for a moment before deciding to accept the white powder offered to him. He didn’t really know what it was or what it could do, but he’d soon find out.
“I was 28, I never did a drug in my life,” Stevens told the Deseret News earlier this year. “I didn’t even know what drugs were. Never really knew anything about it, but I had that gene … I’d never done any drugs, so I’d never activated it.”
It wasn’t long before Stevens was hooked on cocaine, though it wasn’t yet at the stage of a full-fledged addiction. He’d use occasionally, but not to the point where it ruined his life.
Not yet, at least.
