TweetThe Montreal Canadiens announced Thursday that goaltender Jose Theodore tested positive for a substance on the WADA banned substance list.
Head Team Physician, Dr. David Mulder, discussed details of the test.
Theodore tested positive for the hair restoration drug, ********, which is not an anabolic steroid but does act as a masking agent. Mulder stated that Theodore has been using the product for "eight to nine years."
"He's been taking it on the advice of a dermatologist," Mulder told the assembled media. "And he has had very good success and he feels it has helped hair growth and prevented further loss and he has taken it with my knowledge."
Mulder went on to say that ********, on its own, does not have any performance-enhancing attributes; it simply grows hair. According to Mulder, ******** will stay in one's system for more than 30 days.
"Jose was unaware, until recently, that ******** was a banned substance," said Mulder.
''I always like my hair real long and I like to keep it long as long as possible,'' said Theodore, who served as backup in a 3-2 win over Buffalo Thursday as Cristobal Huet made his fifth consecutive start.
''I don't feel I have anything to hide,'' Theodore said. ''It's not something that I got on the black market. It was a prescription from the doctor for eight years, so I don't feel uncomfortable by anything.''
This type of issue is front and centre at the Olympics in Turin today.
U.S. skeleton racer Zach Lund of Salt Lake City, a potential gold medal favorite, was in an arbitration hearing today to determine his Olympic eligibility because of a failed test that turned up the same "masking agent" that is associated with hair loss products. Lund said the positive test was because he was taking the product for hair loss. A ruling on his eligibility for the Olympics is expected by the end of the week.
On Wednesday, Monaco bobsledder Sebastien Gattuso was suspended over a positive test for a hair-restoration drug banned because of its steroid-masking properties.
Monaco's anti-doping committee suspended Sebastien Gattuso for six months after he tested positive in October for finasteride.