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Wednesday, October 20, 1999
Chiasson lives on
Teammates slowly coming to grips with death of Carolina defenceman
Three-year-old Stephanie, Steve and Susan's youngest, spied an enlarged picture of her father in his Carolina Hurricanes uniform in the sanctuary.
"Mom, where's my dad?" she asked, her words cutting through the silence and melting hearts.
Six months later, Chiasson's teammates understandably still are having difficulty with that question.
"We all miss Steve," Glen Wesley, Chiasson's defence partner, told a reporter the other day in Vancouver. "There's a reminder of him every time we put on the helmet. Our thoughts and our prayers are with Susan and the kids every day."
Chiasson -- husband, father, friend and teammate -- was one of several members of the Hurricanes who stopped at Gary Roberts' home in the early morning hours of May 3, following Carolina's elimination from the Stanley Cup playoffs.
When it was time to go home, Chiasson, whose blood-alcohol level was later determined to be .27 -- more than three times the level at which a driver is considered to be legally drunk -- wouldn't wait for a safe ride home. He slipped away from his friends and before they knew it, he had hopped behind the wheel of his pickup truck and disappeared down the two-lane highway toward his wife and kids.
A few moments later, he died when the truck missed a curve and rolled at 75 miles per hour.
Sue and her children have moved back to her home town of Peterborough to be with family and friends, soldiering on with strength and courage that has impressed everyone who knows her. The boys, Michael, 8, and Ryan, 6, are both enrolled in minor hockey.
Because Steve was an avid outdoorsman who loved nature, Sue has established a foundation to develop the "Steve Chiasson Memorial Pond" to raise awareness of environmental issues. She is the foundation's chief fund-raiser.
For the team itself, rebounding from such a tragedy is no easy feat. Later this year, when the Calgary Flames come to town, the Hurricanes are planning a Steve Chiasson Family Night. They've written a two-page tribute to Chiasson in the club's 1999-00 media guide.
This summer, more than 60 teammates, NHL opponents and minor-leaguers showed up in Peterborough for a charity ball-hockey tournament and golf event that Chiasson used to organize. Now the event is named in his honour, with the proceeds going to the foundation.
The wound is slow to heal and, in truth, will leave an abiding scar. Chiasson was a salt-of-the-earth type of player, admired and respected by one and all as a strong silent rock of stability. When he spoke, people listened. He led by example.
Indeed, last spring in the series against Boston, Chiasson played more minutes than any of his teammates in each of the six games. This despite spending three months recovering from what everyone believed was season-ending shoulder surgery.
For coach Paul Maurice, it's not easy to gauge exactly what stage the healing process has reached.
"It's a difficult question," Maurice said yesterday. "It was important for us all to be together at the memorial service and to hear Sue speak. She put a lot of peoples' minds at ease."
For the players themselves, in the early days of this first season without him, the pain is fresh.
There is no shrine in the Hurricane dressing room. His locker has been reassigned but his aura is never far away. His No. 3 is worn on every team member's helmet as a reminder, as if they really require reminding.
"Three of us were having dinner at a restaurant the other night," Martin Gelinas told the Vancouver Province. "We got talking about Steve. We always do.
"We've all been out and had a few drinks. We have to learn from this. There's a message."
The way Chiasson died, intoxicated at the wheel of a vehicle hurtling down a public highway, adds to the disturbing, confusing mix of emotions that his teammates and family had to overcome.
"We've moved now to a stage where we cherish our memories of Steve," Maurice said. "Every once in a while, there is a flash, a moment where you have to remind yourself he's gone. But the memories of him are positive ones."
So, that's where Steve Chiasson is: In the hearts of all who knew him.
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