“I would go five, six, seven, eight levels below the streets of New York and party with freaks, transvestites, strippers and all kinds of shady people,” he writes in the book.

In his book, however, Fleury lifts the lid on the entire harrowing tale, beginning when the Manitoba coach recruited him at 13 from his minor hockey team in Russell, Man., to play junior in Winnipeg. "Graham was on me once or twice a week for the next two years," Fleury writes of the assaults, whose memories remain vivid to him. "An absolute nightmare, every day of my life." James required him to sleep two nights a week at the coach’s house, rather than with the woman with whom he’d been billetted. He tried to fight off the coach at first, wrapping himself in blankets each night and pretending to sleep as James attempted to masturbate him and give him oral sex. But the fear of James’s advances left him sleepless, and exhaustion broke him down, he writes; so too did James's frequent warnings that, without his coach’s support, he stood little chance of playing professional hockey.

Fleury, now 41, says he was particularly vulnerable to James's psychological manipulation because had little in the way of a family support system: his father was an alcoholic and his mother was addled by prescription sedatives. James easily convinced them he was the best thing to ever happen to their son, Fleury adds, just as he had done with Kennedy’s single mother. "I had rarely seen them like this—happy," he says. "Their boy had made it. My dad was no longer a worthless drunk and my mom drugged out and helpless."

Men who abuse boys follow predictable patterns, often seeking out employment or activity that allows them access to the type of child they finds sexually appealing. In some cases the abuser also wins the confidence of the parents. The abuser targets vulnerable boys by offering friendship, attention, financial incentives, or forbidden activities. He gives the boys the very things that responsible adults deny them and in the case of the vulnerable boys fulfills the unmet needs for adult affirmation. He may first seduce the boy into a forbidden non-sexual activity, such as alcohol or drugs, then introduce the sexual element to their relationship, sometimes telling the boy that he wants to teach him about sex or that all friends engage in these behaviors. Once the activity has begun if the boy appears reticent, the abuser threatens him with exposure and or violence.

Coverage in Macleans: Theo Fleury was abused: "An absolute nightmare, every day of my life"

Hopefully this will be therapeutic for Fleury, and maybe it will give courage to young men who are in similar situations of abuse--that they can, and should, speak out about the abuse. Keeping it inside will haunt you forever. It's maddening, too, because people might think that because this is about a man abusing a young man that this somehow has something to do with being gay. Molesters are molesters, whether they abuse men, women, boys, girls. It has nothing to do with healthy adult sexuality (gay or straight).

Listening to Fleury's story, one can't help but think of Mike Danton. So many boys and young men are in a tight relationship with their coach: it could be great, but it could also be terrible. One just wishes that leagues had more rules and checks to make sure that inappropriate behavior is not going on. Like the Catholic church we hear so often about rumours and innuendo and coaches moving about to avoid being exposed. It's really a shame.

What I'm wondering though is whether hockey, being the only one of the four major sports in which every single player legitimately enters the field of play carrying a potentially deadly weapon, has a particularly inviting atmosphere for the violence-prone athlete. And, for men at least, violence and sex often share a psychologically intimate relationship. This Information Page from a University of Winnepeg study does not single out hockey but was presented at the "June 1999 Professional Skaters Association conference" suggesting a heightened awareness of the problem in the skate sports if not an elevated level of incidence.

And from this article posted in September 1999 on SEXUAL CHILD ABUSE AND HOMOSEXUAL MEN comes this interesting observation:I assume this predates the revelation of this incident with Fleury. Does this seem to be what happened to him?

I'm wondering if we will see stories like this coming from the tennis schools where kids are away from their parents much like the hockey system. It seems like parents would be better off assuming someone is a predator -- sad world.

After reading Kennedy's book, I got a real sense that the healing for abuse victims never really happens . . .

Interesting story about being abused while a teenage hockey player by his coach.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hock...article1318749/

It certainly explains a lot about his substance abuse over the years. Hope he has his life together now. And if there's such as thing as hell, there's a special place there for Graham James.

Of the five hockey participants here — Stock, Theo Fleury, Russ Courtnall, Kelly Chase and Valeri Bure — Fleury seems most comfortable at this early stage in the competition. (Patrice Brisebois, Todd Warriner and Georges Laraque would sign on later and round out the NHL contingent.) Fleury has been practising for three weeks.

He ran into Jamie Salé at a fundraiser earlier in the year and she suggested he come on the show. He contacted the CBC and since then he’s earned the ringer spot: He's already trying more advanced tricks. He admits that his first time on the new skates he, too, took some falls.

Many players cite the challenge of trying something new as their reason for being on the series, but Fleury, who has battled addiction and personal demons, sees it as a different kind of opportunity.

“This fits perfectly into my life now. You know, it’s kind of a way of letting people know, I feel great, my life is back in order,” he says. “I always have a smile on my face, it’s just an opportunity for all those people who supported me throughout the years, to maybe say thank you and say, ‘I’m back, and here I am.’ ”

Former junior hockey coach and convicted sex offender Graham James has pleaded guilty to sexual assaults involving two of his former players, including NHL star Theo Fleury.

The move marks another chapter in what has become one of Canadian hockey's darkest stories.

James entered the plea in a Winnipeg courtroom Wednesday via video link from Montreal.

The disgraced coach was originally facing nine charges of sexual assault involving three players spanning 1979 to 1994, but only pleaded guilty to charges involving two. The names of the two other players are protected under a court-ordered publication ban.

The 59-year-old James, who has been out on bail for almost a year and living in Montreal, will appear in Winnipeg in February to be sentenced.

He has already served a 3 ½-year prison sentence for abusing other former players he coached, including former NHL player Sheldon Kennedy.

The most recent charges came after Fleury published an autobiography in which he described the abuse he suffered.

In the book "Playing With Fire" the former Calgary Flames star told of how James recruited him at 13 to play in Winnipeg and then in Moose Jaw. He said James would visit and abuse him on the road — fondling him or performing oral sex. James obtained Fleury's silence by threatening the youngster's dream of one day playing in the NHL.

Fleury detailed how James took him and Kennedy to Disneyland, where he said James would take turns molesting them in motel rooms. James pleaded guilty to the charges involving Kennedy in 1997, but Fleury stayed silent until 2009.