Canadian Press

1/12/2005

STONY PLAIN, Alta. (CP) - Suspended NHL star Theo Fleury says politics is keeping him from helping an Alberta senior hockey team in its quest for the Allan Cup.

Fleury watched from the stands Wednesday as his Horse Lake Thunder played the Stony Plain Eagles in the first round of the Alberta Provincial Playoffs.

He is still awaiting the results of Wednesday's appeal of a decision barring him from playing.

Hockey Alberta has 10 days to come down with its decision.

"This is the start of the Allan Cup," Fleury said as the First Nations team took to the ice. "I should be in the line-up and because of politics, I am not."

Fleury said he remains hopeful that he will be re-instated in time to play the remaining games of the best of five series and any subsequent series if the Thunder prevails.

"It's been frustrating, especially going through the process," he said. "They didn't really have a lot of negative things to say about me playing.

"We provided them with enough information to say that I followed the rules and we'll just wait to see what happens now."

The series continues Friday and could go two to three weeks.

Hockey Alberta ruled he couldn't play senior hockey because he was still technically under an NHL contract last season.

Fleury has argued he should be allowed to play because he was under NHL suspension last year. He was disappointed Hockey Alberta prohibited him from playing last week without giving him a chance to make his case.

"They made a decision without knowing the real facts behind the whole thing and now they throw us into the appeal process," he said.

He said he wouldn't be fighting the battle if he didn't feel he had a right to join former NHLer Gino Odjick on the team.

Fleury said all he can do it wait now for a decision. He said he won't play unless he gets official sanction.

"I am not going to jeapardize my teammates and the organization by doing that. Right now we just have to follow the rules and hopefully they'll make a decision that's based on fact and not on guessing."

The arena in Stony Plain, a small community just west of Edmonton, was packed with fans who wanted to see the former Calgary Flames and New York Rangers star.

Local resident Robbie Kaschl, 25, said he was upset Fleury wasn't allowed to play.

He said he hoped he gets into the series before it's over.

"It will bring good things to senior Triple A hockey."

Chris Semograd, 22, said he was also disappointed Fleury didn't lace up his skates for the game.

He wasn't worried that Fleury will give the Thunder to big of an advantage over the hometown Eagles, former Allan Cup champions.

"The Eagles have some pretty good players, too. It's going to pick up their pace a little bit, but the Eagles are a pretty good hockey team."

Thunder teammate Marty Buholzer, 30, said he is looking forward to playing with the former NHL star.

"It would be a big bonus to have him play. I imagine he's still pretty good. . . . It would be something to play with him."

Buholzer said the situation wasn't a distraction for the team, but it had the team's fans in a bit of an uproar.

Fleury made headlines last week when the Thunder of the North peace Hockey League announced they had signed him. But just hours before the former NHLer, suspended for breaching the league's substance abuse program, was to step on the ice for his first game, Hockey Alberta announced he was ineligible.

The native of Russell, Man., had 1,088 points (455 goals, 633 assists) in 1,084 career NHL games.

Fleury, 36, last appeared in the NHL with the Chicago Black Hawks 17 months ago.