Former NHL All Star and Pembroke, Massachusetts native Kevin Stevens continues sharing his story of addiction.
On Wednesday he spoke to a group of student athletes at Brockton High School about how a life of addiction knows no glamour, unlike a life in the NHL.
He played for the hometown Bruins during the 1995-1996 season and has struggled with addiction for more than 20 years.
He played for Boston College while on a full ride scholarship. In 1988, he made his NHL debut with the Pittsburg Penguins, the year after the Olympics.
"I kind of got to the point where I was pretty good," Stevens said casually.
He was more than "pretty good." He was an All Star who scored 55 goals in the 1992 season.
That year the left winger and power forward tied the record for most goals ever scored by an American player in a single season.
"When I had addiction we were going for our third Stanley Cup," said Stevens.
He said his addiction started with cocaine before his injury in 1993, when he broke several bones in his face.
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It was after that when he steadily declined into opioid addiction.
"I made a one minute decision to try that and it set my life in a different direction," he said.
He eventually lost his wife and three kids to divorce, along with his career in the NHL.
In December of 2016 he was arrested in federal drug charges and knew he needed to change his life.
"Having sobriety and being sober, now I kind a have a purpose," he said.
He's now made it his mission to share his story and save at least one life.
It's a message resonating with young students.
"It was inspirational and it was important to all athletes anywhere to know that you can be at the top but you could still fall to the bottom," said Brockton High School junior Jaila Smith.
