The same drug that earned Maria Sharapova a suspension earlier this year is now a banned substance with just 44 days before the first 2016-17 puck drop.
We’ve all read about performance-enhancing drugs in sports the last 20 years, but until January 1st of this year, meldonium hadn’t been we have heard. The drug, developed in the U.S.S.R. in 1970 to increase blood flow for various heart conditions, is now banned by the World Doping Agency, and a number of athletes from that part of the world were suspended as a result.
The most prominent of which was Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova, who earned a two-year ban from sanctioned events after testing positive in March.