World Cup goalkeeper Nico Hovinen talks about life as an addict
Seven years ago, Niko Hovinen, 35, hit rock bottom.
World champion Finnish goalkeeper Medvescak Zagreb has been fired from KHL club.
– It was a very dark and lonely time, he tells Swedish Yle.
Niko Hovinen has not drunk a single drop of alcohol since November 5, 2016.
The Finnish hockey goalkeeper, who today plays hockey for HIFK Helsingfors and has a past in both Luleå and Malmö, won a World Cup gold medal with Finland in 2011.
But the 35-year-old has also gone through difficult periods in his career. The starting catch had an injury in 2014.
1/2Photo: YLE
“It’s a dark road”
After a strong season in the Russian KHL, Hovinen had to undergo hip surgery. The procedure, which effectively involved cutting off the hip and turning it into a new position, forced him to take strong painkillers.
This then led to addiction to tablets.
– But then I didn’t even think about the idea that I had addictive tendencies. Tolerance grows and when drugs do not work enough, you try in every way to increase the effect. Then alcohol comes into the picture. It’s a dark road, he tells Swede Yle.
Alone outside in an apartment, Hovinen was drinking most of the time.
After a wild night of partying, Finn woke up feeling like “never again.”
– Then I went to training, had lunch, came home, and forgot everything. Maybe I can drive another evening, I thought. So it went on and on and on. I didn’t dare tell anyone on the team that I was addicted. Never in my life. He says the shame was too great.
1/3Photo: Björn Larsson Rosvall/TT
“It hurts a lot of people”
Redemption came when he was fired from KHL club Medvescak Zagreb in November 2016 due to poor performance.
– Something triggered it, I don’t know what it is. Suddenly it hit me that this was enough. Now I feel so bad I can’t finish this by myself. I got to a point where I was completely depressed, nothing interested me, and I was completely emotionally dead. That experience was so terrifying that I never want to feel the same way again.
Back in Finland, the goalkeeper entered rehabilitation and got help to get rid of his addiction.
-I know I hurt a lot of people. But I couldn’t deal with my illness. This is how addicts behave.
1/2Photo: Claudio Bresciani/TT