JASON, 15, 'THOUGHT HE WOULD NEVER PLAY HOCKEY AGAIN'

Distraught Kelowna dad Terry Ricciuti says his 15-year-old son Jason -- his
only child -- killed himself after being caught with pot because he thought
he'd never play hockey again.

"He took his own life because he thought -- in a moment of weakness -- that
he would never play hockey again," the Kelowna city worker told The
Province last night. "He lived for hockey. He loved to play hockey."

Jason, a member of the Kelowna Midget AA all-star team and a Grade 10
student at Rutland Secondary, hung himself in a Surrey motel room Saturday
night after he and a teammate were caught with marijuana by their coach.
They players were sent to their room and told they faced a possible suspension.

Ricciuti said he and his wife Patti believe their son might be alive today
if someone had watched over him after threatening him with consequences for
the drug possession.

"If my son hadn't been left alone after knowing the consequences, he would
be home with me now," Patti Ricciuti said.

Said Terry Ricciuti: "You know how kids are: Little things tend to be the
biggest things in the world sometimes and in his case he thought he wasn't
going to be able to play hockey again this year.

"They called after it happened and they were trying to revive him. We were
going to drive down right away and we didn't know how serious it was and,
as parents, we thought it would be OK. Then we got a call 10 minutes later
that it was all over."

All players under the B.C. Amateur Hockey Association must sign an Athlete
Code of Conduct stating they will "never advocate or condone the use of
drugs or other banned performance-enhancing substances."

The parents said they want hockey associations to rethink their
zero-tolerance drug policies.

"We are not pointing fingers at all," said Terry. "The hockey community has
been extremely supportive of us, and in talking to the coaches, our son
Jason didn't show any signs of distress and it looked to them as though he
was ready to deal with the consequences.

"We think zero tolerance for these kids is a little bit too harsh and it
plays on them," said Terry, struggling to find reasons for why his son,
described by his friends and others as a strong, happy person, would kill
himself. "We just hope that through our loss someone else's tragedy may be
avoided. We have always been supportive of him, through good and bad, and
he knew that. We have talked to him about marijuana, we were pretty open
about it -- we told him we wish he wouldn't use it."

Terry said he thought Jason might have been carried away by the excitement
surrounding the trip to Vancouver, which included watching a Canucks game.

Central Okanagan School District superintendent Ron Rubadeau said he
worries people may assume Jason killed himself solely because he was caught
with drugs.

"I'm not sure it's that clear cut," he said. "For us to assume that you can
connect things in a cause-and-effect way doesn't hold water."

Fraser region coroner Marj Paonessa said she's awaiting the results of the
police probe before deciding on whether to hold an inquest.