Music: {allcanada} FORMER NHL PLAYER ROB RAMAGE UP FOR PAROLE

Friday, March 4, 2011

{allcanada} FORMER NHL PLAYER ROB RAMAGE UP FOR PAROLE

KINGSTON, Ont. - Former NHL player Rob Ramage is up for parole today, eight months into his four-year prison sentence.

Ramage, 52, was convicted in 2007 of four charges, including impaired driving causing death, in a crash that killed his friend Keith Magnuson, another ex-NHL player.

He was jailed last July after the Ontario Court of Appeal rejected his bid for a new trial.

Ramage was charged after the rental car he was driving slammed head-on into another vehicle north of Toronto in December 2003, killing Magnuson.

The two men had just left a funeral reception for another former NHL player, Keith McCreary.

Ramage's parole hearing will be held at the Frontenac Institution in Kingston, Ont., the minimum-security facility where he's been serving his sentence.

The former defenceman's lawyer, Brian Greenspan, said in July he would try to get his client released to a halfway house as soon as possible.

Greenspan had argued in his appeal to have Ramage's sentence reduced, calling it disproportionate for an upstanding citizen who had given much back to the community and had no criminal record.

He also said the sentence went against the wishes of Magnuson's family, who asked the judge to show leniency.

In addition, Greenspan said Ramage's charter rights were violated when he was required to give a urine sample while in hospital with a head injury and on morphine.

The court dismissed his conviction and sentence appeals.

Ramage won Stanley Cup rings with the Calgary Flames and Montreal Canadiens. He also played for the Colorado Rockies, St. Louis Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs, Minnesota North Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning and Philadelphia Flyers. Ramage retired after the 1993-94 season.

Magnuson was a rugged defenceman who played his entire 11-season NHL career with the Chicago Blackhawks, retiring after the 1979-80 campaign. He also coached the team for a season and a half.