Music: {allcanada} Former Leafs captain admits drinking and driving

Friday, August 5, 2011

{allcanada} Former Leafs captain admits drinking and driving

Former Toronto Maple Leafs captain Rick Vaive says he broke his own rule about drinking and driving the day he was arrested and charged by police.

Vaive told a Newmarket, Ont., court on Friday that he normally doesn't drive after having three drinks, but took the wheel after having six beers at a golf game on July 14, 2009.

He was arrested that night in Vaughan, Ont., just north of Toronto, and charged with impaired driving and driving with over 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

Vaive, 52, maintains he wasn't drunk and felt fine to drive from the golf course in Gravenhurst, Ont., to his home in Oakville, Ont., about a three-hour trip.

If convicted, Vaive could face for each charge a minimum fine of $1,000 and maximum of five years in prison for a first offence.

Vaive became the first player to score 50 goals in a season for the Maple Leafs in 1981-82, a feat he repeated the following two seasons.