Graham James plea opens Winnipegger's old wounds

Graham James' guilty plea to sex assaults is stirring up oldpain inanother one of his former hockey players in Winnipeg.

"He (James) needs psychiatric treatment," saidPaul Buchanan, who was a star forward for the James-coached junior A Fort Garry Blues in the 1980s.

"Jail doesn't do anything for that kind of abnormal behaviour. He's sick."

James, 59, pleaded guilty Wednesday in a Winnipeg federal courtroom via video link from Montreal to repeated sexual assaults on two former players (one of whom was future NHL star Theoren Fleury)during a period between 1983 and 1994.

Theother junior player cannot be identified under a court-ordered publication ban.

James had been facing nine charges involving three complainants, but the charges in the third case were stayed as part of the plea bargain.

Thatcomplainant, John Greg Gilhooly,told CBC News on Wednesdaythat he is upset about not getting the closure he wanted.

I'm taking one for the team in terms of being the one who's left out. I'm no hero here this is just something I have to deal with," he said.

Gilhooly was a goalie for the bantam St. James Canadians in Winnipeg, when he wasrecruitedby James at a hockey tournament in 1979.

James made advances

Buchanan was also a member of those Blues. At16, hewas the only player his age to make the junior squad and James took a distinct interest in him, asking him to go to movies and visit his house.

But Buchananturned down James' advances.

As a result,he went from being the star of the team to being shunned and benched. As a result, he returned to play for his midget team.

"In his eyes I completely betrayed him. I went from being his favourite to someone he hated," Buchanan said.

"And I just didn't understand it.I went from really liking him and thinking, 'jeez,he's very interested in me' to all of a sudden 'this guy's mad at me and I didn't even do anything.'"

Buchanan saidhe believes he dodged a bullet but even so, his confidence was destroyed.

The following year, when Buchanan was old enough tograduate up to the junior ranks, James was still coaching and benched him again.

Frustrated, Buchananquit hockey after Christmas at theage of 17.

After coaching junior A hockey from1979 to 1983, Jamesbecamehead scout for the Winnipeg Warriors of the Western Hockey League in 1984. That's when herecruited two future NHLers to the teamFleury and Sheldon Kennedy.

The team later relocated to Moose Jaw as the Moose Jaw Warriors and James was hired as head coach. He later becamecoach and general manager of the Swift Current Broncos from 1986 to 1994.

The teamwon the Memorial Cup in 1989, and in the same year James was named Man of the Year by The Hockey News.

James' sentencing hearing on the two guilty pleas will take place on Feb. 22, 2012, in Winnipeg. He has already served almost two years in jail in the late 1990s for assaulting three young hockey players, including Kennedy.

James pleaded guilty to those sexual assault charges in 1997 and served about two years in jail before being released.

Apology needed

BuchanansaidJamesneeds to apologize to all the children whose lives he impacted negatively, but believes hisformer coach is still trying to wield power over some of them.

Buchanan saidJames is willing to publicly plead guilty to abusingplayers such as Kennedy and Fleury because he sees it as some kind of twisted accomplishment as a result of their success in the NHL.

"It doesn't sound very good to say he targeted Greg Gilhooly," said Buchanan. "But he still wants to be one up on Greg Gilhooly, who had the guts to finally come forward after all those years of torment.

"You know, it took him 30 years and a lot of courage to come forward and he's being told that, basically he's being told, that he made it up. Like that's pathetic."

Gilhooly, now a corporate lawyer in Ontario,was remarkably composed on Wednesday, given that hisallegations against James will remain unproven in a court of law.

No more power

He said James holds no more power over him. In fact, it is Gilhooly who has some influence and isin a position "to make good of bad in this situation" by offering advice and encouragement.

Henoted he didn't come from a broken home, poverty, or some other hardship. And he wasn't a child sent off to live the life of the itinerant hockey star.

"I was very much the boy living next door living in what to all appearances was a comfortable family situationand still was vulnerable to a predator."

As for his message to other silent, tormented victims of childhood abuse out there, Gilhooly is brutally frank.

"It's difficult to say without appearing selfish," he said, but victims of sex abuse have to do whatever they feel is best for themselves at the moment, even if that means not wanting to tell someone right away.

"Remember, this isn't the first opportunity that I've had to come forward," Gilhooly said, recalling the inner turmoil he faced when Kennedy made the first, public allegations against James in 1996.

"Let's not lose sight of the fact that the real hero here is Sheldon Kennedy, who came forward 15 years ago when none of us were coming forward," said Gilhooly. "He had to take all of this on his own."

Gilhooly kept his secret until well after the 2003 death of his father, who wasa senior executive with Manitoba minor hockey.

"I don't think my father could have survived knowing that people he trusted were, in many ways, facilitating what it was that Graham was doing," he said.