I
do not believe in over 18 years on the bench I have been faced with a case as
bizarre as this one.U.S. District Judge William Stiehl
at Danton's sentencing.
Ex-NHL agent David Frost arrested
David Frost, the former agent of jailed NHL player Mike Danton, has been arrested by Ontario Provincial Police for sexual exploitation and assault, CBC has learned.
David Frost resigns as NHL player agent
David Frost, the controversial agent of imprisoned former NHL hockey player
Mike Danton, has resigned as a player agent.
Danton's
father not sorry about arrest
Steve Jefferson, the father of imprisoned former NHL player Mike Danton, is
unapologetic over confronting Danton's agent, David Frost.
CBC
uncovers further Danton-Frost intrigue
A documentary produced by CBC-TV's the fifth estate offers recordings
of former NHL player Mike Danton's jailhouse conversations and interviews with
his parents and agent David Frost.
INDEPTH: THE MIKE DANTON CASE Profile: Quinte Four
CBC
Sports Online | Last updated May 14
Mike Danton's good friend Sheldon Keefe.
A young Mike Jefferson was the envy of many Metro Toronto hockey league players when he captured a bantam all-Ontario championship with the Toronto Young Nationals in the late 1990s.
But that likely changed shortly after the then-15-year-old left his hometown of Brampton, Ont., for the Quinte Hawks tier II junior club in Deseronto, a small town near the north shore of Lake Ontario.
David Frost, who had previously coached Jefferson and a group of talented 11-year-olds on a triple-A team, negotiated with Hawks co-owner Marty Abrams to bring Sheldon Keefe, Shawn Cation, Larry Barron, Darryl Tiveron and Jefferson to Quinte.
Frost had recently been suspended from the Metro Toronto Hockey League for helping to falsify documents that would release his players to Quinte.
Questions about Frost's demanding and controlling ways became known before he arrived in Deseronto. Once there, Ryan Barnes became another of Frost's special players.
Frost not only coached the players in Quinte, but spent countless hours in a hotel with them. Seven years ago, the Bayview Inn was a meeting place for a few select members of the Hawks, including Jefferson, the team's tough guy.
Jefferson and Barnes reportedly would sometimes skip school to spend the day at the hotel. Along with Keefe and Cation, they would become known as the Quinte Four.
There were accusations the players were being brainwashed by Frost, that they did everything he said and that Frost had a powerful hold over the youngsters.
But Frost's obsession with the on-ice performance of his favourite players would later cost him.
Frost's tenure behind the Quinte bench lasted less than a full season, after he was charged for punching Tiveron during a game. However, he remained in Deseronto and was said to have instructed the Quinte Four from the stands using hand signals.
Jefferson left the Hawks in 1997 to play one season for the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League, where observers said he again was subject to Frost's hand gestures from the sidelines.
The next year, he joined Keefe, Cation and Barnes with the Toronto St. Michael's Majors under Frost's guidance.
While there, they kept to themselves following orders by Frost, who was said to still be guiding the players fro m the stands. Using hand signals is a charge that Frost denies to this day.
Frost's control reached such depths that it caused changes in attitude among his players, who began to distance themselves from their teammates.
According to some former Majors, Jefferson was quiet, somewhat anti-social and refused to participate in team functions.
That, coupled with Frost's constant meddling in the players' lives, spelled the end of the Quinte Four at St. Mike's.
On Jan. 11, 1999, the Majors rocked the junior hockey world, shipping all four players to Barrie as part of an eight-player trade.
That summer, Keefe was drafted 47th overall by the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning following a 116-point season.
In 2000, Jefferson was selected 135th overall by New Jersey after scoring 87 points in his final year of junior.
After a short stint with the Devils, Danton was traded to St. Louis on June 21, 2003. The 23-year-old broke training camp with the Blues last September as the team's enforcer and collected 12 points and 141 penalty minutes in a career-high 68 regular-season games. Danton added one goal in five playoff games.
Keefe, also 23, toiled for Tampa Bay's American Hockey League affiliate in Hershey this season after spending parts of the previous three seasons with the Lightning.
He has remained extremely close to Frost, particularly since Danton was arrested. Keefe has issued statements to media defending Danton and attacking the accused's parents.
Barnes, who was drafted by Detroit in 1998, has spent the last two seasons with the Grand Rapid Griffins of the AHL. The 24-year-old dressed for two games with the Red Wings this season.
The undrafted Cation, 24, recently completed his fourth season with the men's hockey team at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, N.B.
I
do not believe in over 18 years on the bench I have been faced with a case as
bizarre as this one.
