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Sheldon Souray is trying to play hockey for the Habs while going through a divorce and denying accusations from his estranged wife that he assaulted her


Christmas arrived last Sunday in the Montreal condominium of Canadiens defenceman Sheldon Souray, beneath a tall spruce tree in a blizzard of wrapping paper at the hands of a young girl.

On Monday, 2-year-old Valentina was on a plane back to Los Angeles to her mother, Souray's estranged wife. But for these few hours, near the end of a week-long visit, a father and his daughter celebrated Christmas.

A National Hockey League player lives eight or more months each year by his team's schedule, not by statutory holidays. It's doubly tough at this time of year for a father feeling his way through a divorce.

"It's more difficult," Souray said, "when you learn that your wife has made calls to the media, claiming you've assaulted her and hoping to ruin your reputation and embarrass you in the city where you live and work."

Souray is playing his finest hockey of the season, having struggled out of the gate with weighty personal problems that went public, and foot and groin injuries that sidelined him for five games.

Tuesday's first-star effort against Phoenix might silence the trade talk that's been swirling, only one season since he scored a career-high 15 goals for the Canadiens and was named an NHL all-star. Souray wants to remain in Montreal, and firmly denies rumours he's asked to be traded.

He expresses deep gratitude to Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey - "every employee's dream boss," he calls the GM - and head coach Claude Julien for their patience as he's worked to rediscover his game and get a troubled personal life in order.

On Oct. 23, Souray was accused of assault by actress and model Angelica Bridges, his wife of three years. Bridges made a 911 call to Montreal police from Souray's condo that morning, after an argument. She had come to Montreal from Los Angeles for a visit with their daughter, having filed for divorce in August.

Police took statements on site. Charges were not pressed by Bridges or Souray, nor by the police, who would have been obligated to do so had they reason to believe an assault had been committed by either party.

The file was formally closed three weeks ago.

Bridges flew back to Los Angeles on Oct. 24. Telephone records show that calls were made late that day and later that week from the couple's L.A.-suburban home to several Montreal media outlets, including The Gazette.

In at least one of these calls, a woman left a message saying she was the friend of a Montreal police officer who had investigated the alleged assault, then furnished details of the incident, saying they had secretly been given to her by this officer.

The Gazette investigated the incident and chose not to report a domestic dispute in which charges had not been laid.

A call was then made to the Toronto Star, which published a story on Oct. 27 headlined "Wedded bliss is gone for Souray."

Bob Cohen, Souray's Los Angeles lawyer, said Tuesday: "The evidence strongly suggests to me that every call to the media was made by Angelica Bridges, including one during which she claimed to be the friend of a Montreal police officer."

Yesterday from Los Angeles, Bridges's lawyer, Lon Isaacson, said: "To my knowledge, she hasn't made calls to the media. ... I certainly think it's possible they may have called her, but I don't know of it. She's an entertainment figure in her own right. She's very used to fielding media inquiries."

The Star, saying it had received its information from "a source close to the Montreal police department," reported that two investigating officers said Bridges "claimed she had been pushed against a stove and showed them marks on her arms, stomach and back."

Isaacson told The Gazette on Oct. 27 that his client had chosen not to press charges against Souray out of "love, concern and sympathy" for him.

"If you read the domestic violence petition she filed, you'd see how mature and loving that decision was," Isaacson added.

In Ottawa on Oct. 27 for a game against the Senators, and the following day back in Montreal, the story by now being reported nationally, Souray declined to discuss his personal life.

"I'm not going to comment, but when the time is right, I can talk about it a little more," he said in the Canadiens' Bell Centre dressing room.

Souray said nothing as phone calls and then emails were made and sent to Montreal and Toronto media from Los Angeles.

His silence was viewed by many as admission of guilt. He says now that he believed once the police investigation was concluded, his innocence would be proven beyond any doubt.

On Nov. 23, Montreal assistant chief attorney Gaetan Plouffe wrote Souray's Montreal lawyer, saying there were "no grounds for bringing charges" against him, and closed the case.

At home last Sunday, Souray spoke of the matter for 90 minutes, saying that he wished the couple had handled privately something that became fodder for public speculation and gossip.

"My wife wanted to make this into some kind of big Hollywood divorce, when it didn't have to be that way," he said.

"You don't want to get into a mudslinging war with a woman you love and share a child with. But what she did was hurtful, unfair and unwarranted. What was in the paper was so untrue. I knew right away that, when the truth was known, people would see that what was reported didn't add up.

"Quebec is the toughest place for domestic violence. If there had been any signs of anything, I would have been arrested. Maybe because this wound up in the media, the police took extra time to make sure everything was copacetic. They did that and came to the conclusion that what I was accused of was bogus.

"My wife wanted to try to hurt me in the worst way possible, by turning the public against me."

The glamorous marriage of Souray, a 29-year-old native of Fishing Lake, Alta., and Bridges, 31, a former Baywatch actress and Playboy cover girl from Harrisonville, Mo., had been on thin ice for some time.

They met eight years ago in New York, introduced by mutual friends, while he was playing for the New Jersey Devils.

Souray says that soon after their 2002 Las Vegas wedding, he would often return to Montreal from a road trip to find his wife unexpectedly gone or packing to leave. Bridges was in or was leaving for Los Angeles to visit friends or to seek work, finding modelling and acting opportunities in Montreal not what they might have been in Hollywood.

In the fall of 2004, he declined a $1.45-million U.S. offer to play during the NHL lockout with St. Petersburg in Russia, instead signing a deal worth a little more than $100,000 with Farjestad BK in the Swedish Elite League.

Bridges believed she and year-old Valentina would be safer in Sweden than in Russia, and planned to spend most of the winter in Karlstad, Farjestad's home city. Souray says the family was together in Sweden for a total of 18 days during his six-month stay; he flew home twice to Los Angeles, including once for a three-day visit.

"I'm not the kind of guy to blame other people for things, whether it's hockey or problems in a marriage," he said. "People don't get divorced out of the blue. There were a lot of factors. I don't think this was anybody's fault.

"But we could have had the hockey season in Montreal, which is a great city, and give our daughter a chance to enjoy some snow in Canada, my home, then in the summer go to L.A., sit by the pool, Ang could do her thing and I'd be Mr. Mom.

"It could have been a pretty good situation, but it didn't work out like that. Obviously, I wasn't prepared to quit hockey.

"Mentally, this is the hardest thing I've ever gone through - coming back after the lockout and putting pressure on myself to be the player I can and want to be, while dealing with personal stuff and trying to figure how I could spend time with my child and do what I thought was best for my family.

"But it backfired, and I've gone through a bit of a character assassination because I have a person angry with how things have worked out."

Souray will welcome Valentina back to Montreal for 10 days during February's Olympic break, then is scheduled to return to L.A. in March for more custody and support hearings.

"Valentina is my first priority in this world. More than hockey. More than anything," he said.

"The Canadiens have been extremely patient and supportive through all of this. I wonder sometimes how I got into this situation, and why. But now I feel totally refocused.

"The weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders since a lot of things have been cleared up. I've not played my best hockey this season until now, and I have something to prove. Now it's time to pay back this organization - Bob and Claude and my teammates."

dstubbs@thegazette.canwest.com

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2005


Canadiens' Sheldon Souray, newborn daughter, Valentina, and wife, Angelica Bridges, at their Boucherville home in October 2003.