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Three of the top players in Canadian college football have tested positive for banned substances, a development that comes with doping experts saying Canadas university athletics have become a "wild west" where athletes are gaming the system. The players tested positive during a training camp for the top 37 collegiate players that were hosted earlier this year in Edmonton by the Canadian Football League, TSN has learned. The testing was performed by the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, whose officials have informed the players schools about the infractions, according to two senior university officials familiar with the matter. Pierre Lafontaine, chief executive of Canadian Interuniversity Sport, the governing body for university athletics in Canada, confirmed "multiple players" tested positive for banned substances at the March CFL combine. The players names have not been disclosed publicly. Its unclear which schools they attend and what drugs they took. Lafontaine said schools may disclose details about the tests next month. The positive tests mark the latest chapter in a decades-long struggle by schools and sports leagues to contain steroid use by athletes who are looking for an edge. Steroids build muscle strength, add weight, and can help players recover faster from injuries, but also come with potentially life-threatening side effects. Steroid users can develop tumours and suffer other harmful side effects. But as athletes have taken more personal risks, testing has improved. At least 14 Major League Baseball players have been suspended for testing positive for banned substances, and the reputation of cyclist Lance Armstrong is in tatters because of his positive tests. The latest positive tests in Canadian college football come four years after a steroids scandal rocked a major schools football program. In 2010, eight players at the University of Waterloo were suspended for anti-doping rules violations after testing or admitting to using steroids and three years later, a ninth player at the centre of the scandal was sentenced for possession of steroids for the purpose of trafficking, among other charges. Since the Waterloo scandal, 14 other Canadian college football players have tested positive for banned substances, including Concordia University lineman Quinn Smith, who tested positive for an anabolic steroid in March at a combine event in Toronto - days before the Edmonton training camp. "(Steroids in Canadian colleges) have gone under the radar because the attention has been fixed on professional sports and the individual elite-level athletes," Bob Copeland, Waterloos former athletic director, said in an interview. "Theres no question its still a problem, and its tough to say who is doing it. At Waterloo some of the players who admitted using or tested positive were second-string players." Copeland and others say that immediately after the scandal at Waterloo, schools across Canada committed to improve the testing of players in all sports. Yet since then, costs have climbed to $1,000 per test. Public funding for testing has been frozen. Ira Jacobs, dean of the University of Torontos Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education and an expert on doping, says the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports is being pressured by the federal government to focus efforts on students who participate in Olympic sports - at the cost of policing college athletes who play hockey and football. "Its a wild west because we have no (effective doping) controls in place and the athletes know," Jacobs told TSN. Paul Melia, president of the CCES, said funding from Sport Canada to the CCES has been fixed at $5.4 million in recent years. Much of that funding goes to pay for 85 doping control officers and for contracts with labs, he said. The CCES pays $1.7 million-a-year alone to two labs in Ontario and Quebec, said Melia, who declined to comment on the positive drug tests at the CFL combine. "We have to monitor 10,000 CIS athletes, 800 Olympic level athletes, 250 alone at the Commonwealth Games (recently in Scotland)," he said. With Sport Canada demanding more frequent testing of Olympic athletes, presumably to prevent embarrassing sports scandals that might tarnish Canadas image at the Olympics and other international competitions, theres less money left to test Canadian university athletes. Its a problem Canadian schools have pledged to address. CIS schools recently agreed to give the CCES money to be used for CIS athlete testing during coming years. While that funding will allow the CCES plans to conduct as many as 200 tests of CIS athletes, that is far below the number of tests conducted on athletes in past years, which makes it easier for athletes to dodge detection. During 2011-12, for instance, the CCES conducted 455 tests of CIS athletes. Melia said the CCES faces challenges in coming months. Anabolic steroids remain the second-most seized drug at the Canada-U.S. border, he said. "We dont know who is being arrested or where the drugs are headed because of Canadas privacy legislation," Melia said, adding that steroids are also the No. 1 imported drug to Quebec. It is similarly difficult for police to make headway on many steroid-related cases. Police officials have said finding steroids is rare because users dont often overdose and end up in a hospital. Police come into contact with steroid traffickers far less often than they do with drug dealers who peddle recreational drugs such as cocaine, said one Toronto-area police official who has worked on drug cases. With costs spiralling up, the CCES has agreed to adopt in 2015 a new drug-code passed by the World Anti-Doping Agency that is certain to further hike costs, Copeland said. Agreeing to that code will force the CCES to invest more money in random testing and developing so-called biological passports for athletes. The passports will establish baseline levels for testosterone and other chemicals and proteins in an athletes blood over a series of tests, so that subsequent test results can be compared. Melia said the CCES is similarly trying to expand intelligence gathering. A doping hotline established last fall has attracted 50 to 100 tips so far, he said. "We are also trying to get stats from schools about how much athletes can bench press or how they do in the 50 metres, so we can compare later results to see if there are big changes," he said. CFL spokesman Jamie Dykstra said the league pays for the testing of prospects at combines but since they athletes are still in university, "they dont fall under our drug policy which was collectively bargained with our players association." Copeland said hes been struck by the fact that second-string players are just as likely users of steroids as A-list players. "I can see why users might justify this in the U.S. for the chance to land a big contract, even though its still a long shot, but these guys in Canada are taking these risks for the chance for an entry-level contract in the CFL," Copeland said. "Thats a $50,000 contract. It doesnt make sense." Air Max 2018 Sale . "This is my city," the Toronto native said upon his arrival Wednesday night. And the 35-year-old former league MVP says he is hoping to making 2014 a memorable year. Orange Air Max 2018 . Louis Blues just continue to roll -- especially against the Nashville Predators. http://www.cheapairmaxonlinesale.com/ . Didnt need any help this time. Wood beat Cincinnati for the first time in his career, repeatedly pitching out of threats for seven innings, and Chicago stalled the Reds week-long surge with a 2-0 victory Monday night. White Air Max 2018 . Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Buddy Robinson scored 43 seconds apart in the second period to lead the Binghamton Senators to a 4-1 victory over the Bulldogs in American Hockey League action Friday night at the Bell Centre. Air Max 2018 . Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports that the Raptors have traded forward Steve Novak along with a second-round pick to the Utah Jazz in exchange for guard Diante Garrett - who will then be waived. WASHINGTON -- Ryan Zimmerman came forward to make a head-high running catch on a slicing line drive off the bat of Chase Utley, a routine play that drew a disproportionately grand ovation from the home fans. "Thats almost the awkward part of it," Zimmerman said. "Yeah, I caught the ball. Yeah, like, I can catch a fly ball." He might have been embarrassed by all the fuss, but it was nevertheless a landmark moment in career of the player long considered the face of the Washington Nationals franchise. It was his first putout as an outfielder after more than 1,100 games as a third baseman, part of a good night all around for him and his club Tuesday in a 7-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Jordan Zimmermann rebounded from a mini-slump to throw eight scoreless innings, Zimmerman hit a pair of doubles and handled his two chances with aplomb in left field, and the Nationals moved back to .500 by taking the opener of the three-game series. "Theres nothing like getting into the first game and getting a couple of balls," Zimmerman said. "And getting a couple of hits helped, too." Zimmermann (4-2) allowed five hits and struck out four, recovering well from four middling starts that had raised his usually impeccable ERA to 4.07. He got all the support he needed when the Nationals scored three in the third inning off David Buchanan (1-2), making his third career start. "May was a pretty rough month for me, and hopefully June has better things to come," Zimmermann said. "I wanted to go nine, but eightll be good enough." Zimmerman went 2 for 4 with one RBI after being reinstated before the game following 44 games on the disabled list with a broken right thumb. Of greater interest was his move to the outfield, a switch necessitated by his throwing problems and the need for a strong hitter to play left field while Bryce Harper recovers from thumb surgery. Zimmerman said he was initially hesitant to try the outfield, but he realized his chronic shoulder problems mean his days as a regular third baseman are numbered. Ever the team player, he said he just wanted to help the club win -- even if theres likely not a Gold Glove in it for him, like the one he won playing third in 2009. &"I feel like Im athletic enough to at least blend in," he said.dddddddddddd "And not cause problems." Like many infielders-turned-outfielders before him, he learned the action isnt as fast and furious when stationed 300 feet from home plate. Playing deeper than a usual left fielder and using a glove borrowed from teammate Jayson Werth, he fielded only the liner from Utley and a shallow flyout by Marlon Byrd in the sixth before being removed for defensive replacement Nate McLouth after seven innings. There was no complaint about the lack of work. "That means our pitchers are doing a good job," Zimmerman said. "I just catch what comes to me." Its Zimmermans bat thats really needed by the Nationals, who slumped at the plate for most of last month and have been hovering around .500 in the NL East. They started hitting better in a weekend series against the Texas Rangers, however, and have scored 26 runs in their last four games. Zimmerman doubled to left in the second and to right in the fifth, and each time a black padded glove was brought to him to wear to protect his thumb as he ran the bases. Werth added a two-run double in the third, Denard Span had three hits, and Ian Desmond and Anthony Rendon homered for the Nationals. The Phillies lost their fourth straight and were shut out for the eighth time this season, failing to get any impetus from a pregame team meeting called by manager Ryne Sandberg. Sandberg addressed focus and fundamentals, but theres only so much the manager could do about Zimmermanns mid-90s fastball and debilitating slider. Philadelphia is 9-18 since May 4. "We werent able to get anything going offensively, got shut down by a good pitcher," Sandberg said. "He kind of set the tone for the game." NOTES: The Phillies optioned RHP Phillippe Aumont to Triple-A Lehigh Valley and recalled RHP Ethan Martin from Lehigh Valley. ... Philadelphia signed RHP Jason Marquis to a minor league contract. He will report to Class-A Clearwater for extended spring training. ... Nationals LHP Gio Gonzalez, on the 15-day disabled list with an inflamed pitching shoulder, will make a rehab start with Single-A Potomac on Friday. ' ' '