Bertuzzi decision expected Thursday Bertuzzi decision expected Thursday

Sports Network ^ | 3/10/2004 | Sports network

[SolutionsOnly]

Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - Vancouver Canucks center Todd Bertuzzi had a one hour disciplinary hearing on Wednesday for intentionally injuring Colorado Avalanche center Steve Moore. The incident took place on Monday during Colorado's 9-2 victory at GM Place.

Colin Campbell, the NHL's vice president and disciplinarian, is expected to issue his ruling Thursday morning.

Bertuzzi was suspended indefinitely just hours after the game by the National Hockey League. Moore remains in a Vancouver hospital bed with a broken neck, a concussion and deep cuts on his face.

Bertuzzi punched Moore in the head from behind and then jumped on his back and drove him face-first into the ice, knocking him unconscious. Moore, who scored a goal earlier in the game, laid motionless in a puddle of blood before being carted off on a stretcher. Bertuzzi received a match penalty for his actions, which comes with an automatic review by the NHL.

Bertuzzi's actions appeared to be in retaliation for a hit Moore delivered to Canucks captain and Bertuzzi's friend Markus Naslund last month. The open-ice hit by Moore sidelined Naslund with a concussion for three games. After that game, Vancouver players vowed to get even with Moore.

The teams met again last week in Colorado, but with commissioner Gary Bettman in attendance, the game was played without incident.

Prosecutors and Vancouver police are investigating Monday's attack, which marks the second time in four years law enforcement has looked into an on-ice hit at an NHL game in the city.

In February 2000, former Boston Bruin Marty McSorley was charged for hitting then-Vancouver Canuck Donald Brashear with his stick. McSorley was convicted of assault with a weapon and received an 18-month conditional discharge, avoiding a prison sentence and no criminal record after probation.

The league suspended McSorley for a year and he retired after a 17-year NHL career.

In 57 games this season, his first full season with the Avalanche, Moore has five goals and 12 points. He will not play again this season.

Bertuzzi has 17 goals and 43 assists on the season and will serve the first game of the suspension on Wednesday when Vancouver hosts Minnesota. He is reportedly distraught over the incident.

03/10 17:06:21 ET

[airborne]

Not all hockey fans think violence is needed. As a Penguin fan I can tell you that Mario Lemieux was complaining about excessive violence back in the 1980s.The NHL (and their representatives the refs) did not enforce any rule changes that were made. So the violence continued. Now they act when it is too late for Steve Moore. He might have played his last game.
Hockey is a rough, physical full contact sport.Players are going to get hurt.As far as Bertuzzi, I'd like to see him miss the rest of the season and all of the playoffs. Since it happened in vancouver, the Canadian legal system probably has something to say on the subject as well.
Prayers go out to Steve Moore and his family. I saw him play and met him while he played in Hershey, and I can tell you he is a nice guy.

[airborne]

Not all hockey fans think violence is needed. As a Penguin fan I can tell you that Mario Lemieux was complaining about excessive violence back in the 1980s.The NHL (and their representatives the refs) did not enforce any rule changes that were made. So the violence continued. Now they act when it is too late for Steve Moore. He might have played his last game.
Hockey is a rough, physical full contact sport.Players are going to get hurt.As far as Bertuzzi, I'd like to see him miss the rest of the season and all of the playoffs. Since it happened in vancouver, the Canadian legal system probably has something to say on the subject as well.
Prayers go out to Steve Moore and his family. I saw him play and met him while he played in Hershey, and I can tell you he is a nice guy.

[sinkspur]

Joe Scarborough's going to have a segment on this with a former "NHL great." Dennis Miller had a sportswriter on talking about it.

This thuggish behavior is getting a lot of publicity.

The heat is on Bettman.

[Alberta's Child]

That's what scares me. Bettman should stay as far away from this case as possible -- because he's a basketball commissioner disguised as a hockey commissioner.

[sinkspur]

The penalty here should be suspension for life.

It would be the proper punishment, and would also send a strong message that sucker-punch-behavior would be career-ending.

[cspackler]

I am not one for law enforcement to involve itself with game-time conduct

Sorry, but IMO this cannot be called game-time conduct. Are you saying that someone can pull a knife and stab someone, as long as it's during the game? What happened had nothing to do with the game, he skated up behind an unknowing victim, punched him in the face and drove his head into the ice breaking his neck. Intentionally. That is assault, PURE AND SIMPLE.

[Alberta's Child]

You won't see a lifetime suspension under any circumstances -- I can assure you of that. In fact, while I have no intention of condoning Bertuzzi's behavior I would make the case that Moore's hit on Markus Naslund should have been punished more severely because of the impact that would have on competitive play in the NHL.

1. The NHL needs to figure out exactly what kind of game it wants to put on the ice.

2. All those folks -- especially sports writers who don't even cover the game of hockey until an incident like this occurs -- who are complaining about the "violence in the NHL for all these years" should keep their mouths shut, because they don't know what they're talking about.

3. The Vancouver police and B.C. justice system should avoid embarrassing themselves and stay out of this.

[sinkspur]

The NHL should dish out a suspension for Craig Crawford, too.

In a runaway game like this, the smarmy little p**** should have told his team to dial it down.

[Hatteras]

Bertruzzi is directly responsible for his actions and should probably have played in his last game (if I were king...) With that said, the NHL and the referees should share a great deal of responsibility also. They are cowards. It is all too typical that they put the whistles away in the third period and, like the NBA, they cut the "stars" some slack on the hooking, slashing and cross-checking penalties. It's frustrating enough as a fan, I can only imagine the frustration that builds up in the players.

Er, I should say, "casual observer" now instead of "fan". It's exactly this kind of stuff that has turned me off. Cut the league back to a dozen or so teams, get rid of the riff-raff players and let the quality players have their money. In the meantime, I ain't paying $125.00 for a family of four to sit in the cheap seats and watch this crap.

[cspackler]

until an incident like this occurs

Are you serious with that statement? What part of what he did was an accident? He "accidentally" skated up from behind and "accidentally" punched him in the face and then "accidentally" drove his face into the ice?

[sinkspur]

In fact, while I have no intention of condoning Bertuzzi's behavior I would make the case that Moore's hit on Markus Naslund should have been punished more severely because of the impact that would have on competitive play in the NHL.

Oh, please. Moore was dealt with in the first period of Monday's game. That should have been the end of it.

The Vancouver police and B.C. justice system should avoid embarrassing themselves and stay out of this.

Well, the Canucks will do what they do. But, in this case, an assault charge would certainly put thugs like Bertuzzi on notice that sucker-punching-cheap-shots might get the offender time off to know what "hit from behind" really meant.

[Alberta's Child]

I never used the term ACCIDENT in any of my posts here on this thread.

[cspackler]

I never used the term ACCIDENT in any of my posts here on this thread.

Sorry, my bad. I misread the post. My apologies are offered.

[Nexus6]

imho, a lifetime suspension, or basically banishment from the league would not be out of order in this case. The reality is that won't happen. Quite frankly, I thought the Domi/Niedermayer incident was just as bad. In fact, it was very similar. A verbal threat was made to the player and then goon Domi acted on it. Niedermayer had no idea what was coming and could've easily wound up paralyzed or worse from that blow. The league set a precedent by letting Domi off with what amoounted to a slap on the wrist (something like 8 games). The message was sent, loud and clear, worst that can happen if you try to severely injure or maim another player is you lose some salary while the other player is lucky to walk again...it's ridiculous. I am no way one of the pc types that wants to see fighting removed from the game, but this sort of thing, and what Domi and McSorley did go way beyond the pale. Best wishes to Moore for a full recovery.

[Alberta's Child]

Moore was dealt with in the first period of Monday's game.

Moore should have been suspended for ten games for injuring Naslund. In a case like that, the NHL has to send a very harsh message to teams and players -- otherwise, sending an inferior player on the ice in a lopsided game specifically to injure an opposing team's star player will become part of a team's strategy in the NHL.

If you think that's such a stretch, I'll point out that this was exactly what happened a couple of years ago when Scott Niedermayer of the New Jersey Devils (one of the best defensemen in the league) was laid out in a game by Toronto's Tie Domi -- whose annual challenge is to see if his point total will ever exceed his chromosome count.

I'll also point out that you can't get law enforcement involved in these situations because of the inherent bias involved. I've already heard several idiotic comments from Vancouver police officials laying the groundwork to explain why this situation is different than the one involving Marty McSorley a few years ago ("Well, the major difference is that McSorley used a weapon in his attack on Donald Brashear . . .")

What these @ssholes are doing is glossing over the REAL difference (in their minds) between the two incidents -- McSorley played for the opposing team, while Bertuzzi plays for Vancouver.

[Alberta's Child]

No problem. For a minute I had to go back and see if I had made a fool of myself by typing "accident" in one of those posts. LOL.

[Charles Henrickson]

Sorry, my bad. I misread the post.

Two minutes for not cross-checking. :-)

[sinkspur]

Whatever. Bertuzzi's a marked man for the rest of his dumb, brutish life on the ice.

And, deservedly so.

[cspackler]

Well, at least you DIDN'T make a fool of yourself, unlike some of us. PS, love the pics on your profile page. Is Bannf (sp?) still hanging in there? I heard a few years ago that there were problem arising up in the area with the highway. Someday I'm gonna take my family up there, we've done most of the US parks...

[Alberta's Child]

Bertuzzi's a marked man for the rest of his dumb, brutish life on the ice.

Don't count on that. In fact, players steer clear of people like him because he's a rare breed in the NHL -- a talented player (one of the league's leading scorers the last few years) of immense size (6'3", 245 pounds) who can handle himself against any player in the league.

Dale Hunter of the Washington Capitals once received a 25-game suspension for injuring an opposing player (Pat LaFontaine) -- and nobody ever messed with him, either.