HOCKEY this was bound to happen

[rpm07]

With all the hockey fights someone was bound to get hurt bad



Updated: 08:28 AM EST
Avs' Moore Has Fractured Neck; Police Investigating Hit
Canucks' Bertuzzi Suspended Indefinitely for Hit From Behind

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (March 10) - Steve Moore of the Colorado Avalanche will miss the rest of the season with a broken neck, the result of a sucker punch from Todd Bertuzzi. Moore also sustained a concussion and deep cuts on his face, and he'll remain hospitalized in Vancouver indefinitely.
Bertuzzi, an All-Star forward for the Vancouver Canucks, was suspended indefinitely pending a hearing at the NHL office in Toronto on Wednesday. B.C. Solicitor General Rich Coleman and Vancouver police are investigating, the second time in four years police have looked into an on-ice hit at an NHL game in the city.

''It doesn't matter what the score was, what the time was, what the place was, what the history was, there's no room in our game for that,'' Colorado coach Tony Granato said.

Bertuzzi slugged Moore in the side of the head late in Monday night's 9-2 Colorado victory. He hit Moore from behind and drove his head into the ice. Moore landed face-first - with the 245-pound Bertuzzi on top of him - and lay in a pool of blood for several minutes before he was removed on a stretcher.

''All I'm concerned with is he regain his health,'' said Pierre Lacroix, Avalanche president and general manager. ''All legal matters and all medical matters, I don't want to think about.''
Bertuzzi's punch appeared to be retaliation for an open-ice hit Moore delivered to Canucks captain Markus Naslund last month, knocking him out for three games. Vancouver players vowed to get even with Moore for that hit, which wasn't penalized.
The Canucks didn't go after Moore in last week's rematch in Denver, a 5-5 tie attended by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. Naslund said he didn't believe Bertuzzi planned to hurt Moore.

''He tried to do something he thought was right for his team, to challenge someone,'' Naslund said. ''He wanted to make a point that you don't go out and hit our players.''
Bertuzzi's punch and its aftermath sent shock waves through the league, with players condemning his actions and calling for tough penalties.

''As NHL players, we get fired up and sometimes do stupid things on the ice, but nobody wants to see injuries to the extent of Moore's,'' Detroit Red Wings veteran Brendan Shanahan said.

Even the NHL's so-called goons were appalled.

''It doesn't matter what your name is, this is not right,'' said the Calgary Flames' Krzysztof Oliwa, a well-traveled fighter. ''This is not hockey, this is being cheap.''

Wayne Gretzky said it was an example of something that can happen in a sport that often turns violent.


''It's a very emotional game and you can quickly lose your temper and lose your focus,'' the Hall of Famer said in Lakeland, Fla., where he was watching the Toronto-Detroit game.

''What happened was wrong, and I am sure that nobody feels worse about it than Todd.''

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, but he received an 18-month conditional discharge, meaning no jail time and no criminal record after probation.

The league suspended him for a year, ending his 17-year NHL career.

When Moore's condition improves, he'll be transferred to Craig Hospital in Denver and evaluated by

[Thordic]

This has nothing to do with the fights.

Fights keep the game clean, if anything. When the put in the instigator rule, fights dropped off. Theres less fighting now than there used to be.

And guess what? Injuries from high-sticking are up. Injuries from cross-checks are up. Injuries from knee-on-knee hits are up.

You take away fighting, and then players aren't held accountable for dirty play. Fighting in hockey keeps the dirty players from playing dirty. If you do something dirty, someone is gonna fight you. If you play clean, odds are you'll be left alone.

Moore, a young guy new to the league, laid a hard check into Naslund, one of the Canuck's top guys. Ended up taking him out for a couple games, but it was nothing dirty. Guys get hurt in football getting tackled all the time, same thing. The next game, someone on the Canucks tried to fight Moore, and he responded by dropping the gloves. That SHOULD HAVE EVENED IT UP. It lets Moore know that the Canucks weren't happy with the hit, and gives Moore some respectability. But Bertuzzi, who has been a dirty player for YEARS, wouldn't let it drop. Hes an ape of a guy, hes huge, yet the only people he has ever gotten into fights with were little guys. Hes a bully. I don't care how good a player he is, I've never liked him.

He took the guy from behind and smashed his face into the ice. That'd be like grabbing some guys facemask in football and driving him headfirst into concrete. It has nothing to do with "fighting" in hockey. A fight didn't inspire the incident, a hit did. Hitting is intrinsic to the game. And the incident was the result of a dirty player who shouldn't be playing the game anyway.

Im sure people all over are saying "OMG HOCKEY IS TOO VIOLENT" and "FIGHTS HAVE TO GO!", just the same as people outside paintball are yelling "CO2 IS TOO DANGEROUS!".

If you are outside the sport looking in, you don't have the same level of understanding. Fighting in hockey is there to keep things like this from happening, not encourage them. You've got it backwards. If you took fighting out of hockey, you'd have MORE incidents like this, not less.

[pbcustom98]

I totally agree with you Thordic..fighting in hockey is where the goons of the league come into play..they dont have enforcers on teams for nothing. but this was way too cheap...hockey isnt really that violent...fights arent that often anymore, since the instigator penalty...but there are still fights.

RPM07---this wasnt a fight..this was a CHEAP SHOT

[ShooterJM]

This was the most disgusting incident I've ever seen in hockey.

Thordic is right. Moore dropped gloves with Cooke early in the game. That's it. It's over. Yeah your team isn't happy with the hit on naslund. But hey, guess what? It was a legal hit, naslund just lost his balance and bounced his head on the ice. It's a shame, but the officials at the game said it was clean, the replay showed it was clean, and after reviewing it extensively the league said it was clean.

Vancouver stated that there was a bounty on moore. Watch the tape, bertuzzi stalked more, grabbed his jersey, threw a haymaker to his temple and then drove his face into the ice.

Try as you might nothing in the past few decades is worse, with only the McSorely incident coming close. But remember with that, there was no premeditation. Also note that when questioned about the McSorely incident Bertuzzi commented that McSorely should never play in the NHL again. Hopefully the league agrees and kicks Bertuzzi out for good.

I can only hope that the lying-scum sucking-butt licking-moose raping-fecal matter gargling-jack booted-sucker punching-neandrathalic-walking waste of carbon matter is brought up on criminal charges and that moore presses civil litigation.

[rkjunior303]

Even though I am all for a good brawl in hockey -- it keeps the game genuine -- this was defintely a cheap shot.. I think Bertuzzi is looking at LEAST a year suspension, maybe even the rest of this year PLUS the next year they play.

[shartley]

[Fred]

Amen Thordic!

Bertuzzi should be banned from the NHL, Permanently, none of this 30 game suspension BS.

Moore will (almost definitely) never play hockey again. Neither should Bertuzzi.

---Fred

[Thordic]

Sam, there is no other sport as intense and physical and hockey. You can't compare.

Baseball? Forget it, not physical, not intense. And they still manage to have fights sometimes.

Basketball? Intense enough, but not physical enough.

Football? Physical for sure, but not intense. The action stops every few seconds, letting people cool off.

Hockey is a highly physical game, with more body contact than any other sport than football, and with more intensity and speed than just about any other sport. Unless you want to put an official on the ice for every single player, cheap shots will occur without being penalized. There are also ways to be cheap within the rules (Say, having a large less-skilled player take runs at an older, highly skilled player all game in an attempt to injure him). Fights, or the threat of fights, keeps players in line.

Simply check the records. The more fights that occur, the less injures you get from "cheap" plays like high-sticks. You may not agree with it, but too bad, find another sport then. Hockey doesn't need you.

[FactsOfLife]

Not going to agree with you on this one Sammy. Fighting is and always has been an integral part of the game.

The players understand who the goons are, and what their role is on the ice. The fans know it too.

How else explain someone like Rob Ray, a player near and dear to thousands of Sabres fans. Hands like concrete but the guy to have on the ice when the other side decides to run your star goalie.

Fighting has it's place in hockey, it should remain in the game.

Cheap shots like this one with Bertuzzi need to be prosecuted though.

There IS a difference between two heavyweights dropping the gloves one on one, and what happened here.

[ShooterJM]

Agreed. Maybe if you can get the refs to call everything, but as of now the refs can't even call obstruction correctly. Part of this is due to the extreme pace of most hockey games. There is a place for enforcers in hockey and there in a gentleman's code of conduct that dictates it. That's why you never see a heavyweight dropping gloves with a Fleury or Roenick no matter how annoying they are. Skill vs skill, power vs power. You're not out to hurt the guy, you're out to give a burst of emotion and to keep the other team in check. Chris Simon is a great example. When he was sent out on to the ice, the message was clear "Keep your sticks down, and quit playing dirty".

[shartley]

FOL

[pbcustom98]

every team has their "goons"...even OHL, AHL, IHL..pretty much every hockey league all the way down to pee wees (checking starts in this age group in NY), every team will have its bigger, less talented goons. look at Tie Domi his stats are horrible for the NHL, and yet he plays for the Leafs..he is a goon.
GP-932 G-97 A-129 PNTS-226 +/- -45 PIM-3,394

Daniel

[platinumjason]

I agree, that fighting is a part of hockey. However when someone is seriously hurt like this, I think they should do jail time, not suspension or any other crap like that. The guy did it purely for revenge and not anything that even happened that game, I would love to see him do atleast a year in jail.

[pbcustom98]

Originally posted by platinumjason
I agree, that fighting is a part of hockey. However when someone is seriously hurt like this, I think they should do jail time, not suspension or any other crap like that. The guy did it purely for revenge and not anything that even happened that game, I would love to see him do atleast a year in jail.

i agree with around 1 year in jail, and id also like to see him forfeit some benefits...cant get into Hall of Fame (like it would happen anyway)...cant play NHL ever again...also suffer huge fines, and i hope he gets sued like Marty McSorley did.

[RoadDawg]

I hope tuzzi goes to jail for that cheap shot. It was completely uncalled for. It's for reasons like the hit on Naslund that teams have the Proberts, Domi's, Ray's, Laperriere & Grimson's. The enforcer's do keep the game in check. As thordic has pointed out , and it's true, since the instigator penalty came along more injuries have happened. That is in the main part of a stupid penalty for defending your teammate. Yes there are penalties for cheap hits but Moore's hit on Naslund wasn't cheap. The hit Tuzzi did to Moore should and most likely will be taken to the Vancouver courts. He should get jail time and be ousted out of the league and Hockey period. There is no room for this type of stuff in this sport.
Fights are part of the game. It's accepted that it's gonna happen. With a game that physical and fast there is no preventing it. Even with the instigator penalties fights occur. But there have been more Boarding majors, kneeing, high sticking and roughing calls lately. Plus I'm pissed due to the fact the LA Kings have missed two key players (Allison and Deadmarsh) this season due to concussions from LAST season. It's obvious more people have been hurt and that the instigator needs to go away and let the enforcers do their job. It's after all what they are paid to do.