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What are your thoughts on the punishment Bertuzzi should receive for his hit on Steve Moore the other day? The NHL is expected to make a ruling soon, but folks were talking about civil suits and possibly a criminal investigation.
Share your thoughts.
Well, there is a criminal investigation, the RCMP and BC's Solicitor General are looking into it to see if it falls under assault, beyond what is accepted in a hockey game. There is precedent for this in Canada, players who deliberately attempted to injure other players have been charged with assault.
I think Bertuzzi should and will get suspended for the rest of the regular season. It was pretty blatant attack, and considering the kid has a broken neck and is done for at least this season, it is only fair.
Hockey is inherently violent - you give people weapons (sticks) and tell them that things that would get them thrown in jail outside the rink gets them a 2 minute penalty in the game. That's why it is so sweet! Hockey rules
Being a Canucks fan, this sucks huge. I'm *really* disappointed in Bertuzzi for this and the way he's been playing lately. A friend of mine now has a $200 jersey that he won't wear :p
Bearing that in mind, I don't think there should be a criminal investigation. If there was one for every time someone got sucker punched/retaliated on there wouldn't be many hockey players left.
I don't think that Bertuzzi intended to hurt the guy, or anything of the sort, but that doesn't excuse what happened. And for that, I think he should be benched for the season, if not longer. And also fined with the amount depending on how serious/lasting the injuries end up being.
Does anyone remember if the guy was punished at all for giving Naslund the concussion two games prior?
-K
The guy that hit Naslund wasn't even penalized, I believe.
I've played hockey since I was eight, so I can tell you just from the amateur level that things get pretty intense out there sometimes. I've had coaches tell me to takes so and so's head off if he gets too rough. That doesn't mean you do it, but the mentaility was there. And some kids go out there just to see who they can maim. Some of these kids get drafted too =P
What happened with Bertuzzi was partial accident. I have no problem with him smacking the guy in the back of the head...players do that all the time. But the ensuing freefall pile drive into the ice has to be punished. I don't think Bertuzzi meant to do that, but what he meant to do doesn't matter. It happened. It's horrible...so something needs to be done.
As far as violence...hockey's a violent sport. I won't deny I've given some guys chops to the backs of the legs where I didn't care if I hamstrung them or not. I'm not proud of that, but when you play against assholes in a poorly refereed game, you have to defend yourself.
Bertuzzi was suspended for at least the rest of the regular season and the playoffs by the NHL on Thursday. Bertuzzi's "eligibility" for the 2004-05 NHL season will be determined by the commissioner.
He'll also forfeit at least $501,926.39 US in salary, money the Canucks will pay into the NHL Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.
I have mixed feelings about this. He broke a dude's neck, but I don't think it was intentional. I think any reaction from the NHL would be met with mixed feelings though.
As an ex hockey player myself i believe he should be banned from playing hockey ever again. If someone can't control there actions when on the ice i don't believe they should be in the sport. i played since i was 9 till i was 19 and i was able to control myself although i did get in fights they were always self defense and i did get called for hitting from behind once or twice it was only cause the kid turned at the last moment and it was his fault but anyway what he did is totaly unexcusable and he should be held responcible to help prevent such incedents in the future hockey has too much crap that goes on now adays with holding and all the game needs to be opened back up like it was in the old days with bobby oar where hockey was more about skills than who can be the bigger and cheeper jerk out there without getting caught breaking the rules
Canderic(Boston fan)
Yeah, hockey should be like the old days, when teams like Boston and Philadelphia were famous for being nothing more than hired thugs. </sarcasm>
Injuries in hockey are nothing new, even incidents like Bertuzzi's seem to happen once a year. Anyone remember McSorley whacking Brashear? The guy (Ted Green, I think) who has a plate in his head for getting hit with someone's stick - in the 60's? Suter's crosscheck to the face of Kariya?
You can't ever remove the inherent violence in this sport, it has always been around. But you can punish the violators who go too far - Bertuzzi's suspension is appropriate from the league, and if there are criminal charges brought up, well and good. People do need to be accountable for their actions, even in sports.
Hockey is a great sport, in my opinion the best one to see live (and that's coming from a die-hard, season ticket-holding football fan). It sucks that things like this renew the outcry about the sport being too violent, which I don't think it is.
The fact is that although I'm sure Bertuzzi didn't mean to fracture Moore's neck, he did go after him from behind. And that's what all the highlight reels are showing and what folks are reacting to.
Though Bertuzzi can technically skate next year, I think the commissioner will extend the suspension. The league has to take a super-harsh stance to help silence the outcry.
I only really started watching hockey a few years ago on a regular basis, so I don't have huge amounts to compare this against.
But everyone I've heard in the media seems to be talking about how absolutely brutal and savage this was and its the worst thing they've seen in hockey ever.
Do you guys really think this is the case? Or is it just the media jumping on Bertuzzi since he comes off so cold to them (who wouldn't be, really?) and riding this for as much as its worth.
Compare it to the slash that Matt Johnson gave to Matt Cooke for which he got a five game suspension. Or how about the hit that Steve Moore leveled on Naslund (not saying that this hit justified what Bertuzzi did)? It was absolutely brutal and deliberate. Last game I watched a Wilde's player was holding onto a Canucks player in a fight for the puck near the boards, and pounding on the back of his head.
Those are just a few recent examples.. my hockey trivia isn't good enough to go far back for more examples, though Jozep gave a few more. So is what Bertuzzi did really that bad, in comparison?
As far as the punishment goes, I think it should've been for the regular season only, dependent on if the guy makes a full recovery or not. I don't think the suspension should be extended at all, though and the $250,000 fine to the Canucks was ridiculous.
As a side note, one thing I think is missing from hockey.. sportsmanship. Football, you'll see someone on the other team help a guy off the ground. Soccer, I've seen a team give the ball away on a throw-in just because of a bad call/play on their part. You don't seem things like that in hockey very often at all.
-K