'Disgusting' Bertuzzi Hit Levels Rookie
Colorado's Moore knocked unconscious, pile driven into ice

Tuesday March 09,2004


CANADIAN PRESS (http://www.cp.org/)

VANCOUVER, BC — Derek Morris didn’t mince words Monday night.

The Colorado defenceman called Todd Bertuzzi’s vicious hit from behind on Avalanche rookie Steve Moore a disgusting, pre-meditated act.

“It was disgusting,” an angry Morris said. “There’s not other word for that.

“I’ve never seen anything like that in my seven years of playing hockey (in the NHL).”

Late in the third period of Colorado’s convincing 9-2 win, Bertuzzi came up behind Moore, grabbed the back of Avalanche player’s sweater and delivered a round-house swing with his gloved right hand that struck Moore’s head. Moore fell head first to the ice under the weight of Bertuzzi, who came down on top of him at the 8:41 mark.

A pool of blood formed around Moore’s head as he lay motionless on the ice. A stretcher was wheeled out and after a delay of nearly 10 minutes the 25-year-old native of Windsor, Ont., was taken off for medical attention.

Moore was conscious and talking to medical staff when he left the ice on a stretcher and was taken to hospital.

Hours after the incident, the NHL issued a release stating Bertuzzi had been suspended indefinitely — without pay — and that a hearing would be conducted Wednesday morning at the league’s Toronto office.

Morris, who was traded this morning to Phoenix, compared the attack to one in which former Canuck Donald Brashear was clubbed by a stick-swinging Marty McSorley, who was suspended by the NHL and has not played in the league again.

“The Brashear incident was obviously another thing that was bad but this was pre-meditated,” Morris said. “This is the worst thing I’ve seen.”

Bad blood between the two teams had been simmering since Moore’s hit on Vancouver captain Markus Naslund during a game Feb. 16 in Denver. That resulted in Naslund suffering a concussion that cost him three games.

Moore wasn’t penalized for the hit and the league took no action. That was of little solace at the time to Vancouver coach Marc Crawford, who called Moore’s hit “a cheap shot by a young kid on a captain, the leading scorer in the league.”

Bertuzzi received a 10-minute match penalty for his hit on the Avalanche centre Monday.

Colorado coach Tony Granato was seen screaming at Crawford and had to be restrained at his team’s bench.

Granato said after the game Crawford was responsible for the actions of his team during the fight-filled game that drew 156 minutes in penalties, 99 to Vancouver.

“Three or four times we stood our ground like we had to and that thing happened to put an exclamation point on probably what they were trying to accomplish,” said Granato. “Something was said on their side. You just don’t go out and start fighting for the fun of it.

“I didn’t like the body language,” Granato said of the Canuck coaching staff. “I didn’t like the way the whole thing transpired. There’s no need for that, let’s face it.”

Morris accused Crawford of laughing about the incident.

“The worst thing about it is their coach is over there laughing about it and that just shows the class of that guy,” he said.

Naslund said after the game no player wants to see an opponent injured and that Bertuzzi felt awful about the incident.

”Obviously I think we all feel bad about someone getting hurt,” Naslund said. “It’s a bad feeling when someone gets seriously injured like that.

“Todd feels awful about it and is very sorry. I know it might not mean much right now. As weird as it seems I don’t think that was Todd’s intentions.”

Bertuzzi, who was suspended 10 games two years ago for coming off the bench to join an on-ice fight, was unavailable for comment after the game.

Canuck forward Brad May, who said earlier there was a bounty on Moore for his hit on Naslund, agreed the game got out of hand.

“This game took a life of its own; it shouldn’t have,” said May who scored both Vancouver goals. “For two-and-a-half to three weeks there’s been a lot of talk.

“Not in both lockerooms. That’s all I’m going to say.”

Colorado captain Joe Sakic said the incident took away from a solid performance by the Avalanche, who lost 7-1 at home the night before to Calgary.

“It was an ugly incident and it really puts a damper on the whole game,” said Sakic had a goal and three assists. “There’s payback but that’s not payback. That’s going overboard.

“And I’m sure Todd feels bad right now about the result. No player wants to see somebody go down like that.”

http://www.thestar.com/images/thestar/img/040309_bertuzzi_moore_250.jpg
CHUCK STOODY/CP
Colorado's Steve Moore is down
and bleeding after a vicious sucker punch
and hit from behind by Vancouver's Todd
Bertuzzi March 8, 2004.

I'm spending quite a bit of time, reading about this, on various hockey forums.

I am so mad, I cannot think straight.

I read that Steve Moore, has a broken neck. I don't know how accurate that is.

I read that the Vancouver police either got involved, or might get involved.

Too much info at once, to digest it all.

And to think all the networks are supposed to be covering the trade deadline.

Why is it in NHL games that the officiating crew let's the players fight when other sports officials in MLB, NBA, NFL break up the fights!! The NHL just lets them fight and fight and fight!! Both players should be suspended for at least up to five games and pay lik a $50,000 in fines!!

'A Dark Moment For Hockey'
Todd Bertuzzi in Toronto today to face NHL hearing
Public reaction blasts Canucks player's attack on opponent

CANADIAN PRESS (http://www.cp.org/)

Wednesday March 10, 2004

VANCOUVER—Vancouver Canucks star Todd Bertuzzi faces an NHL hearing in Toronto this morning after he sucker-punched Colorado Avalanche forward Steve Moore, leaving him with a concussion and a fractured neck.

Vancouver police are investigating the hit, replayed in newscasts across North America. Bertuzzi came up behind Moore, reached around and punched him in the face before landing on top of him. Moore fell face first and had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher.

Moore's parents were watching Monday night's game from their Thornhill home when the ugly incident happened.

"He came within a fraction of inches of being killed or permanently disabled," Jack Moore said of his son. "It's really a dark moment for hockey."

Moore was targeted because of his hit last month that knocked Vancouver captain Markus Naslund out with a concussion.

"Regardless of the fact that this involves a player in the National Hockey League, this will be a routine assault investigation," Vancouver police Constable Sarah Bloor told reporters.

"Crown counsel will be responsible for making a decision as to whether or not anyone is charged."

Bloor said the investigation was launched as a result of several complaints from fans, many of whom jammed radio call-in shows with comments of disgust at Bertuzzi, a 29-year-old all-star and the team's second leading scorer.

Moore, 25, a rookie forward with just 12 points in 57 games this year, will remain in a Vancouver hospital "for an indefinite period of time," said team officials.

He suffered cracked vertebrae in his neck, a concussion, deep cuts to his face, and abrasions on his cheek, forehead and upper lip.

He is out for at least the rest of the season, the Avalanche said in a news release.

"We understand the severity of the injury and we just hope that he will recover," Pierre Lacroix, the Avalanche president and general manager told reporters before the team left for a game tonight in Edmonton.

"His spirit, under the circumstances, is good."

Lacroix refused to comment on the criminal investigation or pass judgment on Bertuzzi.

"Whatever happened, happened," he said. "All I'm concerned with is that he (Moore) regain his health.

"I know that this league right now understands the seriousness of this action and I have full trust that they will do the appropriate reaction."

It's not just his hockey future that Bertuzzi has to worry about. He could also face criminal charges.

"I have stood by in amazement at hockey players permitted to pound each other to a pulp when if the same thing were done outside the arena, it would instantly result in criminal charges," said Toronto lawyer Julian Falconer, who practises both criminal and civil law.

"If those same fists were flying in a barroom there would be criminal charges and I can conceive of no reason why there wouldn't be charges in an arena," he said.

Bertuzzi, a Sudbury native who in October signed a four-year, $27.8 million (U.S.) contract extension, is the second NHL player in the past four years to be investigated by police for an on-ice incident at Vancouver's General Motors Place.

Boston Bruin Marty McSorley was eventually charged and convicted of assault with a weapon — his hockey stick — for a slash to the head of Canucks' tough guy Donald Brashear with 2.7 seconds to go in a February, 2000, game.

McSorley got an 18-month conditional sentence and was suspended 23 games. He never played another game in the NHL.

Monday's incident happened with 11:19 to go in the third period of a game Colorado was leading 8-2. It was seen as retribution for Moore's hit on Naslund, in a game in Denver on Feb. 16 that the Canucks won 1-0. Naslund sustained a concussion and missed three games.

Bertuzzi and coach Marc Crawford were the two most outspoken Canucks in response to that hit by Moore and the fact that the NHL didn't call a penalty or review the incident.

Bertuzzi tried repeatedly to goad Moore into a fight during the game. But Moore, who scrapped earlier in the game with another Canuck, wasn't interested, skating into the Vancouver zone and back out with the Canuck behind him, tugging and yelling in hopes of getting him to drop the gloves.

Finally, Bertuzzi grabbed his opponent's sweater with his left hand and slugged him in the face from behind with his gloved right hand before pushing him forward onto the ice.

Moore appeared unconscious as he fell and hit his head on the ice. Bertuzzi, and then several Avalanche players responding to the attack, fell on top of the injured player.

Moore, who had been repeatedly booed earlier in the game for his hit on Naslund, lay in a pool of blood on the ice for about 10 minutes as medical crews lifted him on to a stretcher and fans stood in stunned silence. Bertuzzi was assessed a 10-minute match penalty for intent to injure and ejected from the fight-filled game, which the Avalanche won 9-2 before a sellout crowd of 18,630.
______________________________________
______________________________________

`There's no room in our game for that.
Does it cross the line? Of course, it does'

Tony Granato, Colorado Avalanche coach
______________________________________
______________________________________

Bertuzzi, who has been described as one of the game's best power forwards and is known for his physical play and hot temper, has not spoken publicly about the incident.

While the judgment on Bertuzzi by the NHL as well as the police and crown had to wait, the conclusions of hockey fans, some Avalanche players and most others was swift and damning.

"It was totally disgusting," said defenceman Derek Morris, who was traded from Colorado to the Phoenix Coyotes shortly after the game in a trading deadline deal.

"There's no other word for it. I've never seen anything like that in my seven years of playing hockey (in the NHL)."

"It was an ugly incident and it really puts a damper on the whole game," said Avalanche captain Joe Sakic. "There's payback but that's not payback. That's going overboard."

Avalanche coach Tony Granato, who screamed at Canucks' coach Marc Crawford as Moore lay on the ice, was still clearly angry at the ugly incident.

"It's unacceptable," he told reporters. "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.

"Does it cross the line? Of course, it does."

But Vancouver players and team officials, who extended their sympathies to Moore and his family, were also quick to rush to the defence of Bertuzzi.

"We all give our deepest sympathies to Steve Moore and his family," Naslund said of Moore. "It's unfortunate the extent of the injuries are to that point.

"(But) we stand behind Todd and everything that Todd and his family is going through now. I think it's a tough time for him as well."

Naslund, who said he talked to Bertuzzi yesterday morning, rejected any suggestion that it was a pre-meditated attack intended to hurt an opponent.

"I played with Todd for seven years now and think I know him better than anyone and know his character," Naslund said after the Canucks' practice.

"That wasn't his intention. Everything that could possibly go wrong, went wrong. It's very unfortunate."

Naslund said of Bertuzzi that this is "by far the toughest thing he's gone through in his life."

Canucks' president and general manager Brian Burke, who went with Bertuzzi to Toronto for today's hearing, rejected Granato's claim Crawford gloated over the incident.

"I don't think Marc Crawford did anything on the bench last night that deserves any type of reprisal or comment from the Colorado organization," Burke told reporters.

Defending Bertuzzi against criticism that he didn't make a comment or issue an apology over the incident, Burke said Bertuzzi tried to contact Moore directly and "that, to me, speaks volumes about his sincerity more than issuing a typewritten statement."

Burke said Bertuzzi "intended to come here and address this issue publicly but it's been too emotionally difficult for him."

Retired hockey great Wayne Gretzky said the league has to protect the players.

"Disciplining players becomes tremendously difficult in the sense that professional sports have become so tremendously popular and so much of a strong, solid business," Gretzky said from Lakeland, Fla., where he was watching a spring training baseball game.

"We like to penalize and punish the players who are on the other teams. Probably, all the other cities in the league are crying foul and wanting justice to be served.

"(But) when you're that team, or that player, trying to defend yourself, you're obviously laying your ground for defence."

Open line radio shows were filled with discussion on the incident, most of it condemning Bertuzzi, the Canucks' second-leading scorer.

"What he did was nothing different than a schoolyard bully that beats the crap out of somebody's kid," a caller named Daniel told Vancouver's CKNW.

"But at the end of the day, the NHL is about violence. It sells tickets. It increases ratings. And, it's not going away anytime soon."

Scott, who attended the game with his son, told radio listeners he was "disgusted" by what he saw from Bertuzzi and the rest of his teammates when the score got out of hand.

"What kind of example is that setting for our children? It's appalling," he said.

Karen, an Avalanche season-ticket holder calling from Denver, told the Vancouver station she was "very impressed that you guys feel the same outrage that we feel."



http://www.thestar.com/images/thestar/img/040310_bertuzzi_hit_250.jpg
Vancouver's Todd Bertuzzi stalks Colorado's
Steve Moore (top left), strikes him in the
head, knocking him unconscious (top right),
guides him down (bottom left) and drives his
head into the ice (bottom right).
Moore suffered a broken neck. (CP PHOTO)

That guy should be suspended not only for the rest of this season but for the entire next season. There is absolutely no excuse for such rotten behavior.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cpress/20040310/ca_pr_on_ho/nhl_bertuzzi_hearing_4


TORONTO (CP) - Todd Bertuzzi (news) will know his fate Thursday morning.



The NHL will announce its decision on the Vancouver Canucks (news) star winger at 9 a.m. EST Thursday with Colin Campbell, the league's vice-president and disciplinarian, and chief legal officer Bill Daly holding a briefing one hour later at the league's Toronto office. A lengthy suspension is expected. On Wednesday, Campbell held a disciplinary hearing Wednesday into Bertuzzi's attack on Steve Moore. Bertuzzi, Canucks GM Brian Burke and NHLPA officials were present.


The hearing was supposed to start at 9 a.m. EST at the NHL's office, on the 11th floor of the Air Canada Centre, but was delayed to around 1 p.m. and ended just over an hour later.


Moore was hospitalized with a fractured neck and a concussion after he was sucker-punched by Bertuzzi in the third period of a 9-2 Colorado win Monday night at Vancouver's GM Place.


The Avalanche rookie landed face first on the ice, with Bertuzzi on top of him.


There has been bad blood between the two teams since a hit by Moore in a game Feb. 16 sidelined Canucks captain Markus Naslund (news) for three games with a concussion. Moore was not penalized on the play.


Outside the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday, two fans waited along with reporters, who interviewed both in the absence of any other news.


One wore a Canucks shirt and hockey gloves with a sign taped to a hockey stick that said "Colin, Ernie says free Bert."


The sigh had pictures of Muppets Ernie and Bert on the sign as well as a Bertuzzi photo, newspaper clipping and hockey card


The other held up a sign asking for a four-year ban of Bertuzzi and a fine of $3.2 million.


Striking CN railworkers also arrived at the Air Canada Centre to take advantage of the assembled media and draw attention to their own protest.


Monday night's ugly incident rekindled memories of Marty McSorley (news), then with the Boston Bruins (news), being charged with assault in Vancouver after knocking out then-Canuck Donald Brashear (news) with a stick to the head in February 2000.


McSorley, suspended by the NHL for a year, was convicted of assault and given an 18-month conditional discharge.


Vancouver police say they are investigating the Bertuzzi incident.


Matt Johnson (news) of the Los Angeles Kings (news) was handed a 12 game suspension for deliberately injuring Jeff Beukeboom (news) of the New York Rangers (news) in 1998. Beukeboom's subsequent head injury eventually forced him out of the game.


Philadelphia goalie Ron Hextall (news) also received a 12 game suspension for attacking Montreal's Chris Chelios (news) during a playoff game in 1989 while Owen Nolan (news), then of the San Jose Sharks (news), got 11 games for hitting Grant Marshall (news) in the head in 2001.


Winnipeg's Jimmy Mann got 10 games for sucker-punching Pittsburgh's Paul Gardner in 1982 while Ruslan Salei (news) of Anaheim was hit with a 10-game suspension for hitting Mike Modano (news) of the Dallas Stars (news) from behind in 1999.

Also he will might face charges and might face suspension for this season and/or next season!! That guy not only got his neck broken but could had died!!

Originally posted by Brian
That guy should be suspended not only for the rest of this season but for the entire next season. There is absolutely no excuse for such rotten behavior.

I agree. He may also face assault charges in British Columbia. We'll know more about that sometime next week.

Not only could that poor kid's career would be ruined but he may face life permantly in a wheelchair like Christopher Reeve.

Things like this will happen over and over until someone is kicked out of the NHL for just such an infraction.

I remember before players wore helmets and Teddy Green of the Bruins got his skull fractured by Wayne Maki. Green almost died, has a steel plate in his head and hasn't been the same since. That was the ugliest incident I have ever witnessed in hockey.

This does nothing to help change my viewpoint that hockey is not a sport, in the traditional sense of the term. It is an exhibition much like pro wrestling except that in pro wrestling at least the violence is staged.
I've been to two pro hockey games and that is enough for me! I don't know what is worse; the referee's who let the fights go on, or the idiot adults in the stands cheering while all this is taking place. While their children watch them, and learn.

~~

Originally posted by Brian
That guy should be suspended not only for the rest of this season but for the entire next season. There is absolutely no excuse for such rotten behavior.

Brian he was only trying to punch in the face, he had no idea that he would break his neck. It was accidental

Unfortunatly, no serious steps will be taken to curb the violence in Hockey until someone dies on the ice.