TORONTO (Reuters) - A vicious on-ice punch knocked scandal, politics and foreign affairs off the front pages of Canadian newspapers on Wednesday, tarnishing the iconic status of Canada's national pastime and prompting a debate on how far violence in hockey should be allowed to go.
The punch, a revenge attack by a star Vancouver Canucks player for an incident at a game last month, left a rookie Colorado Avalanche player with a concussion and a fractured neck, and prompted banner headlines, grumbling Web sites and endless televised reruns of the ugly attack.
"Canada's troubled game suffers yet another blow," the Globe and Mail said in a commentary that, with pictures and a sidebar story, took up almost all the front page.
"It's really a dark moment for hockey." said the Toronto Star, Canada's biggest-selling newspaper, which called for an end to hockey's culture of violence.
Brawls in hockey games have almost become an integral part of the sport. They are so popular that a Manitoba impresario is promoting a fights-only event, with a promised prize of $100,000 to the best pummeler in a two-minute on-ice match.
The first fight is scheduled for August in Minnesota and tickets go on sale next month.
But Monday night's punch by the Canucks' Todd Bertuzzi went far beyond the average hockey brawl, and Vancouver police are investigating his attack on Colorado's Steve Moore.
"We have an obligation once a complaint is received to conduct an investigation into an incident of this nature," police said on Tuesday. "Regardless of the fact that this involves players in the National Hockey League, this will be a routine assault investigation."
Bertuzzi punched Moore from behind, and then smashed his head to the ice, leaving him lying in a pool of blood. Bertuzzi faces disciplinary action from the National Hockey League, and could be suspended or banned from the league.
Moore had been targeted by Vancouver throughout the game after a incident last month in which he injured Bertuzzi's teammate, Markus Naslund, with a hit to the head.
IS IT A GAME?
But the real question in Canada is whether violence in hockey has become too big a part of the game, and whether it's time for a major crackdown, including assault charges against Bertuzzi.
CBC radio pointed out that an angry worker who punched a colleague in the head, fracturing his neck, would face criminal action, and not just a workplace disciplinary hearing.
An editorial in the National Post said it should be up to the National Hockey League to police incidents on the ice, but it urged the NHL to "send the strongest possible message."
The Toronto Star invited readers to e-mail their thoughts and printed a selection of some 50 views on its Web site. It also rolled out Canadian hockey icon Wayne Gretzky for his final verdict on the matter.
"I'm sure they're going to take the right disciplinary actions to what happened and send a message that we don't want it to happen again," said the retired Gretzky, considered by many to be the greatest player the game has ever seen.
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Fighting is a part of hockey, but what Bertuzzi did wasn't fighting, it was assualt and battery pure and simple. I think Bertuzzi will go through the legal system on this and should.
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Exactly.... I may be dating myself here, but, remember Dave Schultz (goon on the Philadelpha Flyers) back in the late 70's? All he did was fight. BAM, as soon he hit the ice - that was it. He couldn't shoot good and didn't score very many goals, but man, he would just beat the pi$$ out of anyone out there! I remember hearing something about him years ago where he actually landed in jail on assault/battery charges and served some time.
Cheap shots in hockey that result in serious injury to the other player should be illegal and result in being banned from hockey.
You pay a guy big dollars to train year around, to be aggressive, big, bad and ugly. You encourage him to get every edge he can in the game. You have a sport that encourages fighting and rough play. You have a highly competitive bunch of guys that are playing a high dollar game at a high level with adrenaline pumping full speed .... and when an incident goes a bit out of hand you cry foul and get the law involved ?
You wanna know the only bad thing that happened here ? The guy got bad hurt. Had he fallen gracefully and bounced back up for a fight, you guys and the crowd both would have been talking about "the hit", ya'll would have been screaming fanatically, drinking your beer and either clapping or bitching depending on which team you were routing for.
The NFL, NBA, MLB ... the all have rules that says fighting equals ejection, even unsportmanlike conduct will get you a few games suspended a docked pay. Only the NHL ENCOURAGES fighting while everyone screams and giggles how great the "game" is
Stealthy is right, if this guy hadn't been seriously hurt it would have just been another game and another "good fight". If a sport has to allow fighting and the ultimate un-sportsmanlike conduct....well that just shows how interesting the game is. Hey, I'm not a hockey hater either. I could care less about any "ball" sport or hockey. The problem is that hockey has become the WWF of the athletic sports world IMO.
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Hunting the Piney Woods of Deep East Texas.
Your right about alot of things in your statement you made Stealthy, but the fact is he was seriously injured so that does changes things. No matter what though a cheap shot is just that CHEAP. I do bitch whenever I see crap like that.
The worst cheap shot I've ever seen in sports was last year in college football Wisconsin was playing Ohio State and a OH def player punched the Wisconsin QB in the throat when he thought no one could see it. What did he get, a whole one game suspension.
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This is hockey folks , he was knocked out from the punch. If you have evr played or watched hockey once a punch is thrown ( quite often ) the players attempt to grab each other. Unfotunately the receiver of the punch was already unconsious. So when he attempted to grab the already unconsious player his weight and the weight of the other player caused a higher than usual force when they hit the ice. By the way the other player was so distraught at what happened he was unable to speak with anyone after the game. This is hockey , the players now the risks!
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Take the "Training Wheels" off your bow. Go traditional !
I'd say just the way it happened and the fact that it was a cheap from behind shot makes it ridiculous. Even if he swung and missed I think it was pretty cowardly. There's certain unwritten self policing laws in hockey. One of those being not to punch anyone from behind. Look at all the hockey fights you see. You'll see a mutual face off before the gloves come off. Almost like to say "ok I'm going to take my gloves off and swing at you get ready to defend yourself"
And that's the most sickening thing about this whole thing. The guy was absolutely defenseless. If he wanted to get it on with him, he should have nudged him with his glove to get him to turn around and see if he wanted to throw down. To take a vicious swing at a defenseless man and then on top of that tackle him from behind and drive his head into the ice is absurd.
What will be interesting is when/if he gets on the ice again. He has a big bullseye on his jersey now throughout the league.
If he did square off and end up breaking the guys neck, then I'd agree 100% with stealthy. It would have been just an unfortunate injury during a routine fight. Nothing routine about that "fight" though. Makes me want to lace them up again.
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Jimmy S: 1/8/09 " I can hardly wait for baseball season to start. I love my Yankees! "
Cheap shot breaks hockey player's neck
