[ot] bertuzzi jumps moore-> hospital *update on moore*

[CowbellGuy]

Cause, you know, you're so impartial :-P

[ben03]

Also on MSNBC tonight:

6:00 p.m. ET • THE ABRAMS REPORT â€" The video is shocking... a cheap shot on the ice and a player goes down. While the NHL’s Steve Moore fights for his life in a hospital bed, the player who blindsided him is under police investigation. Dan Abrams has the latest on this disturbing act of violence in pro sports and the legal fallout. (cc)

[Jerseygirl]

That's it, Age.  You've just put yourself at the end of the line for Yanks tickets.

[jy3]

who wants yankees tickets anyway

[Josh '99]

I do.  Of course, only because they're playing the Mets.

[CowbellGuy]

Glutton for punishment, eh?

[jy3]

another article from yahoo
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mymod/hdln/nhl/sty/*http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=afp-ihockey_canada_violence&prov=afp&type=lgns

Attack forces Canada to put ice hockey in the dock
 

March 10, 2004
TORONTO (AFP) - Canada put ice hockey, its national obsession, on trial, after a "frontier-justice" style attack by an All Star pro hockey player left an opponent in hospital with a broken neck.

The old joke "I went to a fight and an ice hockey game broke out" was dusted off for a new airing after the "sucker punch" delivered by Vancouver Canucks forward Todd Bertuzzi on Colorado Avalanche rookie Steve Moore.

Moore lay in a pool of blood for 10 minutes, his face smashed into the ice, Bertuzzi stalked him in apparent retribution for a hit on Vancouver captain Markus Naslund in a previous game.

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The incident earned saturation media coverage reserved in other countries for a celebrity trial in the United States or a royal scandal in Britain.

Sickening video from Monday night's game flashed across television screens, and top Canadian and world news was pushed off front-pages and radio news bulletins by the on-ice mugging.

Columnists condemned hockey as a "vile creature" an "affront to sport" stained by "frontier justice" and a "nightmare in the family living room."

The outrage held Canada and hockey up to unflattering scrutiny on foreign television networks like CNN, ESPN and other world broadcasters -- coverage which could seriously threaten the sport's hopes for new viewers and markets.

Moore, 25, lay in a Vancouver hospital on Wednesday with two fractured vertebrae in his neck and a concussion, with his career in the balance.

"He came within a fraction of inches of being killed or permanently disabled," his father, Jack Moore told the Toronto Star.

Bertuzzi, a hard nosed but talented winger was summoned to Toronto for an NHL disciplinary hearing expected to hand him a lengthy ban.

His troubles did not end there. Vancouver police were investigating the incident and could lay assault charges.

While hockey leaves much of the world cold, the sport forms a vital piece of Canada's national identity, from gleaming National Hockey League pro arenas to ramshakle rinks and frozen ponds in every town.

The annual quest for the sport's championship, the Stanley Cup, consumes sports fans, and provides television companies with their top viewing figures.

But normally mild mannered Canadians were left to reflect on Wednesday on the violent streak exposed and cultivated by a high speed sport where physical contact is lionized and any sign of weakness lampooned.

Hockey and society columnist Roy MacGregor said on the front page of the Globe and Mail that the NHL, which has six Canadian and 24 US franchises was in "intensive care" over the Bertuzzi scandal and a looming dispute between players and team owners which could darken arenas next season.

Toronto Star hockey expert Damien Cox lambasted the incident as "sickening, despicable and an affront to the sport" but predicted it would not end the "sick cycle" of NHL violence.

While hockey has always been inseparable from violence, the game is less tainted by bloodlust than in the days of mayhem and bench clearing brawls of the 1970s.

But it remains the only major sport where fighting, though punished by a five minute penalty, is tolerated, and regarded as simply part of the game, by fans, players and officials alike.

Where the Bertuzzi drama has touched a nerve is that it happened away from the play while Moore was unaware he was about to be hit.

The incident violated the "code" under which "enforcers" employed by pro-teams protect star players, with stand-up bare knuckle fights often arranged before the puck is dropped.

Monday's incident recalled another notorious controversy which dragged hockey through the courts, exposing the NHL, the sport's top professional league, to unflattering scrutiny.

In 2000, Boston tough guy Marty McSorley swung a stick and knocked out then Canucks enforcer Donald Brashear in one of the league's most violent incidents.

McSorley was convicted of assault and given an 18 month conditional discharge, banned for the year by the NHL and never played in the league again.

 

[cbuckser]

[Q]ben03 Wrote:
6:00 p.m. ET • THE ABRAMS REPORT â€" The video is shocking... a cheap shot on the ice and a player goes down. While the NHL’s Steve Moore fights for his life in a hospital bed, the player who blindsided him is under police investigation. Dan Abrams has the latest on this disturbing act of violence in pro sports and the legal fallout. (cc)  [/Q]
The melodrama will not help anybody make a rational decision about the appropriate punishment Todd Bertuzzi should receive.

[Josh '99]

Spending three hours in a stadium that's half full of Yankee fans?  Yeah, I'd say so.  :-P

[bigredgum]

[Q]cbuckser Wrote:

 ugarte Wrote:
 The Stevens hit on Lindros was entirely legal, in my opinion.  [/Q]


With Scott Stevens, legality is not the question...when he's on the ice and sees a guy with his head down, Stevens' intent is to concuss, not defend, that player. I've seen plenty of hits in similar situations where offensive guys have escaped serious injury. Stevens is the only player in the league who consistently manages to injure players in situations that happen in with every team in every game.

[jy3]

[Q]bigredgum Wrote:


With Scott Stevens, legality is not the question...when he's on the ice and sees a guy with his head down, Stevens' intent is to concuss, not defend, that player. I've seen plenty of hits in similar situations where offensive guys have escaped serious injury. Stevens is the only player in the league who consistently manages to injure players in situations that happen in with every team in every game.
 [/Q]

maybe it is not that stevens is attempting to concuss a player - maybe he just hits harder. he is a talented open ice hitter. if he were to consistently injure players with illegal or "cheap" hits then i would agree with you. stevens is not hte only player who has given lindros a concussion.

in fact, stevens has had concussions himself.

[dss28]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=1756357

[Q]"He's doing well," Avalanche captain Joe Sakic said. "There is nothing to the spinal cord, which is nice."


Members of the Avalanche gathered at Vancouver General Hospital on Tuesday and broke into applause when Moore was wheeled into a room in a bulky harness intended to protect his neck.


He managed a smile for his anxious teammates and, after a trainer explained the injuries, said: "Looks worse than it is, though, right?"


One by one, Sakic and the rest approached Moore and whispered words of support. According to The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News, he assured them: "I just have to wear this stylish brace for a while."[/Q]

I'm glad to see he's upbeat about it.

[dss28]

And.. Bertuzzi apologizes... http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=1755854 , but I haven't been able to find a direct transcript of his emotional apology yet.

Here's the thing, though... and I'm not trying to microanalyze his words or anything, but he apologizes for "what transpired," "what happened," etc. rather than "what I did."  I know that arguments have been made about the roles of enforcers, and trying to send a message that says  "don't f*ck with my teammates..." but I feel like he's apologizing for the outcome, not the act that lead to the outcome.  It makes it feel "passive" in a way... and while I truly believe he's upset about it, and didn't mean to injure Moore to the extent that he did, I kinda feel like he's not really taking full responsibility for his actions.

Personally, I agree with the idea that Bertuzzi should be out for the extent of Moore's recovery.

[Josh '99]

Realistically, I think the way you put it is the case.  You can't seriously think Bertuzzi intended to break Moore's neck or anything like that, and I'm sure he feels awful about the actual unintended (and, thinking like a law student, likely unforeseeable) consequences of his actions.  But I don't think he's apologizing for what he did, because if his actions had had foreseeable results, sure, maybe Moore is out a couple of teeth or something, broken nose, Bertuzzi gets 5 games or something.  Nobody would be making a big deal about it and he wouldn't be apologizing at all.

[Lauren '06]

Here's the video of his statement, everything he says is pretty cut and dried so you don't really need a transcript:

http://www.cbc.ca/MRL/clips/ram-lo/bertuzzi_todd040310.ram

Personally, I was more affected by what he didn't say than what he did say.  There are several painful lengths of silence where he gets choked up.