As a rabid sports fan, I have a following in every major sports league with a team I cheer for on a nightly basis. In the National Hockey League, my team of choice is the Colorado Avalanche and it has been for many years. We are approaching the five year anniversary of one of the darkest attacks in the history of the league, in my opinion. After coming across this article, it brought back the memories as I watched it on television, live as it happened. Let me set the situation for you: Forward Steve Moore of the Colorado Avalanche, just a few weeks earlier, had taken out the star of the Vancouver Canucks at that time, Markus Naslund with a legal hip check. The Canucks had come out prior to the following game with the Avs, March 8, 2004, claiming that the hit was out on Moore and that retaliation would be taken against the forward for his hit on their star. Below is the video of what transpired between Todd Bertuzzi and Steve Moore and the aftermath that followed.
Now, I watched this live, as it happened on March 8, 2004. Shooting up in my bed, I was outraged, I was furious...for lack of better terms, I was flat out pissed. I thought Bertuzzi should be fined, suspended and thrown in jail...how is that hit any different than what some thug does to an unsuspecting victim in a dark alley? The hit shattered a couple of Moore's vertebrae, leaving him unconscious and temporarily paralyzing him...he has yet to return to hockey after relearning how to walk. Subsequent charges were filed against Bertuzzi, the man who sucker punched Moore and drove his head into the ice. He was charged with assault, just as if it had happened on the street. According to the article, "Bertuzzi was suspended by the NHL and charged with assault causing bodily harm in June 2004 after a four-month investigation. He pleaded guilty, received a conditional discharge and was sentenced to probation and community service. Bertuzzi was reinstated by the NHL after 17 months -- time that also included the 2004-05 lockout."
Now, here is a problem I have with this. Bertuzzi pleaded guilty...guilty...to forcefully breaking another man's neck, costing him his livelihood, his career. Bertuzzi is back on the ice, playing the game he loves and making $2 million a year, while Moore gets to sit in a rehabilitation center, attempting a comeback at a sport he was already playing before having it taken away from him. Bertuzzi has since then claimed the hit came at direct orders of the coach, Mark Crawford, who coincidentally enough, had been a coach for the Avalanche just a couple of years prior. The article shows that Crawford has since then accused Bertuzzi of not following orders and yada yada.
The bottom line is this...Bertuzzi should have been permanently suspended from the NHL with no chance of return, unless Moore ever returned to play for an NHL team. The fact that Bertuzzi committed this act and willingly admitted it by taking the guilty plea and is still playing, making millions of dollars a year and Steve Moore is left to sit, watching this criminal live out his dream. If Bertuzzi was truly guilty of taking away Moore's career, the NHL should have done the same to him. Needless to say, on March 8th, it'll be another day that Steve Moore can look at his calendar and curse the name Todd Bertuzzi...just as I do.
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