I read on espn.com a few days back that Moore is no longer under contract for the Avalanche. He’s a free agent now. Though I doubt any team will sign him until (if) his health status is cleared up.
And if the league allows this type of headhunting to continue without severe penalties and enforcement then I’ll be writing off the fucking NHL as fundamentally broken. As things stand, I believe it’s only a matter of time before somebody gets paralyzed or worse.
When players run into each other, sometimes people are going to get hurt. It’s unfortunate, but if you don’t like it, go watch the WNHL.
Players do not get suspended for accidental high sticks. Brian Berard lost most of the vision in his eye from an accidental high stick from Marian Hossa, and Hossa didn’t get any suspension on the play. He probably got a double-minor for high sticking, but that’s about it.
By “going after him” I wasn’t implying that they (the enforcers) would looking to cheap-shot him, although I suppose some will. I meant they will looking to square off with him, one-on-one, face-to-face.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see this happen virtually ever game, at least in the early part of the season. I’m wondering if his team mates will allow this to happen on a nightly basis.
Bertuzzi has to know this is coming.
The historical response to a seemingly cheap hit on a star player has ALWAYS been, for a hundred years of hockey, that one of your tough guys must fight the guy who made the hit.
And they’d already fought Moore for it before the Bertuzzi attack. So it should have been over.
They did? I didn’t know that.
I want to point out again, that I no way condone what Bert did, and will never condone any similar acts.
IIRC, the Bertuzzi incident was in a different game than the fight for which he was retaliating.
The hit that sparked the whole thing happened in a different game, but in the game in which Moore was attacked, Moore had already fought Matt Cooke.
So I’m not allowed to watch hockey and dislike thuggery? I don’t think they need to be slamming into each other or having any fights at all. This is Hockey, not boxing.
What the hell is turtling?
I wasn’t defending Bertuzzi, I was defending Moore. He put a clean and legal hit on Naslund, and unfortunately Naslund suffered a concussion. These things happen in contact sports. What shouldn’t be happenning in contact sports is the retalition, especially anything like what Bertuzzi did.
Getting into a fight(and usually provoking it), and then refusing to actually fight. Here’s an example.
Ah. So that avalanche guy started a fight and then got in the fetal position? I guess not everyone is Ty Domi!
Depends on how you define “started”, and who you ask. The Claude Lemieux-Kris Draper mess is a hijack I really shouldn’t get into here.
There were lots of issues with Lemieux long before his cheap shot on Draper.
It did, however, wind up in a situation where two goalies squared off at center ice, a sight I never expected to see.
A long time ago, in a playoff series far far away…from me. Colorado is kinda far from…never mind.
During the western conference finals a ways back, Claude Lemieux thought it would be fun to check Kris Draper into an open bench door. I’m not sure how breaking someones face is fun, but I’m not here to judge the cheap shotting bastard. Drapes goes face first and shatters a lot of bones. Harsh words are spoken. Scotty Bowman screams at Lemieux and the entire Avs bus. The Avs go on to win the playoff series but the hard feelings remain.
Shortly before the end of the next season, The Wings and Avs meet in Detroit. There were a few minor headlines screaming for blood. Nothing too major. The game starts and Darren McCarty goes in to exact some NHL justice. He starts swinging and Lemieux turtles hisself up like the candy ass he really is and gets whomped big time. Thusly, the legendary Colorado/Detroit rivalry was born. There have been other fights over the years, but none as meaningful or as enjoyable from a fans perspective.
In fact, every time a Detroit goalie fights a Colorado goalie, the Red Wings win the cup. I suppose Hasek didn’t technically fight Roy, but he meant to and the wings took the cup and that’s all that matters.
This also serves as a good example of how these things are supposed to go. A cheap shot takes place. Next game 2-12 players drop the gloves and achieve catharsis with some bruising and stitches. Noone jumps anyone from behind.
As for players taking a run at Bertuzzi, good friggin luck. The man is a tank. Maybe Zdeno Chara or Georges Laroque, but even that would be a tough fight. And Colorado doesn’t have the players left to take a run at Bertuzzi (or challenge them in a playoff series), so don’t look for much there either. I think most NHL players will have the decency to just let this go.
Well, they did add rules to prevent this type of enforcement. They beefed up the Instigator rule, for one: Any player who instigates a fight in the final five minutes gets a game misconduct, an automatic one-game suspension and a $10,000 fine. The suspension and fine doubles for every incident after that.
I think this will cut down on sending out the enforcer line as the game winds down. It would be stupid for coaches to send enforcers out early in the game and risk getting behind early while shorthanded, especially with all the other rule changes that cater to more offense. Of course, I’ll be pretty damn surprised if Bertuzzi doesn’t get attacked the first time they face Colorado, but as far as late game brawls, the rule change should stifle that.
They also added zero tolerance on clutch/grabbing, interference, and hooking / holding obstruction. Of course that’s always been there, but they’re saying the refs are going to strictly enforce it now. We’ll see about that.
Yo TO, and presumabably a Laffs fan, go fuck yourself.
Did you cry yourself to sleep when the Laffs signed Marchment?
Are you going to sit on your hands when Tucker’s on the ice?
With TO having iced two of the dirtiest players in the NHL in the same season, you’ve got some nerve bawling now.
I’ll cut you some slack, because you do live in Toronto, but come call me a fawning fuck to my face and I’ll take that slack out on your cry-baby ass. Ooooh, cry-baby, I forgot about Tie Domi!
As you obviously don’t know all of us Nucks fans, you need to keep your contempt reserved for the player and the action.
Since I am not a Leafs fan - I sir, am a hockey fan, and thus would never cheer for the Leafs - I guess we can discount your entire post.
But as much as I despite the Leafs, as much as I think Tie Domi is a thug and a disgrace to hockey, no Leaf has ever been as much of a scum sucking cheap shot artist as Todd Bertuzzi.