On March 8, 2004, the world was shocked when Vancouver Canucks player Todd Bertuzzi sucker punched Colorado’s Steve Moore from behind. The NHL suspended Bertuzzi for the remaining 13 games of the regular season and the playoffs. He will forfeit over $500,000 in salary and must apply for reinstatement if he wants to play next season. With this incident the NHL has started to take a serious look at hockey violence and what is acceptable and what is not. The vicious attack was settlement for the knocking out of Markus Naslund on February 16 by the Steve Moore. Moore was not penalized and Naslund missed three games due to a concussion.
On March 20, 2004, almost two weeks after the Bertuzzi incident, the NHL handed out another suspension to Wade Belak of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Colorado Avalanche player Ossi Vaananen was hit in the head with a stick when Belak was off-balanced and accidentally hit him. Belak was ejected and given a match penalty for attempting to injure and suspended for eight games. He was given eight games because he was a repeat offender; he was given two games for elbowing Washington Capital player Brendan Witt back in 2002. Vaananen’s teammate Teemu Selanne said, “I don’t know if someone has to die before they’re going to learn, but we have to stop this before something really bad happens. There’s not enough respect for each other right now.” People are not respecting each other or the game. It is like a wrestling match on ice and until something bad happens, the NHL are going to leave it with suspensions to solve the violence that is taking place. Mark Messier, a well-respected player, speared Pittsburgh Penguins player Martin Strbak purposely after being crosschecked in front of the net. His suspension was only two days because he is not a repeat offender. Should it matter if the player is a repeat offender to determine the length of the suspension? Belak’s incident was accidental and he was given eight games where Messier’s was done purposely and given two games.
Also on March 20, Calgary Flames head coach Darryl Sutter and left wing Krzysztof Oliwa were given suspensions for starting a full line (including goalies) brawl with 2.9 seconds left to play. Sutter was given two games and Oliwa was given three games for physical abuse.
With television ratings going down for the NHL, the relentless on ice violence could take the blame. The players need to respect each other to revive the game of hockey and show the younger kids how the game is supposed to be played.
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