Todd Bertuzzi and the Reaction

[lock-jaw]

Flyer Frank:
Moore should have been suspended- no doubt, but like I said before, players police themselves. The Canucks would have still had a "retribution" issue with him even if he had been suspended. Bertuzzi's obvious lack of self-control is really the issue.

[cowboy]

I thought the Moore hit was clean

[DeformedGorilla]

Moore's hit was legal. no question.

[Luke 10]

Moore's hit was borderline dirty. It was leaked out today that Naslund has been injured since the hit. Along with the concussion - he also hyper-extnded his elbow. Regardless of whether it was dirty or Naslund got hurt, Moore shouls still have to pay - u can't take runs @ the other teams top player. Granato should never had him out there @ that pt. in the game. Granato probably only thinks like the dirty player that he was though. Moore should have turned around & taken his medicine.

[Luke 10]

Vancouver's 2 best players r out/injured & Moore just got out of the hospital. The only reason there was such a firestorm about this was because of the injury.
As far as getting the police involved - that's ridiculous. Following that logic, most players would have to be charged with something following every NHL & NFL game!
The great Mark Messier just got 2 games for spearing a guy in the groin. Is this not worse than a punch in the head? If there is any justice in the world, Messier will have to stand up for HIMSELF for the 1st time in about 10 yrs. & get beaten to a bloody pulp before he retires!

[Flyer_Frank]

Look at the tape again, cowboy and gorilla. The puck is nowheer near Naslund. In fact, it's Moore who plays the puck, redirecting it back to a defenseman, just before he applied the sucker hit to Naslund, who had no reasonable expection of being hit.

Anyone who saw that and didn't think Moore deserved a lengthy suspension just doesn't know the game, including Campbell.

Campbell was a failure as a tough guy, as a player, as a head coach and now as a league official. A Texas hat trick. I admit he did have some success as the guy who got Mike Keenan his coffee the year the Rangers won the Stanley Cup.

[NoTeeth]

Steve Moore, a no-name player in the league, took a cheap shot at Naslund for no reason. He could have just played the puck. After that incident, in old time hockey, Moore would have known he had to fight a goon and pay the price. But Moore is a wimp, and tried to do the crime without the time. Nope. Doesn't work that way, and Moore found out the hard way.

I'll be honest. I was happy to see Moore get hit, since he wasn't following the old time hockey rules of 'do the crime, then do the time'. I mean, Bertuzzi asked him on numerous occasions to fight. Numerous. You don't get to pick who to fight when you take out a captain and are a no name.

Make no mistake. Steve Moore brought it all on himself...

Fact is Moore's hit on Naslund WAS clean--but the broader point is that he avoided the puck in doing so. He should have just played the puck like most hockey players--and that is why people are mad. Moore is lucky to be in the league. He is not very talented, and is a no name.

Many Canucks players tried and tried and tried to take care of it. Every single time a tough guy would come around to Moore, the wimp would hide. Then he was a born gladiator when he saw a small guy named Cooke or somethihng.

Those are all facts, and it is not my problem if you guys cannot handle the truth. If Moore just took a punch from Bert and fell in a fight, none of this would have happened. But because Moore chickened out, he's eatin his meals from a Dixie straw...

[AVALANCHE FAN]

Bertuzzi shouldnt be allowed to play again until Moore can!(NOTEETH) Naslund isnt new to the game he knows what happens if you are looking down when you have the puck it was a fair hit.Bertuzzi is a nothing but a punk attacking someone half his size and weight because they wone fight with him he deserves everything he gets!

[NoTeeth]

I see it differently.

The point is that the hit on Naslund was one which angered the Canucks, rightfully so. Technically legal or not, you have a no-name player taking a shot at a captain, and putting him out of the game for weeks.

All I am saying is that Moore needed to realize that HE DID NOT SETTLE EVERYTHING BY CHOOSING TO FIGHT COOKE. Moore had been invited several times by Bertuzzi--Moore turned him down because he was scared. So, instead of paying the price like he has to, Moore tries to weasel his way out of it by picking Cooke. Doesn't work that way. Finally, Bertuzzi got sick of it and knocked Moore into next year. I had a big smile on my face and was thinking "finally, payback time". I also thought "you can only wimp out for so long until someone comes and decks you"

Moore shouldn't have done the crime if he could not do the payback time....

[BM24]

Bertuzzi and Moore's actions aside. I think a lot of responsibilty falls on Tony Granato. Why was this guy letting him have shifts with weak linemates toward the end of a game that is already over.

Moore should have been riding the pine as soon as it got out of reach. OR atleast had Worrell standing right beside him on the ice.

[bigjack]

Originally Posted by HordiBrusk29

Regardless it is ridiculous. It is a hockey game for christ sakes. It is unfortunate, but the police getting involved is stupid. It happened during a GAME and it should stay within the league. PERIOD.

Agree with you HordiBrusk29,
The courts have way to much say now anyway slowly eroding our democracy!
This is another example of how something taken out of the game like a true policeman that we had 30 years ago and back created this situation.
The players in the 1970's and before policed themselves but because of non hockey media activists crying about violence and 30 teams with the supergoon today who deters no one because he never plays or has a meaningful fight, we get a guy like Bertuzzi who was ill prepared and completely screwed up the situation by jumping Moore from behind. This little problem would of been handled much better 30-40 years ago and that would of been the end of it!
It's like any other skill, it has to be taught and guys like Ferguson would of known how to correct Moore and not cause the fiasco that Bertuzzi has by being ill planned and emotional! Remember when Ferguson would purposely wait until the end of a guys shift and fight him. That was a well thought out plan. No wild emotion and crazy action but controlled mayhem! It was an art and a skill to be calm and calculating. No messy work but a nice clean job!
Bertuzzi blew it because he probably never had to do it before and used his emotion rather than his brain and overreacted!
Very Sloppy and Messy!

[Fotiu]

Police should stay out of hockey.
Otherwise everybody who fights more than 2-3 times a year would be put in jail as repeat offenders.
Every hit could be considered as an assault and be fined.

[NoTeeth]

You all have good points. The cops...LOL. I was laughing when they were checking the scene out. They had no business being there--I just assumed it was a Canadian thing.

Granato was to blame too. Everyone could feel that payback time had not been served. Bertuzzi ''should have'' just gotten in front of Moore and just started whaling away. Instead, he had a surprise attack based upon emotion. The emotion stemmed from frustration that Moore was turning all these fights down because he was scared.

[bigjack]

Originally Posted by NoTeeth

You all have good points. The cops...LOL. I was laughing when they were checking the scene out. They had no business being there--I just assumed it was a Canadian thing.

Granato was to blame too. Everyone could feel that payback time had not been served. Bertuzzi ''should have'' just gotten in front of Moore and just started whaling away. Instead, he had a surprise attack based upon emotion. The emotion stemmed from frustration that Moore was turning all these fights down because he was scared.

The cops on the ice or field of play question or comment reminds me of the book Ball Four written in 1969 and the Yankee manager Ralph Houk. It was a time of riots and anti war protesting and draft card burning on College campuses and the Yankees and Seattle Pilots had a big brawl and the cops came onto the field and Houk went nuts saying stuff like, "what the hell are cops doing on the field and get off the goddamn field and you ought to be at the universities where you belong."
Yeah the police have no business being on the ice or the field.

[NoTeeth]

Right Jack. I mean, this was even more of a joke. At least they had riots, a draft, etc. This was basically a punch IN THE CONTEXT of the game in which payback for a previous hit had not been served.

I mean, if you are at work, and a guy decks you or you deck someone--the police don't rush in. if you want to sue privately, you can. But the employment place has nothing to do with the incident itself. Very odd.

Oh, and funny how Moore chose to file a lawsuit in the US. Not even where the incident occurred.