Bertuzzi Suspension

[vor_lord]

Oh, please. Is not responding-in-kind cowardice when you know the guy or his teammates are going to keep whacking you until you react or get an injury? Bertuzzi kept it up until, yep, down Moore went. If you do react, all that happens, usually, is that you lock arms, fall over and have the linesmen pull you apart. Which is safer?

Amen, Vandiablo. I like the injury based suspension time idea as well. Of course, what do you do if you end someone's career (or their life)? And how do you judge if something was intentional? It's just not workable.

I must state up front that I am a fan of the Avalanche (I live in Colorado). You've heard the sympathy story for Bertuzzi, now everyone can hear how it's felt on the other side.

Chaerophon, it sounds like you're blaming Moore for Bertuzzi's cheap shot? It's his fault, because he wouldn't fight over and over? What if he'd held his own with Brad May, for example (I know, not likely, but it's possible he could get lucky)? They would've kept coming and coming.

Cowardice is hitting a guy in the head from behind.

Cowardice is Vancouver not taking care of their "urgent business" when they were in Colorado the last time these two teams met. If they were so angry about Moore's hit, just _bursting_ with loyalty to their man, why no peep in the Denver game? The reason is that Bertuzzi's act wasn't the result of a frustrated desire to give payback on behalf of his teammate. That was secondary. If this game was even remotely close, the Matt Cooke fight would've probably been enough, and we could've truly seen who is the best in the division this season. Bertuzzi lost it because Vancouver was being blown out on home ice, and that is frustrating for any competitor.

Nobody lost their cool in the Denver game. It was close--this is a division race, and points are important.

Cowardice is not taking responsibility for your own actions (you brought that up actually, indicating Steve Moore's lack of response during the game). If he's a coward, Bertuzzi is a much bigger one. He couldn't even take responsibility in his apology. Apologizing for "what happened" instead of "what I did" is not a real apology.

That said, I really believe he is sorry--kind of in disbelief. I think his punishment was appropriate, given the history of such things in the league. I don't think he is a terrible person. I agree with you, it doesn't look like he was really trying to drive his head into the ice. But you simply can't sucker punch someone. That's reprehensible, not "understandable".

I also think the league should address things so that things like this (which are NOT part of the code of hockey) don't keep happening. And I think hockey fans, especially Vancouver fans, should speak out against this kind of thing, not talk about how they "understand Todd's frustration", holding rallies to show support for the cheap shotter (yes, that is happening). Show your support for him when he comes back next year, you know, like "Hey buddy, you made a mistake, but you paid the price and you won't do it again."

Let's call it what it was: a dirty, dangerous cheap shot. Let's let Todd learn his lesson, and think about how we can try and keep this kind of thing from happening without hurting the game itself.

On an aside, Chaerophon.... it hasn't been reported here in Colorado that Moore will be back on the ice in 4-6 weeks. I hope that's true. It sounds like a lame rumor to help try and downplay the impact of Bertuzzi's stupidity on a young kid. Do you have a source for that?