Bertuzzi incident draws mixed response in LV

Nick Christensen

Friday, March 12, 2004 | 10:21 a.m.

When Vancouver Canucks forward Todd Bertuzzi knocked down Colorado Avalanche center Steve Moore this week, the shock waves rippled through all of hockey.

Seemingly everybody had a thought on Monday's affair, when Bertuzzi knocked Moore to the ice, breaking Moore's neck, reportedly in retaliation for a hit Moore made in February on Vancouver star Markus Naslund. Of course, the only opinion that really mattered was that of the NHL, which suspended Bertuzzi through the rest of the season and the playoffs.

Riding the team bus Thursday en route to tonight's game at Bakersfield, Las Vegas Wranglers coach Glen Gulutzan said he thought the penalty was warranted.

"It was justified, I think his suspension sends a message to guys: You can't be cheap and it's not a game where you can take advantage of guys when they're not ready and not aware," Gulutzan said. "I think that if he doesn't break his neck, I think Bertuzzi doesn't get the playoffs but he might get the rest of the regular season."

Wranglers forward Ryan Christie, who has played professionally for six years, said he thought the NHL was simply reacting to Moore's neck injury, instead of the hit itself.

"It's tough to say. I guess it's fair, but if Moore doesn't get hurt, all it is is a two-, maybe a five-minute penalty, and maybe a game misconduct," Christie said.

And, Christie pointed out, the hit was in retaliation for a growing number of stick hits that aren't called by referees.

"Obviously the hit was in retaliation for the hit Moore did to Naslund. That was a dirty hit, too. Naslund's teammates can't let that go by. You have to get back," Christie said.

In a time when the NHL's ratings have fallen, a significant lockout pending, and violence in sports in general being criticized, the Bertuzzi incident has more than a few viewers questioning whether fighting should be completely eliminated from the game.

But that's a move that players, like Christie, say would only prompt more discreet violence.

"You're never going to see fighting taken out of the game," he said. "You need to have it to handle the amount of stick injuries. There are guys who can get away with slashing. If they know nothing will happen to them, they'll keep on doing it. If you do something like Moore did to Naslund, they'll realize they have somebody coming after them."

Gulutzan agreed that the Bertuzzi situation isn't part of a larger problem of violence in hockey.

"This is an isolated incident. Things like this do happen every now and again, but by no means is Todd Bertuzzi a guy who's looking to do that," Gulutzan said. "He just got caught in the heat of the battle. Every now and then ... things like this do happen."

But despite Bertuzzi's cleaner reputation, Gulutzan said that the blind attack behind crossed the line.

"The worst thing is going after a guy from behind," he said. "That's the biggest no-no in hockey."