Hey guys, a question. I'm still in Japan, so I haven't actually seen the hit, but I read online today that whether or not Bertuzzi can play for Team Canada in the World Cup (does that tournament still have meaning now that the Olympics have the pros?) will be decided by Bettman later on.
WTF? Is this true? What is the precedent for this?
I remember that when Kariya was concussed right before the Nagano Olympics that the guy who did hit (Sutter?) was allowed to play in the Olympics since a NHL suspension didn't cover international play.
Why the double standard now?
ps. no, I'm not sure if Bertuzzi should be allowed to play for free in the summer either (as it keeps his skill level up and helps him), but still, I am wondering why a guy who also took a player out for a season was allowed to do so.
pps. Go Sens ;o)
Does the NHL distinguish between guys who square off and fight, compared to guys who sucker punch a player who wasn't even looking???
What Bertuzzi did, didn't seem like just rough-play... it seemed criminal.
Thanks BigKiller... so wasn't that assault instead of just part of the game???
It was the fact that he was blindsided that pissed a lot of people off and got him in trouble. However the severity of his suspension had to have come from that crushing skull first drop.
I think we learned from Brasher/McSorely that these cheap shots that are there to entice the other guy to drop gloves or are there to release frustration just don't go over as they have a tendancy to go bad too easily.