One Year Later ............



Trevor Linden - Forever a Canuck

Hockey Moments

Marty McSorley assaults Donald Brashear

Years before Chris Simon used Ryan Hollweg's head as a piñata, Boston Bruins enforcer Marty McSorley became the symbol of NHL violent irresponsibility when he swung his stick at the head of Donald Brashear of the Vancouver Canucks on Feb. 21, 2000. Brashear was knocked out when his head hit the ice. McSorely was suspended by the NHL for the rest of the season, but that was the least of his worries.

McSorely was charged with assault, a rare intrusion by law enforcement into the rink with which the NHL understandably disagreed. McSorley was found guilty of assault with a weapon and served 18 months of probation. His NHL career was over; Brashear ended the decade playing for the New York Rangers.

The incident was a significant moment for the NHL, which had escaped the legal ramifications of its players' actions since Dino Ciccarelli's stick incident in 1988. But it would find one of his players back in court a few years later, as you'll see in a few spots down the ranking.

Death of Dan Snyder

Snyder was a 25-year-old center for the Atlanta Thrashers who was just starting his NHL career when his life tragically ended in a sad, horrific moment for hockey. From Sports Illustrated in 2003:

Dany Heatley(notes), 22, the star right winger, was driving from an evening meet-and-greet with season ticket holders in his black Ferrari 360 Modena with Dan Snyder, the Thrashers' 25-year-old fourth-line center who was staying at his house. Suddenly, on a curvy road in Atlanta's Buckhead neighborhood, Heatley lost control and the car, going 80 mph, skidded into a brick pillar and iron fence. Snyder was thrown from the vehicle and fractured his skull. After six days in a coma he died on Sunday night.

Heatley, at the time one of the League's brightest young stars, was also injured in the crash but was charged with a felony count of vehicular homicide, which carried a maximum sentence of 15 years. Snyder's family offered forgiveness and didn't want Heatley to go to jail; the judge took that into account when Heatley pled guilty to four of six charges and received three years probation -- with the felony charge dropped.

The incident has remained a permanent part of Heatley's career and subsequent stardom, including a move by EA Sports to drop him from a video game cover after the incident. Snyder's memory has been honored through awards and an arena name in his hometown.

The Todd Bertuzzi(notes) Incident

How infamous was Todd Bertuzzi's blindside punch that ended the career of Colorado Avalanche winger Steve Moore? NBC's "The Today Show" had a segment about it after the March 8, 2004 legendary moment of brutality, and they cover hockey about as often as Haley's Comet does a flyby.

So that's what mainstream America knew about the NHL in 2004. Tragic.

It began a few weeks earlier in Feb. 2004, when Moore gave Vancouver Canucks star Markus Naslund(notes) a hit to the head that drew the ire of the Canucks. From CBC Sports:

The Canucks were unsympathetic, and their threats of retribution came to a head during the third period of a game later that season in Vancouver. Unsuccessful in his attempts to goad Moore into a fight, the six-foot-three, 242-pound Bertuzzi skated up behind his smaller adversary, grabbed a handful of jersey and used his free hand to knock Moore unconscious before piling atop the fallen player.

When the ensuing melee finally ceased, Moore was being carted off on a stretcher and Bertuzzi was on his way to receiving a lengthy suspension from the NHL.

Lengthy as in 17 months, which carried through the lockout and kept Bertuzzi ineligible to play in international events. Moore was hospitalized with three broken vertebrae and a concussion that ended his hockey career.

Bertuzzi pled guilty to criminal charges filed in Vancouver, getting probation. Moore has had multiple lawsuits against Bertuzzi and Canucks coaches and management, some of which are still pending. Bertuzzi himself brought former Coach Marc Crawford, now with the Dallas Stars, into the legal entanglement by allegedly claiming that Moore "pay the price" for his actions.

Simply put: One of the blackest of black eyes for hockey, both in the severity of the injury and the damage the time-honored "Code" suffered as a hockey institution.