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Some come off it I have seen the play from all angels and no matter how you slice it Bertuzzi was gutluss in sucker punching a defencless player who had no idea what was about to happen.
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Couldn't disagree more. He knew exactly why Betuzzi was hauling on his shirt like a 2 year old wanting an ice cream. Yes he was trying to avoid an altercation, but he certainly wasn't unawares as to the intent of Beruzzi. I am not saying it was right by any stretch, but lets not make him into Mother Theresa here.
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Injuries usually occur if the person tries to avoid the hit than actually taking the hit. Trust me I used to play hockey I know how it works and have seen it time and time again.
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Exactly my point.
Its Hockey, it doesn't matter if you like the violence inherit in it or not; the fact is that it is there. Can you take this incident and use it to complain about the system? Sure, but you cant blame him for acting within the system that he is accustomed to. He sees cheap hits all the time in this game, was in fact retaliating for one. Did he intend to cause him harm? YOU BET! Did he intend to injure him to the extent that he did? I personally don't think so.He is at the hight of his career, why would he throw it all away on a cheap shot.
He thought he would maybe convince the guy to take the gloves off, and at worst take a game suspension for a not so clean hit, if the three blind men even noticed his little dig.
He wanted a fight. I don't know about you all, but when I am digging for a fight and someone refuses, it just fuels me on even more.
It was an unclean hit with an unfortunate result. They are using him as an example to prevent and perhaps put a stop to this sort of garbage in the game. It isn't entirely right that the punishment is so stiff, but they have to start somewhere. I would expect people to be even more outraged if this sort of dirty hockey continues and goes unchecked.