Let's forget we are talking about hockey for just one second.
Imagine one of your buddies gets roughed up in a fight and for a few weeks, you stew over it, getting angrier over time.
Finally, you get a chance to meet this guy and you cold-cock him from behind and slam his unconscious body to the ground, fracturing vertebrae and potentially ending his career.
If Vancouver Canuck winger Todd Bertuzzi did this in any area outside of a hockey rink, he would be thrown in jail for aggravated assault and the key would be lost.
No one would complain.
Bertuzzi's act was deplorable and sickening and he should be punished accordingly. Some contend that a suspension for the remainder of the regular season -- 12 games -- without missing any playoff time would be more than adequate.
This is ridiculous. A one-year suspension without pay would be a nice start, and would send a staunch message throughout the league that this thuggish disregard of the rules will not be tolerated.
This whole premeditated incident dates back weeks, when Moore knocked out the Canucks' Markus Naslund -- one of the best players in the game -- for three games following a check that didn't receive a penalty. The entire Vancouver team vowed payback.
Afterward, Vancouver's Brad May, who was once suspended for 20 games for slashing an opponent in the head, was quoted on espn.com as saying, "there's definitely a bounty on [Moore's] head. Clean hit or not, [Naslund] is our best player, and you respond. It's going to be fun when we get him."
I believe there is a time and a place for enforcers and payback in hockey, but Bertuzzi's cheap act was the move of a coward as he sucker-punched a defenseless player from behind while in the midst of a blowout game.
This isn't the Wild West and there is no shootout at high noon. Things should not be handled this way.
A year-long suspension has precedent -- in 2000, Boston Bruin Marty McSorley hit Donald Brashear, a former Canuck, in the head with his stick, giving Brashear a severe concussion.
Police intervention is not only needed in the Bertuzzi incident, but is essential. McSorley was convicted of assault with a weapon, but only received an 18-month conditional discharge. In layman's terms, no jail time and no criminal record.
True, by definition, a hockey stick is considered a weapon, but so are the fists of a 245-pounder, breaking the neck of someone from behind.
Based on Bertuzzi's contract, he will lose approximately $1 million during his suspension, but how much is the livelihood of Steve Moore worth? He might have only 12 points this season, but the NHL should value the life of the 25-year-old Moore just as much as any superstar.
The next time I want to see that chump in uniform is as he's checking in to the big house or on Court TV. We'll see how "payback" sounds for Bertuzzi during the civil trial when we're talking about compensatory and punitive damages.
Reach the reporter at jeffrey.hoodzow@asu.edu.
