44 And It's Called the Todd Bertuzzi
Back in 2004 Sportscenter had a small video show of a Canucks fan singing a song called 44 And it's Called the Todd Bertuzzi. Since Bertuzzi's departure from the Vancouver Canucks and his infamous "sucker punch" on Colorado Avalanche player Steve Moore. During a regular season game between Vancouver and Colorado at GM Place the two teams were having scraps throughout the night and tempers began to flare higher when Steve Moore laid a dirty hit on Markus Naslund. While Moore skated forward Bertuzzi followed closely behind him and sucker punched him from behind, knocking Moore out and leaving him to fall to the ice un-conscience. Bertuzzi was suspended indefinitely from the league. When Bertuzzi returned to the ice in 2006 after the 2005 lockout you could hear his name heckled and booed throughout every arena in the NHL in every game he played. Bertuzzi though showed humility after the incident by giving an emotional and sympathetic apology to Steve Moore, his family, friends, the players of the NHL and the Vancouver Canucks. He especially gave an apology to the children who witnessed what he did at the game that night quoting his sentence, "I especially want to apologize for the kids who watched tonight's game. That's not me that's not how I play or what I'm about." Bertuzzi left the podium in tears and clearly in remorse for what he had done.
In 2007 he signed on with the Detroit Red Wings and lead them to a successful campaign into the Western Conference Finals only to fall short of the Stanley Cup Finals to the Anaheim Ducks who would go on to win the award. Todd Bertuzzi currently is playing once again with the Red Wings and it seems that his reputation is slowly vanishing since the Moore incident. Bertuzzi currently is one of the Wings scoring leaders with 8 goals, 9 assists and 17 points. Bertuzzi has now had two nights where he has scored both game winning goals for Detroit giving the Wings third place in the Central division and quickly climbing up the ladder to battle the Preds for second place. It seems the old Todd has been revived (the scoring Todd) and the Wings are on a two game streak. The question is can Bertuzzi help the Wings go back to finals in 2010 for the thrid time? As Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock has said, "It's a long road and were taking it one game at a time. We always have to look at whats in front of us before we can look ahead."
December 14th, 2009 at 3:47 AM ^
got Todd Bertuzzi'ed at his own bday party, the poor guy got his jaw broke and never even saw it coming
December 14th, 2009 at 7:24 AM ^
Bert play at the pre-Moore level. He's had a history of back issues, you can still see him shy away from contact in the corners at times.
The Wings needed a boost though.
December 14th, 2009 at 9:17 AM ^
will always have the same reputation as far as I'm concerned. He's done nothing to dispel it.
December 14th, 2009 at 11:57 AM ^
He never should have been allowed back into the league.
December 14th, 2009 at 3:10 PM ^
You must have no idea about hockey.
First off, Bertuzzi's actions that night against Moore was a terrible decision on his part, but he was defending his teams top player (Naslund) from a hit Moore did on him earlier in the year. Moore had a blatant knee to knee hit on Naslund and knocked him out for a few weeks. In hockey, that deserves pay back (i.e. baseball beaming). Bertuzzi took it too far, but Moore knew the next time they were going to play that he was going to be targeted. Overall, lets face it. Bertuzzi had no intention at hurting Moore in the way he did and ended up paying the consequences. I disagree that he should have been banned from the league because he was not a dirty player, he was defending his teammate, and there was no intent to injure.
December 14th, 2009 at 11:10 AM ^
I've always seen him as a petulant little bitch ever since the Canucks/Wild series where he cried whenever he didn't get his way. The "year-long" suspension that coincided and ended with the lockout was typical Bettman crap. There was no league that year to be suspended from! He was apologetic after realizing he looked bad.
December 14th, 2009 at 11:19 AM ^
But, he hasn't done anything similar again, so maybe he deserves the benefit of the doubt.
On a side note: I'm not sure it's accurate to say in 2007 he , "...lead [the Red Wings] to a successful campaign into the Western Conference Finals." The Wings generally have one of the best teams in the league - comparable to USC or Florida in college football, and I don't think Bertuzzi was the main reason for their success.
December 14th, 2009 at 12:32 PM ^
Bertuzzi hasn't been the same player since the injury to Moore. I wonder if he shy's away from people a bit because he doesn't want to find himself in that position again. I'm sure his back and his age (a lot of physical players aren't as physical later in their careers) have something to do with it, too.
If you have ever heard him talk about the hit on Moore, he sounds like a guy who has a lot of regret. He always played like a goon but a goon with tremendous skill. There is no doubt that he suckered him, but I really don't think he was trying to injure him to that extent.
I still think the NHL dropped the ball, letting Bertuzzi come back so soon. They will say he missed over a year of Hockey but that year was the same year hockey was shut down for an entire season. How can you say a guy was suspended for more than a year when there was nothing for him to come back to?
December 14th, 2009 at 2:45 PM ^
There are a few really harsh comments on this subject but I will inject my own thoughts as well.
I will start by saying I have never been a fan of any team that Bertuzzi has played for and have always been disinterested in him as well.
Having said that, as a former hockey player you always look at situations like his closely and determine where you sit once said situation is resolved.
I played hockey all my life and was a similar type player as Bertuzzi (by that I mean big body who liked playing along the boards but could also score, though not nearly at the level he could). In hockey things like this happened a lot.
In that situation the star player for his team took a cheap shot and he tried to even the score. In his attempt to do so he sucker punched a guy who was skating away after the play.
I am not saying what he did was right by any stretch, but I have seen many things a lot worse in hockey. What happened was a freak accident that no one could have predicted would happen. I am a Dr. and after watching the replay of that event many times I still can't see how the end result occurred.
To say that he hasn't done anything to redeem his reputation since that event would only be true if you meant that he never really had a bad reputation to begin with (which IME he didn't because you don't base a persons reputation on a single event). Prior to that event he was never considered a dirty player. He was a hard hitter and a grinder, but was never dirty and to even suggest he has that reputation is unfair.
To conclude I would also say that the suspension was appropriate given the context of what took place. It was a sucker punch and no one can convince me that he actually intended for what happened to take place. I would say that he was suspended a long time for something that would normally be a game misconduct with a possible four to five game suspension.
I can't remember who, but someone just got a couple of games for a sucker punch a week or two ago. Same thing with a different outcome as to the other players injuries following the event.
December 14th, 2009 at 2:56 PM ^
I appreciate your insight on the situation as a former player. My beef, I never cared for his attitude prior to the incident and the suspension was a joke. How can you count his suspension from the league when no player was allowed to play in the NHL during that time.
December 14th, 2009 at 3:17 PM ^
First, he did miss actual games before the season ended and the lock out ensued.
Second, the suspension was from pay as well as play. When the lock out occurred, most players likely have payment clauses with their union so that they get paid regadless whether they work or not (not saying this is fact, but in most contracts if there is a strike, the employees get paid through the union). Bertuzzi as a suspended player would likely not get this benefit.
Finally, I would return to the point that you almost have to ignore what the outcome of the event was and only consider what he did when you suspend him. I don't remember how many games he missed prior to the lockout but he did miss some. Another player who did the same thing a couple of weeks ago just got suspended a few games (four I think but I could be wrong).
This is just my opinion which I know are like babies, and every body loves their own yada yada yada. I just don't see how you take into account the persons injuries when making a decision on the suspension. I think it is the players intent that is the key in these situations.
My thinking for this is based on the fact that people get injured in hockey all the time. Even during plays where nothing illegal occurred there are injuries. That seems to be an expected part of the sport.
Sucker punches should not be allowed in hockey, no doubt, but they should all be punsihsed the same way whether someone is injured or not. I think the current 4-5 game suspension is adequate and I am pretty sure he served that many before the lockout. Therefore I think the suspension was adequate.
Again, these are just my opinions but that is how is saw the event as someone who cares nothing for Bertuzzi, Moore, Colorado or the Canucks.
December 14th, 2009 at 3:14 PM ^
I'm with you 100%. I have been very passionate about this subject since it happened because I think hockey players have a much different opinion about the incident then people who do not know the game as well.
December 14th, 2009 at 3:34 PM ^
There's no room for that, and no room in hockey for anyone involved in the "many worse things in hockey" you've seen. After the cheapest of cheap shots, he drives the man face first into the ice, breaking his neck. I never played hockey, but I've watched a great deal of NHL. The only comparable incidents I remember are attacks with sticks.
December 15th, 2009 at 7:52 AM ^
First, look at the replay, and if you don't think that Moore's hit was a cheap shot I would say that you don't know hockey nearly as well as you are claiming.
Second, look at the Bertuzzi incident. You can clearly see that he is trying to get Moore to fight. Most hockey players know the "unwritten rules" and when you take out a teams star player with a hit like that you are going to be a target.
Moore should have known this and should have been man enough to accept what he had coming. I can tell you what is going on in the replay. Look at how Bertuzzi is following him and grabbing his arm. He is telling him to drop the gloves and get what he has coming. Moore is trying to skate away because he knows he is going to get his ass kicked. He should have simply got it over with and fought Bertuzzi.
If you watch that video and tell me you think Bertuzzi is trying to break a guys neck I will tell you y that your grip on your sanity is failing. If I wanted to break a guys neck I can think of a million and one better ways to do that than what Bertuzzi did.
People can argue whether he was given to harsh a suspension or not severe enough. They can argue whether what he did was terrible or not so bad. What they can't argue is whether he intended for the outcome to take place. There is no debate that he did not intend for this to happen, and that should matter.
December 14th, 2009 at 3:11 PM ^
I have mixed feelings about Bertuzzi. I was glad the Wings won the last couple games, and he contributed key goals to that.
But I can't pass off what he did as "just" a cheap shot/ sucker punch. He may not have intended to end Moore's career, but he KO'd the guy and landed on top of him, driving his head into the ice. I think he got off pretty lightly.
December 14th, 2009 at 3:29 PM ^
Again, I am only giving my opinon based on my experience as a player who filled a similar role on my team to Bertuzzi.
When ever someone railroaded our top scorer one of my jobs was to come to his defense, no questions asked and no apologies given.
Moore gave Naslund a cheap shot and Bertuzzi reacted. Did he react appropriately, no. But has the media and general population overreacted as to what took place, absolutely.
It was a sucker punch gone bad and sucker punches happen a lot in hockey. There is no way someone can convince me that Bertuzzi intended anything other than to punch the guy in the face and maybe giving him a fat lip. He didn't foresee this happening.
December 14th, 2009 at 3:54 PM ^
I seem to remember even the league announcing that it was a clean hit, as Naslund should have had his head up if he didn't want it to meet an elbow.
December 15th, 2009 at 7:39 AM ^
His hit was far from a clean hit.
Again, I won't be able to convince you that Bertuzzi's action were far less malicious than most people think, much like you can't convince me that they were.
I will only say that in hockey sucker punches happen. They shouldn't, but they do. I would argue that Moore's hit was far more malicous than Burtuzzi's punch because his hit had the clear intent of injuring a player in a defensless position.
Having played hockey, I can tell you that fighters don't fight to injure the other player, they do it for other reasons. 1) To get some momentum for their team. 2) To pay back someone for a cheap shot to one of their top players. 3) Because they were given a cheap shot. 4) Another teams "tough guy" wants to prove his worth against them. I have never met any fighter that sets out with the goal of innjuring his opponent, they simply want to win the fight.
Hits, on the other hand, can be very malicious and sometimes the players know before hand that there is clearly an opportunity to injure the opposing player if they follow through with the hit. I would argue that Moore's was such an instance. Stick swinging, checking from behind, open ice hits on a defenseless player, all of these are known to cause serious injuries.
One thing that more often than not won't cause serious injury is a punch in the head, whether from behind or head on. This was a freak occurance and anyone that can't admit that has a very blurred vision of reality. There is nothing from the event, Bertuzzi's past or his play in the present that would suggest he set out to seriously injure Moore. Rather he was simply trying to pay him back for a malicious hit he dealt their star player.