Time For Hockey To Wake Up

TORONTO — A Mississauga, Ont., teen was convicted Thursday of manslaughter after the death of an opponent on a rugby field, in a case that tested the acceptability of dangerous and violent play during sporting events.

Now that leads me to wonder if the Canadian Justice System (or lack there of) will get around to sending the same message to the various hockey leagues around the country and in particular the National Hockey League.
** Readers to this blog emailed me to remind of the following as well. I hadn't forgotten but was more or less just looking at the big league.
The death of a 21-year-old hockey player who died three weeks after hitting his unprotected head on the ice during a fight has renewed calls for tougher rules governing the use of helmets.

Don Sanderson, a rookie defenceman with the senior AAA Whitby Dunlops of the Ontario Hockey Association, died shortly after 1 a.m. Friday at Hamilton General Hospital.

Sanderson, a native of Port Perry, Ont., was tussling with Brantford Blast forward Corey Fulton during the third period of a Dec. 12 game at the Brantford Civic Centre when his helmet came off.


In case anyone is counting here's whats happened in the NHL over the years

1905 - Allan Loney is charged with manslaughter in the on-ice clubbing death of Alcide Laurin. Loney claimed self-defence, and was found not guilty. [4]
1907 - Ottawa Senators players Harry Smith, Alf Smith and Charles Spittal were charged with assault after beating Montreal Wanderers players, Hod Stuart, Ernie "Moose" Johnson and Cecil Blatchford with their sticks.
1907 - Ottawa Victorias player Charles Masson is charged with manslaughter after Cornwall player Owen McCourt dies of a head wound sustained in a brawl. Masson is found not guilty on the grounds that there was no way to know which blow had killed McCourt. [5]
1922 - Sprague Cleghorn injured three Ottawa Senators’ players in a brawl, leading Ottawa police to offer to arrest him.
1969 - In a pre-season game held in Ottawa, Ted Green of the Boston Bruins and Wayne Maki of the St.Louis Blues engaged in a violent, stick-swinging brawl. A fractured skull and brain damage caused Green to miss the entire 1969–1970 NHL season.[6] Both were acquitted in court. The NHL suspended Maki for 30 days and Green for 13.
1975 - Dan Maloney of the Detroit Red Wings attacked Brian Glennie of the Toronto Maple Leafs from behind. Maloney was charged with assault causing bodily harm. In exchange for a no-contest plea, Maloney did community service work. He also was banned from playing in Toronto for two seasons.
1975 - Police charged Bruins player Dave Forbes with aggravated assault after a fight with Henry Boucha of the Minnesota North Stars. After a nine-day trial ended with a hung jury, charges against Forbes were dropped.
1976 - Four Philadelphia Flyers players, Joe Watson, Mel Bridgman, Don Saleski and Bob "Hound" Kelly were charged with assault, using their hockey sticks as weapons in a violent playoff game between the Flyers and the Toronto Maple Leafs in which fans had been taunting the Flyers players and spitting at them. Bridgman was acquitted, but the other three Flyers were found guilty of simple assault.
1976 - Calgary Cowboys forward Rick Jodzio plead guilty to a charge of assault following a cross-check to the head of Quebec Nordiques player Marc Tardif during the World Hockey Association playoffs. The hit led to a 20-minute, bench clearing brawl.[7]
1977 - Dave "Tiger" Williams of the Toronto Maple Leafs hit Pittsburgh Penguin Dennis Owchar with his stick. He was charged with assault, but acquitted.
1982 - Jimmy Mann of the Winnipeg Jets left the bench and hit Pittsburgh Penguin Paul Gardner, breaking Gardner's jaw in two places. Police charged Mann, who was fined $500 and given a suspended sentence in Winnipeg.
1988 - Dino Ciccarelli hit Leafs defenceman Luke Richardson with his stick. Charged and convicted of assault, he was sentenced to one day in jail and fined $1,000.
1998 - Jesse Boulerice of the Plymouth Whalers was suspended for the rest of the playoffs after violently swinging his stick at Guelph Storm forward Andrew Lang. Boulerice was charged with assault as a result of the incident.
2000 - Marty McSorley of the Boston Bruins hit Vancouver Canuck Donald Brashear in the head with his stick in the waning moments of the game, after losing a fight to Brashear earlier in the game. McSorley was convicted of assault with a weapon and given an 18-month conditional discharge.
2004 - After repeated failed attempts at instigating a fight, Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks sucker-punched Steve Moore of the Colorado Avalanche from behind, knocking Moore unconscious. The pair then fell to the ice with Bertuzzi's weight crushing Moore face-first into the ice, followed by several players from both teams further piling onto the mêlée. Moore sustained three fractured vertebrae, a grade three concussion, vertebral ligament damage, stretching of the brachial plexus nerves, and facial lacerations. Bertuzzi was charged by police, and given a conditional discharge after pleading guilty to assault causing bodily harm. His suspension resulted in a loss of $500,000 in pay and the Canucks were fined $250,000. Bertuzzi was re-instated in 2005; Moore has not played since and made several unsuccessful attempts at civil litigation.

Its a good idea for the Courts to finally come down on violence in sports.
How can it be acceptable to smack someone over the head with a hockey stick just because you're playing a game. Time for hockey to wake up.
Kind of sad though that the test case has to be a teen age rugby player.