SLAM! Sports
SLAM! Hockey
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
COLUMNS
NHL
The Teams
Full Schedule
Monthly Schedule
Standings
Statistics
Rosters
Injury list
Movement
Trades
Hits Gallery
INTERACTIVE
JUNIOR
MORE HOCKEY
ALSO ON SLAM!
Wednesday, March 8, 2000
McSorley charge inevitable
B.C. authorities left with no other option
When it came right down to it, the British Columbia Attorney General's Ministry had no choice.
There was no place to hide. The authorities could not turtle on this one, even if their preference might have been to let it quietly disappear.
It wouldn't have mattered even if the NHL had given Marty McSorley a life sentence. The attack on the Vancouver Canucks' Donald Brashear on Feb. 21 and the ensuing horrified public reaction had taken on a life of its own. A charge of assault with a weapon against the Boston Bruins' McSorley was in the cards right from the beginning.
The legal community has a long and uncomfortable history of involvement with crime and punishment in hockey. It clearly does not relish the encounter and when it comes right down to it, there always has been only a minimal commitment to the pursuit of such justice.
If convicted, McSorley faces a maximum of 18 months in prison. There have been 11 players in the National Hockey League who have preceded McSorley into court for on-ice fouls and all either have been acquitted or been handed token sentences.
Dino Ciccarelli was the most recent player convicted when he assaulted Maple Leafs defencemen Luke Richardson in 1988. Ciccarelli, then with the Minnesota North Stars, got a day in jail and a $1,000 fine for hitting Richardson several times on the head with his stick.
Ciccarelli's penalty is typical of the result when the law and hockey collide.
McSorley went on television last evening in an exclusive interview with ESPN that aired on TSN. From this point of view, it was a mistake.
At this point, the less said the better from McSorley's side. He tried to explain the role he has played in the NHL over the course of 15 seasons and how it all led to that one unconscionable act of thuggery against Brashear. For anyone uncomfortable with the level of coldly calculated violence that is tacitly condoned in the NHL, McSorley's explanations came across as weak and indefensible.
"I don't want to give hockey a black eye," McSorley said. He is absolutely sincere in that statement. It was in his eyes and in his voice. But without really meaning to, he may have given the opponents of fighting and goonery more ammunition.
"If I don't do it," he said, "they'll go out and get somebody who will."
We're sure at this point that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman threw his shoe at the TV. What McSorley said is true, of course. His is a well-defined, even revered, role but not one that anyone at head office relishes being described on continent-wide TV.
At the very least, the basic facts of the case scream out that something is desperately wrong with a sport that consistently operates way too close to the edge of lawlessness. And by extension, way too close to the courts of the land.
McSorley, on the advice of lawyers, did not attend his own NHL disciplinary meeting in New York, two days after the incident. He was suspended for the rest of the season in absentia and must meet with Bettman before he is allowed to return for next season.
"It's disappointing that the forum for me to explain what happened is a court of law," McSorley said.
There is no question that Marty McSorley has suffered irreparable damage to his reputation and his potential future earnings. Prior to that game in Vancouver, McSorley, despite his checkered past, enjoyed a well-respected reputation. Well-spoken and personable, there was every chance that a TV job would await him when his career was over. Now that is a remote possibility.
CENSURE
He has earned that censure, no doubt about it, by smacking a man in the temple with a piece of lumber.
Many people in the game -- players, former players and others comfortable with the culture of hockey -- have offered him their support and understanding. Some of them may even be in court when McSorley's case is called. But their opinions and understanding of the forces that set McSorley off that night will not be the ones that count.
 Bert's back on blades Blue Jays boot game Bombers drop Peterson Felicien rebuilds race | Visit our Polls Archive |