Photo: Todd Bertuzzi’s retaliatory hit on Steve Moore.

Cyberspace (October, 2005) -- Great humor site. Reality must be hard for you. A team with the class of the Canucks does not deserve the pain Bertuzzi has brought them.

Bertuzzi's act was a scar on the greatest game on earth. And for you to call Steve Moore cowardly and a faker is beyond belief. I am still working on how to fake a fractured cervical spine. But I guess when you are spineless like Toddy, it is easy to see the ignorance.

I heard on Vancouver radio the other day that Vancouver is "over" the Bertuzzi/Moore incident. Yeah, and Colorado is "over" Claude Lemieux's assault on Chris Draper in 1996, and Boston is "over" McSorely's clubbing of Donald Brashear. The mantra of a true "homer."

Todd Bertuzzi needs to try to get in the Ultimate Fighting Challenges around North America. That is the place for his antics, not centre ice in one of the most beautiful cities on this big round ball.

What happened to the "new" Todd Bertuzzi? In 2003, HNIC did a report on Bertuzzi becoming an offensive threat and parting with his goon role that his father had taught him. Coaches with the Canucks discovered Todd had some of the best hands in hockey. He was encouraged to be a goal scorer instead of the hot head role he had when he played with the Islanders and before. Why did he revert to his old behaviour -- that would make a great study for some of the world's greatest anthropologists?

One other thing. If Bettman had a spine of his own and continued the suspension, Bertuzzi would have most likely been left to find a job at Tim Horton's. Moore has a degree from Harvard. That doesn't count for much, but then again, it does.

Well Todd is back and posting numbers better than Brookbank. He was really ineffective last night. By watching him you wonder, what do his teammates think of him? He had no friends last night. He looked lonely.

"It is what it is" -- Brilliant man, that Bertuzzi -- witty as well.

Game on, go Blue Fox, if you're a true hockey fan you'll know where they play.

Tom

Tom:

My outrage at the way that Bertuzzi has been vilified stems from (a) no NHL action being taken against Steve Moore for his cowardly and illegal hit on Markus Naslund (nor did Moore ever acknowledge his action -- perhaps would have interfered with his lawsuit); and (b) the way the media repeatedly referred to Moore's injury as a "broken neck." Bullshit, plain and simple.

I do not defend Todd Bertuzzi's hit, but I do feel Moore's major injuries stemmed instead from that pile-up of Avs. The way a team defends a player is to haul the "offending" player off its team-mate, not to add injury to insult.

Still, I thank you for an articulate and obviously heart-felt letter. It's unusual -- where hockey and internet intersect -- to get a dissenting opinion in which there are no ridiculous spelling and syntax mistakes. I sincerely appreciate your contribution, even though your opinion is so different from my own -- and you are certainly welcome to express it.

Anne Garber

Thanks for the reply. It is rare that my rants are answered.

I don't know where you get your information. Two of Moore's cervical vertebrae were fractured as well as the transverse process in T1 (thoracic vertebrae). Did he sever or bruise his cord? No. But he did break his neck, and people with broken necks wear cervical collars, halos, Garner-Wells tongs, and other contraptions so that they don't sever or injure their spinal cord. Please understand that these injuries were not conjured up by a media report. His neck has healed and he only deals with post-concussion syndrome, the leading cause of early retirement in the game.

I read into your writing that if Naslund would have been the one with the broken neck and Moore the culprit, your rage would be the same as Avalanche fans. Did Naslund fake his injuries, did he really have a concussion or was Crawford and Burke cooking something up? All rhetoric.

Having had countless classes on the kinetics of trauma, I believe that Bertuzzi's ride to the ice on the back of Moore's head, caused the neck injuries. You have to admit that was one hell of a punch, and that Bertuzzi rode Moore to the ice.

In regards to Moore's hit on Naslund, I understand the frustration. Naslund made a mistake he rarely makes, skating with his head down. Open ice, the puck is on his stick, and bam. These calls or no calls depending on one's loyalty happen all the time. Slava Koslov's bashing of Adam Foote's face into the glass in the infamous Detroit/Colorado series led to the Draper face plant. Koslov's hit was not penalized in the game nor by the league, he did not apologize. Foote had a mild concussion and required copious amounts of modern stitchery to repair his face.

I was at the game when Naslund was hit. I didn't really notice that the hit landed so hard until I saw it on the replay on TV. I think that how the hit is judged is probably a matter of team loyalties. but for argument's sake, let's say it was a cheap, albeit ruled-legal, hit. I don't see the justification of Bertuzzi's act. That is why I referred to his history. His past is rife with acute acts of violence. I can't remember which coach in Vancouver had worked with Todd. But HNIC did a piece (much to Don Cherry's chagrin) on the new, gentle, and calm, Todd Bertuzzi. Hell, I even have the mp3, "Do the Todd Bertuzzi". I was impressed, the new Bertuzzi was destined to greatness.

I do feel for Bertuzzi as I watch his interviews and interactions. He missed the classes on decorum in junior hockey. Todd got his lessons from the National Football League or the NBA. One of the cool things about most hockey players is the way they handle themselves so well in public. Of course there are exceptions.

Brad May has remained steadfast and gentlemanly in his pursuit to win over Avalanche fans. I would bet that his consistency in the media will win him over more so than his gritty play on the ice.

I won't blame Steve Moore for the hit. But, I am confused as to why he never accepted Bertuzzi's calls. According to Moore, they never came. According to Bertuzzi, he tried. He said, he said. Eric Boulton called Paul Ranger at home and apologized for his "six game elbow" on Ranger. That deal is over and done with.

I won't be at tonight's Vancouver/Colorado game. I am going to a CHL (Central Hockey League) game tonight instead. I love the minor league game. The games are intense, even without the skill. Even better, the players are so accessible. I am a chief officer of a fire department. A lot of these kids want to get into our business when they decide that they have had enough late bus rides and McDonald's burgers. So they like to hang around with folks that might buy their dinner and a few Kokanees.

Thanks again for your reply to my rant. I love your city. Have a maple dip donut and a cup of Tim Horton's for me.

Tom

Hi, Tom:

Suffice it to say that I can recognize a serious hockey fan, just as you obviously realize the game is a bit of an obsession with me, too. And I do try to answer all but the most belligerent letters I receive. Yours is the first that intelligently tackled to Todd Bertuzzi conundrum, so I will give you that point, too.

Mainly, I have had face-to-face --ah-- "discussions" with cronies on the subject elsewhere in Canada, one in Chicago, and one in Detroit. My biggest problem with Steve Moore has been that he never owned up to doing anything (even if Naslund DID have his head down, which no one disputes) that wasn't 100 per cent clean. What angered me most was Moore saying he "didn't know who it was" -- whom he had hit until it happened! I just can't believe that anyone should be playing in the Bigs when he doesn't know exactly which lines he's skating against, and exactly who is on the ice and what position they're playing at any given time. I just thought it was a chicken-shit attitude to take. NOT that I thought he deserved the kind of hit Bert laid on him, but if I got into the nuances of THAT, I'd be at this all night!

All best wishes,

Anne

No objection here. Let me know if you go with it. Thanks for the banter. It is nice to have the response. I can not get the Avs new television production company (owned by Kroenke himself) to respond. Their television coverage is terrible. You'll hear Peter McNabb (that name should have some Vancouver memories) talking about the goal just scored while the director has us looking at some babe in the stands. There is a time for babes and a time for hockey, they have a long way to go but its their first year.

Thanks for the correspondence. Safe home.

Tom

Thanks for the update. Off to see the Avs and Dallas tonight. At least live I can personally follow the puck. Altitude is getting better. They just don't have the production savvy of TSN, Rogers, or the CBC.

The old Fox Sports outlet was very adept at producing hockey. Fox must have sent their directors and producers elsewhere.

Tom