‘Hit’ Took Place During Game; NHL Commissioner Says Hit ‘Was Horrific, But Part of the Game’ and That Chara Will Not be Suspended
QUEBEC CITY (Associated Press)
Montreal police started a criminal investigation Thursday into the on-ice hit by Boston’s Zdeno Chara that left the Canadiens‘ Max Pacioretty with a severe concussion and cracked vertebra.
Police said they are acting on a request by Quebec’s director of criminal and penal prosecutions, Louis Dionne. Police added that after evidence is collected it will then be determined if there are grounds for prosecution.
The NHL said a day earlier it would not suspend Chara for Tuesday night’s hit, when he slammed Pacioretty into a glass partition.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, who was in Washington, D.C. speaking at a congressional briefing focusing on the state of hockey in America, reportedly said the Pacioretty injury horrific, but part of the game. But he said he stands by the decision not to suspend Chara.
“Our hockey operations people are extraordinarily comfortable with the decision that they made,” Bettman told reporters, according to a Canadian Press report. “It was a horrific injury, we’re sorry that it happened in our fast-paced physical game, but I don’t think whether or not supplemental discipline was imposed would change what happened and in fact the people in the game who I have heard from almost to a person … believe that it was handled appropriately by hockey operations.”
There has been strong debate this season over injuries from hits to the head. Pittsburgh star Sidney Crosby is among those sidelined with such an injury.
“What’s interesting … is that the rise in concussions in the preliminary data from this season seem to be coming from accident events, collisions, players falling and banging into other things, not from head hits,” Bettman reportedly told reporters.
In a related matter, Air Canada has told the NHL it is considering withdrawing its sponsorship unless the league tightens rules to reduce potentially serious injuries.
Dionne filed his request for an investigation after watching television footage of Chara’s hit, his spokeswoman said.
”The police investigation will be held. Like all police investigations, evidence will be gathered and an investigation report will be submitted, spokeswoman Martine Berube said. ”(The DCPP) will then evaluate to see whether there’s grounds for prosecution.”
Asked what kind of punishment could be assessed in a case like Chara’s, she replied: ”It’s too early to say. That would depend on what charges are laid. That’s a little difficult to predict at this point.”
Pacioretty, a left wing from Connecticut, is a regular top-line player for Montreal. With he and Chara racing for the puck near the player benches, Chara checked Pacioretty into the boards, sending him slamming into a stanchion supporting the glass.
The hit drew criticism from Gary Lunn, the minister of state for sports, and others outside the league. Lunn called it unacceptable.
But the league deemed it ”a hockey play that resulted in an injury because of the player colliding with the stanchion and then the ice surface.”
Chara, who said he had no intent to hurt Pacioretty, was given a major penalty for interference and a game misconduct on the play. The Bruins‘ captain has never been suspended in his 13-year career.
Pacioretty told TSN he was ”upset and disgusted” that the league had not suspended Chara.
”I’m not mad for myself, I’m mad because if other players see a hit like that and think it’s OK, they won’t be suspended, then other players will get hurt like I got hurt,” he said.
Several legal and former law-enforcement experts expressed doubt a police investigation would result in criminal charges.
”This would be the type of case that would be very tough to prosecute,” former major crimes investigator with Quebec’s provincial police John Galianos said.
He added that the difficulty facing prosecutors would be establishing Chara’s intent to injure.
”I don’t think a Crown attorney would prosecute based on the video,” he said.
Montreal lawyer Steven Slimovitch said: ”When you get involved in a sport, there is a concept of acceptance of risk. The question is did Pacioretty agree to be hit in that kind of fashion by Zdeno Chara? Was the hit so outside the norm of what is found in the sport of hockey . . . that it’s not hockey anymore.”
To Watch Video f oThe Hit Click the Link Below:
http://msn.foxsports.com/video/NHL?vid=416e13a7-2610-4d53-be25-b8fca55ae2bc
