Jail time for Hockey Assaults?

[Tonington]

If you don't know what this is about, Chris Simon after being checked against the boards by Ryan Hollweg, got up and delivered a wood chop to the face of Hollweg. Hollweg appears to be allright despite the hellish slash he recieved to the head.

I'm an avid sports fan myself, but I think that although there is inherent risk of injury, the line must be drawn somewhere. Rules are in place to govern a society of Athletes, but these athletes exist within our society as well. Clearly, a chop to the face and a cheap shot from behind, these are outside the norm for both regulatory bodies. My line of thinking is that these actions should not be tolerated within sport, and they should not be tolerated by the Criminal Justice System. Steve Moore will never play hockey again becuase of the cheap shot from Bertuzzi.

I say throw the book at them. If I were to be hit in traffic, a known and inherent risk, and then I were to get up and brutally beat the driver, I would be going to jail. I don't see why it should be any different for athletes. I think it's assault, aggravated assault, assault causing bodilly harm and possibly in the worse case scenario, manslaughter.

So, what do you think? Should athletes pay the price when their judgement is in lapse?

 

[TenPenny]

I don't know about jail, I'd be happy for him to not be allowed to play professional hockey again. Ever.

 

[Kreskin]

Simon should be suspended for at least half a season. I'm not sure about the criminal justice system for this case. The law might see it otherwise but it wasn't pre-meditated. He had just been slammed into the boards with a cheap shot and lashed out when he got up. It was incredibly dumb and dangerous but I don't think he had much time to create criminal intent. Most of those guys don't really want to injure people but in the heat of the moment crazy things happen in a physical sport.

Bertuzzi though was pre-meditated, for weeks.

 

[talloola]

I think he should get about 15 games at this point. I am dissapointed in the NHL, for not stepping up
long before this incident, to address this problem.
They don't have any hard and fast rule now for these infractions.

There have been a few incidents recently, and Simon's is the only one which seems to be getting the
attention of people who think he should be "shot at dawn", where is the outrage about the other
infractions.

I certainly don't condone behavior of this nature, but it is the NHL's responsibility to police this.
And they haven't.
I don't put this incident into the catagory of the "Burtuzzi" incident or the "McSorely" incident.
Both of them skated nearly the length of the ice to attack another player, "different mindset" I think.
Simon turned around and retaliated on a "borderline" hit which was put on him. Simon and other player are very lucky that the "hit" did not seriously injure him, as his stick hit him in "chin" area.
Any higher, and his eyes/nose and orbital bone etc, could be seriously affected.

Would the NHL, please stand up and incorporate "clear" rules for these kind of hits.

It is no place for outside policing, unless it is a "Burtuzzi like hit", which it wasn't.