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Senior hockey player dies after on-ice fight

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Double J, Jan 2, 2009.

  1. Double J

    Double J Active Member

    This has been mentioned in the NHL thread but it deserves its own space....

    RIP Don Sanderson. His helmet fell off during a fight on Dec. 12 and he hit his head on the ice when both players lost their footing.

    Condolences to his family and friends and to his team, the Whitby Dunlops. :'(

    http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/489744

    Kind thoughts should also be expressed to Corey Fulton, the Brantford Blast player with whom Sanderson was fighting. He'll carry this for the rest of his life and I'm sure he could use the support.
     
  2. PeteyPirate

    PeteyPirate Guest

    Kind thoughts? OK, but how about a jail sentence to go along with it? Just because they were playing hockey doesn't change the fact that two guys got in a fight and one got killed. I would bet that there is a criminal statute under which Fulton's actions fall, regardless of the context.
     
  3. Double J

    Double J Active Member

    Doubtful that he'd be convicted of anything in any Canadian courtroom regarding this incident, but feel free to pontificate.
     
  4. prezclinton

    prezclinton Active Member

    FDP, have you ever been in a hockey fight? Helmets fall off all the time, this was just a freak accident. To assume the guy had malicious intent would be ignorant.

    Hopefully Sanderson's family understands that, too.
     
  5. alleyallen

    alleyallen Guest

    I'm with you Double J. Let's have condolences and sympathy, for the time being.
     
  6. PeteyPirate

    PeteyPirate Guest

    It's such a mystery to me how people look at it through a different lens just because it's hockey. You do realize that you're saying that a guy who was punching another guy in the face didn't have any malicious intent? From a legal standpoint, that's a ludicrous argument, and I say that as someone who fully understands fighting's place in the sport.

    I understand that the guy probably feels very guilty and I have all the sympathy in the world for him in that regard. But in the real world, he killed another guy in a fight. There are laws against that, whether a group of 12 Canadians would be willing to enforce them or not.
     
  7. Huggy

    Huggy Well-Known Member

    As the prez says, this was an accident. After it happened Bob Mckenzie said on TSN that it's amazing more guys don't get hurt this way, as helmets fall off and guys tumble to the ice.

    This is a dark day for the hockey world. Those senior guys don't play for the big bucks or the Stanley Cup but the risks can be the same as they are in the NHL. RIP....
     
  8. Iron_chet

    Iron_chet Well-Known Member

    The culture of hockey in Canada that condones fighting in the sport is the problem. Canadians, especially hockey fans, are apologists for fighting in hockey as part of the game.

    If it happened on the ice then that is where it should stay [blue font]

    The apologists and fanbois who come running out screaming about OUR GAME and how fighting is part of it are morans. Many of these are the same folks who felt that Todd Beruzzi was unfairly punished for assaulting anothe player in an NHL game.

    As an aside I will basically watch any fight; bar fight, hockey fight, UFC, boxing, chickscrap, etc. I just think the culture of apologists for hockey fighting is idiotic.
     
  9. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Seriously, though, if two guys were fighting in a bar and one fell and hit his head and was killed, would you expect charges to be pressed?
     
  10. PeteyPirate

    PeteyPirate Guest

    I can't tell if you're serious or not. Yes, I would expect charges to be pressed. I would be surprised if this exact scenario hasn't played out on numerous occasions. Otherwise, there would be no reason for the words "involuntary manslaughter" to appear in law books.
     
  11. Wallace

    Wallace Guest

    I really doubt most people who think fighting is a part of the game of hockey would condone what Todd Bertuzzi did i.e., a malicious attack on a player, from behind.
     
  12. Iron_chet

    Iron_chet Well-Known Member

    I respectfully differ on what you have said.

    Out here in Western Canada a lot of people, not just Canucks fans, were of the opinion that the courts had no business interfering with what happened on the ice.
     
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