Senior hockey player dies after on-ice fight

And two things:

1. As I understand it, the fall didn't come directly from a hit by Fulton, but rather Sanderson tripped over a piece of equipment on the ice and they both hit the ice.

2. Flash is correct, in all amateur hockey, during the play if a helmet comes off, is worn improperly, or a mouthguard is lost, a player must leave the ice or be penalized. Further, any amateur league in Canada that I'm aware of has sanctions for removing helmets in a fight, mind you, they probably could be more stringent.

 

Yes, good words, RC.

 

RC, sorry for the loss of a friend. I can't imagine what Sanderson's family is going thru.

I do have to disagree with the sentiment that fighting is needed as an outlet for physical play. Other physical sports do not have fighting as part of the culture and get by ok. I think that condoning fighting as part of the game does not help the sport.

 

Other physical sports have never had fighting as part of the culture the way hockey has.

Let's not forget that Don Sanderson died because his helmet fell off and his bare head hit the ice. The outcome could have been the same if he had been checked along the boards and his helmet hadn't been properly secured. It just happened that he was in a fight.

 

First my sympathy goes out to both families involved in this terrible tragedy. That said I don't see how this is not a police situation. In the least it seems like manslaughter charges should be brought. There are countless examples where a person who did not have direct responsibility for death is still charged. Here is one:


Manslaughter charge laid in Winnipeg woman's overdose
Last Updated: Friday, May 16, 2008 | 1:44 PM CT Comments8Recommend12
CBC News

A Winnipeg man has been charged with manslaughter in the death of a woman who overdosed on drugs in October 2007.

Wendy Henry, 24, died Oct. 29 after she overdosed on prescription painkillers in an apartment in the 200-block of Dufferin Avenue, police said.

Charges of manslaughter and drug trafficking have been laid against a 47-year-old Winnipeg man, police said Friday.

Investigators believe the suspect gave Henry a large enough amount of the drugs to cause the overdose and her death, said Const. Jacqueline Chaput.

Chaput admitted the charge was unusual, but said police and the Crown felt there was sufficient evidence to support their case.

The move increases the official count of homicides in Winnipeg in 2007 to 27.

 

So, should the young man on the U.S. junior bench be arrested for assault with a deadly weapon after sticking it in the Canadian player's face?

 

Boom, there is no way that manslaughter charges will be brought against the player.

It was an accident in a hockey game, plain and simple.

 

Police are now investigating. Which they should be doing in order to satisfy that no criminal offence actually occurred, but they probably ought to have started right away. I mean, this happened on Dec. 12.

 

To me, it seems like the use of sticks in lacrosse and hockey maybe adds another element to the physical nature of those sports as opposed to, say, a hit in football or a charge in basketball (both using the body itself) and maybe that's why there is the fighting mechanism there. You may disagree with me and I'd expect that.

I've seen fights in amateur hockey where it is implicitly not condoned, I've seen fights on the gridiron and on the basketball court, too, not to mention the ball diamond. There were suspensions and ejections there as well, yet tensions boiled over and there was a chance to do harm.

The fact that fighting is part of the hockey/lacrosse culture can be both a curse and a blessing. On one hand, players learn techniques to fight — and that culture, as Don Cherry often points out, tries to emphasize the fair fight rather than the malicious attack — but on the other hand, maybe it waters down the physical implications of fighting and the potential cause for harm (and you see a lot more injuries in hockey from stick work and from one-sided attacks - like Bertuzzi - than fights).

For that reason, I think you might have a hard time in your prosecution, because most hockey players wouldn't have seen the situation as one that went outside the norm as far as risk of harm. Fighting happens every day. Would the sport be better without it? In theory, yes. Practically, I think you're opening it up for worse with the sticks.