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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
11 MARCH 2004 CANUCK FANS TO PROTEST MEDIA, SHOW SUPPORT FOR MOORE AND BERTUZZI VANCOUVER, Canada – Fans of the Vancouver Canucks NHL hockey team will meet on Saturday, March 13th outside the CBC headquarters at 700 Hamilton St. at 5:00 PM for a rally and march. The march will terminate at GM Place in time for the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast of the Vancouver Canucks vs. Ottawa Senators. The rally will show support for both of the players involved in an ugly on-ice incident that occurred in a game between the Canucks and Colorado Avalanche on Monday at GM Place in Vancouver. In that incident, Bertuzzi was penalized for a deliberate gloved sucker punch to Avalanche player Steve Moore. The punch was in obvious retribution for a hit Moore made on Canucks star Markus Naslund in a game earlier this year. The punch, and subsequent pile-up of opposing players, left Mr. Moore with two cracked vertebrae in his neck. He remains in Vancouver General Hospital but is expected to make a full recovery. On Thursday Todd Bertuzzi was suspended by the league for the remainder of the regular season and the playoffs. He will likely be banned from competing in this summer’s World Cup of Hockey. The league has also reserved the right to further sanction Bertuzzi at the beginning of the 2004-05 season. Though no hockey fan contests the illegal nature of Bertuzzi’s punch, or the fact that Bertuzzi deserved sanctions from the league, the punishment in this incident goes far beyond anything the league has ever meted out for much uglier incidents in the game. Fans across the league recognize that Bertuzzi is being used as a scapegoat by the league in response to a calculated and sensationalist campaign by the mainstream media. “The major media outlets have been spreading a lot of disinformation about this incident to the general public. The story truly has taken on a life of its own. At a time when the NHL is in shambles as a result of mismanagement, this incident has given the league an excuse to whitewash all of its systemic shortcomings. They are making an example of Todd Bertuzzi to cover up the poor management of Gary Bettman and the cadre of owners in whose pocket Bettman resides,” noted rally representative Sean Karl. On Wednesday Bertuzzi made a personal and heartfelt apology to Steve Moore: "Steve, I just want to apologize for what happened out there," said Bertuzzi, 29, wiping his eyes with a napkin. "I had no intention of hurting you. I feel awful for what transpired." The protest won’t give much solace to Canucks fans. They are without their second best player in a year that they had a legitimate shot at winning the city’s first Stanley Cup. It is hoped, however, that Vancouver fans can seize this opportunity to wish a speedy recovery to Steve Moore while giving moral support to a distraught fan favorite and his disillusioned teammates. For more information please contact Sean Karl at 604.255.4234 or [email protected] -30- |
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how did it go? i saw a banner supporting bert on an overpass on my way to abbotsford yesterday, and it sure put a smile on my face...
i think it's really pathetic that people, especially the media, can do a complete 180 on a person because of 1 bad thing they did. people make mistakes, and people make some bad decisions in their lives. it's SAD that 1 mistake or bad decision can outweigh all the good things that person may have done in their lifetime. i think bert is a fantastic hockey player who has spent his whole life trying to get to where he is at. and to have one moment where he lost his composure to a few emotions, and have everything he worked for taken away from him, is just absurd. we're all human beings, even news reporters, and we need to understand that we're not robots. we should embrace and follow the feelings that come to us, not hold them back for publicity reasons. |