"There's definitely a bounty on his head. Clean hit or not, that's our best player, and you respond. It's going to be fun when we get him."
– Brad May of the Canucks, several days before Bertuzzi's attack on Moore. Vancouver captain Markus Naslund missed three games after being checked by Moore on February 16.
"Mr. Bertuzzi pursued Mr. Moore on the ice, attempting to engage him in a confrontation. When Mr. Moore declined to engage Mr. Bertuzzi, Mr. Bertuzzi responded by delivering a gloved punch from behind to the side of Mr. Moore's head, rendering him unconscious. Upon falling to the ice, Mr. Moore suffered additional serious injuries. We want to make clear that this type of conduct will not be tolerated in the NHL.”
- NHL vice president Colin Campbell announces Bertuzzi’s suspension. (March 12)
"No matter what the punishment was, it really wasn't going to do anything as far as making Steve feel better. As players and teammates, we've said all along, whatever the league decided, we'd be fine with."
- Colorado enforcer Peter Worrell sums up the careful response of Moore’s team mates to the news of Bertuzzi’s suspension. (Rocky Mountain News, March 12)
"Steve, I just want to apologize for what happened out there. I had no intention of hurting you.”
- A tearful Todd Bertuzzi apologizes to Moore in his only public statement since the incident. (March 10)
"I want to talk about Todd Bertuzzi and the way he has been vilified in the media through this process. What he is, is a great hockey player and an excellent human being. Because he is not warm and fuzzy with you, you've taken this opportunity to kick the crap out of him and I think it's been just shameful.”
- Canucks’ general manager Brian Burke sticks up for his guy. (Globe and Mail, March 11)
"I can't explain how scary it is."
- Three weeks after the attack, Steve Moore speaks. (March 30)
“The hard thing is to start asking the real questions. I mean, how the hell did we get here? It is time for all of us to start asking that question, most of all."
- Philadelphia Flyers’ coach Ken Hitchcock sets the tone for the NHL’s brief flurry of introspection. (Philly.com, March 12)
"I'm the last guy who should say something. I did a similar thing two weeks ago."
- Martin Havlat of the Ottawa Senators is feeling lucky. (Sun Media, March 12)
"Looks worse than it is, though, right? I've just got to wear this stylish brace for a while."
- Steve Moore. (March 30)
"I think we have to start paying attention as a union, as players. We can't let these things happen anymore. It doesn't matter what the league does. It has to come from the players. They do these kinds of things, and I don't know if somebody has to die before they're going to learn. I don't know if the guys are so fired up, if they're taking sudies (Sudafed) or ephedra or whatever, but the guys are not thinking clearly. If that's the case, we've got to fix that problem."
- Colorado's Teemu Selanne (Canadian Press, March 20)
"We can't have stupidity in our locker room and we can't have stupidity on the ice. The stupidity has all been used up plus some in the NHL this year. The stupidity meter is broken."
- Flyers' center Jeremy Roenick (Sun media, April 2)
"It's not going to change the code."
- Darcy Hordichuk of the Panthers says the NHL tradition of payback will continue. (Globe and Mail, Mar 12/04)
From Championship Hockey to No Hockey At All: More 2004 Hockey Quotes -
More on the Bertuzzi Incident:
The Todd Bertuzzi Suspension
Steve Moore Speaks
The Role of Violence in Hockey
Hockey Violence and the NHL's Public Profile
The Longest Suspensions In NHL History
