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Steve Moore was, by National Hockey League standards, a nobody when he hit Vancouver Canucks captain Markus Naslund with a crushing check three years ago. That hit was a serious violation of the NHL's unwritten code of conduct. It is in that context that the alleged demand for retribution from Canucks coach Marc Crawford -- "he must pay the price" -- should be understood. Mr. Moore had committed the NHL's version of a capital crime, and Mr. Crawford was passing sentence. (The alleged statement appears in court documents made public yesterday.)
The league and its apologists among former players and media commentators like to pretend it isn't so. "We asked these players to play with adrenalin," Brian Burke, then the Canucks general manager, said after his team's Todd Bertuzzi attacked Mr. Moore from behind, breaking his neck and ending his hockey career. "It's the thing we prize in Canada: intensity, competitiveness, grit, sand in their game." According to this view, coaches don't instigate violence. Mr. Bertuzzi's adrenalin and intensity, good old-fashioned attributes of the Canadian hockey player, took him too far.
The denial lacks an air of reality. Who can forget the young, gap-toothed Bobby Clarke, responding to subtle encouragement from coach Harry Sinden, chopping down Soviet star Valery Kharlamov in the 1972 Summit Series, helping to pave the way for Canada's mythic victory? Retribution is not only about adrenalin and the heat of the moment; it is sometimes ordered from on high.
It is no secret why elite players such as Mr. Naslund have tough guys like Mr. Bertuzzi on their wings. For protection. Wayne Gretzky had Dave Semenko. Bobby Clarke had Dave Schultz. Mr. Bertuzzi was different from those other designated "goons" because he was a gifted player. But he knew his team was paying him $7-million a year in part because, at 245 pounds, he was an intimidating presence. And, as court documents reveal, he knew that if he didn't do what Coach Crawford expected of him, he would have Mr. Crawford on his back all week.
Everyone understood punishment was coming. Mr. Moore's crime was that of a nobody who took advantage of a star player's vulnerability. Mr. Naslund had lost his balance and could not brace himself for the impact; he suffered a concussion on the hit. Mr. Burke called it "headhunting" from a "marginal player."
Vancouver players spoke openly of retribution. When a rematch came, and Vancouver fell behind by several goals, it was obvious any penalty could not hurt the team; the game was out of reach. If, as the documents allege, Mr. Crawford said between periods that Mr. Moore "must pay the price," he almost certainly did not mean "break his neck," but he was unleashing a fearsome man on a much smaller one. Not only Mr. Crawford but the NHL itself needs to take responsibility for a culture in which violent retribution is expected from the players.
