|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Brashear testifies Victim recalls very little from incident
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- Donald Brashear of the Vancouver Canucks testified Tuesday that he doesn't recall being hit in the head by Marty McSorley's stick or being taken off the ice on a stretcher. "The only thing I remember is jumping on the ice without much time left," Brashear said of the Feb. 21 game. "Marty was put on the ice also." He also doesn't remember what happened earlier in the Vancouver-Boston game, when he and McSorley fought on the ice. "I saw it on TV and saw it on the news," Brashear said during the second day of the trial. There was no eye contact in the courtroom between McSorley and Brashear in their first face-to-face contact since the game. McSorley, who has played in the NHL for 17 seasons, could get up to 1 1/2 years in prison if convicted of assault for bashing Brashear over the head with his stick. The blow is not in dispute. The judge will try to determine whether such an attack in a professional hockey game constitutes assault. Earlier, Canucks coach Marc Crawford testified that McSorley's slash of Brashear was the worst he ever saw.
"There was no chance for Donald to expect it was coming." McSorley's trial is the first for an on-ice attack by an NHL player since Dino Ciccarelli, then with the Minnesota North Stars, was sentenced in 1988. He received one day in jail and a $1,000 fine for hitting Toronto's Luke Richardson with his stick. Brashear, who banged the back of his head on the ice after McSorley hit him, sustained a concussion, lost consciousness for a few moments while on the ice and suffered memory lapses. He returned to play after several weeks and has fully recovered. Canucks team doctor Rui Avelar said he believed McSorley's stick, not the fall to the ice, was the main contributor to Brashear's concussion. Avelar said Brashear was unconscious and having a seizure when he reached the forward on the ice. Avelar later diagnosed a Grade 3 concussion, one of the most serious. McSorley was suspended by the NHL for the rest of the season and is now an unrestricted free agent. He must meet with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman before he resumes playing.
The Canucks and the NHL were opposed to the trial, but Brashear has said that McSorley should not play in the NHL again.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
