Most Canuck fans will long remember the incident involving Marty McSorley and Donald Brashear. Most people have probably seen the footage at one point or another. The video clip of the blow led not only sports highlights show that evening but also late news telecasts across North America. In case you have been living in a (penalty?) box, McSorley, skating through the neutral zone, approaches Brashear, who is gliding without the puck, from behind. With a quick, hard swing of his stick, McSorley clubs Brashear on the side of his face. Brashear's 6'2", 225-pound body drops like a sack of stones. His helmet springs loose and, upon landing, the back of his skull hits the ice. Brashear lies motionless for a moment and then begins to convulse. He would be carried off on a stretcher, spend the night in a hospital and miss 20 games. Fans at the game and at home started flooding 911 with calls that they had just witnessed an assault and wanted to press charges.
Even against the backdrop of other violent acts in hockey -- and scores of them occur each season -- this was extraordinary. The moment Brashear went down, the slash became the defining moment of McSorley's long career. "If McSorley plays another game in this league, then this league is a [bleeping] joke," Canucks defenseman Mattias Ohlund told The Vancouver Sun after the game. "It was the worst thing I've ever seen. That guy [McSorley] should be treated the same as if he tried to kill a guy on the street."
British Columbian prosecutors felt strongly enough to charge him with assault with a weapon. McSorley's slash became the first on-ice NHL misdeed to be tried in court since 1988, when Dino Ciccarelli of the Minnesota North Stars spent a day in jail for hitting Luke Richardson of the Toronto Maple Leafs twice in the head with his stick, causing no injuries to Richardson. In McSorley's case finding of guilt rested in the judgment that "Brashear was struck as intended."
Brashear remained out of the lineup for well over a month. Outrage ensued and McSorley, who was suspended for 23 games, found himself on trial for assault with a weapon that October. The aging enforcer, who could have received an 18-month jail sentence, was handed an 18-month conditional discharge. The only stipulation was that he couldn't play any sport where Brashear was on the opposing team. However, that condition really didn't matter anyway. The 17-year NHL enforcer, with two Stanley Cups to his name, never played another NHL game.
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