Associated Press HAMILTON, Ontario -- Cleveland Barons defenseman Garrett Stafford was taken to a hospital after being struck in the head with a stick by Hamilton Bulldogs forward Alexander Perezhogin on Friday night during an AHL playoff game.
Stafford was on his knees when he was struck, and he fell to the ice, blood gushing from a gash on his face. He was attended to by a doctor and trainers and then was taken to Hamilton General Hospital, where he was treated and released, a spokeswoman for Hamilton Health Sciences told the Hamilton Spectator.
There was no word Friday night whether any criminal charges will be brought.
Stafford was injured in the first period, and Cleveland went on to a 4-1 victory that brought them within 3-2 in the series. The best-of-seven series resumes Sunday in Cleveland.
"I've been doing hockey my whole life, and I've never seen anything like it," Barons coach Roy Sommer said.
Sommer said he hopes Perezhogin is punished to the full extent possible.
"I don't think this guy should ever play again in North America," he said. "That's a travesty. I saw it on tape ... and it's even worse on tape."
Bulldogs coach Doug Jarvis said his team's thoughts are with Stafford.
"My only thoughts right now is that Garrett Stafford is all right," he said. "That's what we're all hoping for at this time."
In March, Vancouver Canucks forward Todd Bertuzzi was suspended for the rest of the NHL regular season and the playoffs for attacking Colorado Avalanche forward Steve Moore from behind.
Vancouver police have finished their investigation in that case, and a decision on charges is pending.
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If you've seen it, it's among the uglier incidents in hockey recently, arguably worse than Todd Bertuzzi's assualt. A two-handed, full swing right into Stafford's face while he was on his knees, and then to watch him convulsing on the ice. This was no Mike Ribiero moment. Perezhogin will be lucky if it's only a lengthy suspension.
___________
Play hard, shake hands, drink beer.
"LA needs two hockey teams like Switzerland needs two navies" -- Norman Chad (from "My 10-Point Plan to Save Gary Bettman from Himself")
"Playoff hockey is the best two months in team sports . . . period."
I've been trying to find one . . . the only one I've seen was on ESPN SportsCenter. It was the usual scrum in front of the goalie, and it looked like Perezhogin was reacting to a cross-check or hit from behind, but to take what looked like a two-handed ax-chop at the guy . . .
___________
Play hard, shake hands, drink beer.
"LA needs two hockey teams like Switzerland needs two navies" -- Norman Chad (from "My 10-Point Plan to Save Gary Bettman from Himself")
"Playoff hockey is the best two months in team sports . . . period."
This message has been edited by Mehdi_Caps on May 1, 2004 2:21 PM This message has been edited by Mehdi_Caps on May 1, 2004 2:21 PM This message has been edited by Mehdi_Caps on May 1, 2004 2:20 PM This message has been edited by Mehdi_Caps on May 1, 2004 2:19 PM
Since you don't use the WYSIWYG editor (see your Options), Tomppa, your link to a video was automatically replaced with an embeded object, which is not good for our 56K users. So I tried to replace "autostart=true" with "autostart=false" but N54 replaced my autostart automatically. I was forced to use the WYSIWYG editor again and post a simple link.
Hehe. No problem, Tomppa. It's probably the first time that someone posts a link to a video without the WYSIWYG editor, because we never had an embeded video before, I believe.
This message has been edited by Mehdi_Caps on May 1, 2004 3:16 PM
Roger, try to copy the link (right-click on the link), then open RealOne Player, File/Open, paste the URL into the box and see if it works. This is if Windows Media Player is your default player, because you seem to have problems with your WMP.
And for the slow connection people, the best thing is to: save the target to your hard drive, open the media player of your choice, File/Open, browse your hard drive.
This message has been edited by Mehdi_Caps on May 1, 2004 3:34 PM
