INDEPTH: THE BERTUZZI INCIDENTA look at Todd Bertuzzi and Steve MooreCBC Sports Online | Last updated
March 11, 2004
Todd Bertuzzi
Todd Bertuzzi is the prototypical NHL power forward: he boasts an imposing six-foot-three-inch, 245-pound frame, soft hands around the net, and blistering speed down the right side. It's a mixture of grit and talent that's made him one of the most popular, and detested, players in the league.
Bertuzzi began playing hockey as a kid in Sudbury, Ont. It wasn't long before the young teen took his skill and size to the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League.
Bertuzzi played two seasons with the Storm before the New York Islanders made him the franchise's first-round selection (23rd overall) in 1993 NHL Entry Draft. After becoming Islanders property, Bertuzzi returned to Guelph to play two more seasons.
His play dramatically improved. The second-team OHL all-star sharply reduced his trips to the penalty box while posting career-best numbers in goals and points during his final junior season.
But Bertuzzi had difficulties adapting to the NHL. He played in 192 games over parts of three seasons with the Islanders, but never found his groove. He collected just 35 goals in that span and even spent a 13-game stint with New York's farm team in Utah during the 1996-97 campaign.
The Islanders dealt Bertuzzi to Vancouver on Feb. 6, 1998, along with defenceman Bryan McCabe and a third-round draft pick (Jarkko Ruutu) for the Canucks' former captain Trevor Linden.
The change of scenery immediately revived Bertuzzi. He managed to score almost as many points with the Canucks in 1997-98 over 22 games as he did with the Islanders in 52 contests. However, that evolution was derailed when he was forced to miss most of the 1998-99 season with a leg injury.
Bertuzzi began to emerge as a main part of Vancouver's offence in the 1999-00 and 2000-01 seasons, putting together back-to-back 25-goal campaigns. He then vaulted into the NHL's elite group of players with successive 85- and 97-point seasons.
The Vancouver assistant captain appeared in his first NHL all-star game in 2002-03 and returned to the mid-season classic again this season.
Part of what makes Bertuzzi unique among NHL snipers is his mix of playmaking ability and toughness. He readily averages more than 100 penalty minutes per season and isn't afraid to crash the net and mix it up with the opposition.
It's this willingness to get involved in rough altercations that landed Bertuzzi in hot water in March, 2004. His on-ice attack of Colorado Avalanche forward Steve Moore and subsequent season-ending suspension grabbed national headlines and pushed the issue of hockey violence back into the spotlight.
Steve Moore
Making the NHL is the dream of most young Canadian hockey players, and for Steve Moore that aspiration came true.
Moore began playing hockey with his brothers, Mark and Dominic, on a backyard pond in Sarnia, Ont., made by parents Jack and Anna.
When the family moved to Thornhill, Ont., the Moore boys kept playing the frozen game with rep teams in the community north of Toronto.
Education was also important in the Moore household, and when Steve wasn't drafted into the Ontario Hockey League, he took the opportunity to go to school and play hockey with St. Michael's College School in Toronto.
His success there helped him earn scholarship offers from several American colleges. Moore was offered a lucrative scholarship to play for the hockey juggernaut University of Michigan, but he turned it down, opting instead to join his older brother Mark at Harvard in 1996.
During the 1999-2000 season, younger brother Dominic joined Steve and Mark at Harvard. It was the first time of the history of the school that a trio of brothers played for the hockey team – Mark was a senior, Steve a junior, and Dominic a freshman.
Steve Moore graduated with an environmental science degree and finished his four-year college hockey career with 123 points in 124 games.
His talents at both ends of the ice prompted the Colorado Avalanche to draft the six-foot-two-inch, 205-pound forward in the second round (53rd overall) in the 1998 NHL entry draft.
Steve was the first of the three brothers to play in the NHL, though remarkably both Mark (Pittsburgh, seventh round, 1997) and Dominic (New York Rangers, third round, 2000) were also drafted in the NHL.
Moore made his professional debut with the Avs in the 2001-02 season, but the 2003-04 season was his first full campaign with the club.
The Avs expected Moore to spend most of the year with the club's minor-league affiliate in Hershey, but his solid two-way play kept him up with the big club.
Scoring may not be Moore's prowess, but his commitment to team defence is. Playing on the Avs' third and fourth lines, Moore has become a dependable checker who isn't opposed to dropping the gloves with the opposition from time to time.
Todd Bertuzzi is the prototypical NHL power forward: he boasts an imposing six-foot-three-inch, 245-pound frame, soft hands around the net, and blistering speed down the right side. It's a mixture of grit and talent that's made him one of the most popular, and detested, players in the league.
Making the NHL is the dream of most young Canadian hockey players, and for Steve Moore that aspiration came true.