Brad May was there the night of the infamous incident between Vancouver's Todd Bertuzzi and Colorado's Steve Moore. On March 8th, 2004, at the height of the rivalry between Vancouver and Colorado, Bertuzzi would sucker-punch Moore from behind, causing a concussion and three broken vertebrae. Moore would never play professional hockey again. Bertuzzi would have to wait 18 months before getting back to playing. He would also plead guilty to assault causing bodily harm and settled a civil suit with Moore out of court. May was a central figure in the sucker-punch and is now speaking out about the incident, saying what Moore did after is no different than insurance fraud.
“Todd Bertuzzi got railroaded by the National Hockey League,” said May on Sportsnet's 650 Greenmen Radio
“Obviously there was a terrible thing that happened in the game of hockey, it was reported that way.”
“There was a player injured, obviously Steve Moore. It's gone through the legal realm, and he's been settled in court civilly. So now I can talk about it.”
May called the incident “regrettable”, claiming he felt “terrible” for Moore. But he added he felt worse for Bertuzzi.
“I can tell you this, Steve Moore is perfectly fine,” May said. “Two and a half weeks after he was hit, Steve Moore was in a pool, wasn't wearing a neck brace, and was having fun. You know why I know that? Because we knew this thing was going to go to another level in the courts."
“And by the way, no different than insurance fraud, when a guy says I can't go to work for workman's comp, they catch him because he's roofing his house, and he's doing things, and he just doesn't want to go back to work. That was the case for Steve Moore, and I believe that.”
"I'm not happy about the night. I'm not happy about the way it was or how it ended. I feel bad for both of them. I feel bad for everyone that was involved in this. I feel bad for fans that watched it. But Steve Moore's okay today, so we don't have to worry about him. And I do feel bad that nobody can actually be honest and tell the truth about exactly what happened and how they feel because people of [political correctness]. And I do believe that. I think Vancouver Canucks fans deserve so much more, because Todd Bertuzzi was such a great player at that time.”
Moore did an interview 10 years after the punch, telling Sportsnet he was still feeling the effects.
"I still have a bunch of things, but headaches, lower energy than I used to [have], requiring more sleep — things like that,” said Moore.
You can listen to the entire interview here. You can relive the Bertuzzi-Moore incident below.
