<Snip > [log in to unmask] wrote:
 
<The problem with treating on-ice incidents as punishable under the
<law is that determining intent to harm is necessarily subjective and
<not clear cut.
 
Is "intent to harm" the ultimate determining factor of illegal or injurious
behavior when it comes to punishing through the legal system?  If in the heat
of the moment,  a player pushes his skate into another players neck while in
a skirmish to push the puck over the goal line, how would you ascertain
intent? If death resulted, would that determine the punishment?
 
Which ones are punishable by law?
 
1. An on-ice bench clearing brawl where several players are seriously hurt.
2. A hit from behind (illegal play) which causes the receiving player
permanent loss of motor ability.
3. A charging player, with the strategy of stopping a goal from being scored,
throws an opponent off his feet and into the boards resulting in a severe
grade three concussion.
4.  A player pulls another other player's stick away from him and plunges it
into his gut, resulting in severe abdominal tears.
5.  Two players sandwich an opponent against the boards, rough him up, knock
his helmet off, and send him crashing onto the ice head first.
 
 
 
Vicki
 
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