Interesting read... Alexander Perezhogin

[hammerbillsfan]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?id=2194871

Past Still Present?

Alexander Perezhogin is tied to what many consider as one of hockey's most violent events. Now, he's found new success in the NHL with the Canadiens. Scott Burnside tries to find out if the winger has moved on from his controversial past.

Since I live in Hamilton and have been to many Bulldogs games, I remember this incident like it was yesterday.

[Myers57]

good article!

[chernobylwraiths]

Did the guy even serve a suspension? He played last year in Russia.

[Demon]

Did the guy even serve a suspension? He played last year in Russia.

European Leagues have a deal with the hockey federation that they only honour National Hockey League suspensions. Since his crime was in the AHL, there was no rule of stopping him playing in Europe.

IMO this was the best thing for him too. He got expierence in the North American game, got to play, saw how it is, then got suspended and went to Russian, and worked on puck skills in an offensive league, which you can definetly see in the NHL now. He is a big for the Montreal club.

And Stafford is a thug, i want no hurt to any player, but he always made cheap shots himself, and he's dude, and i always remember him making bad hits and taking advantage of smaller players in Rochester.

[JD]

Im too drunk to readthangs so what did this guy do that was so bad?

[hammerbillsfan]

From the article on ESPN:

Perhaps it is a question without an answer. Can Stafford answer the same question about whether he will ever walk free of that moment on April 30, 2004, in Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario? (After considering a request for an interview from ESPN.com for several days, Stafford declined through a Cleveland Barons public relations official.)

It was late in the first period of a playoff game between the Hamilton Bulldogs, the Canadiens' top farm club, and the Cleveland Barons, the top affiliate of the San Jose Sharks (http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/clubhouse?team=san). During an altercation in front of the Barons' net, Stafford struck Perezhogin in the back of the helmet with his stick. The 6-foot, 190-pound Stafford went down just as Perezhogin turned and swung his stick baseball style.

In the normal course of events, it would have been a slash to the pants or midsection. But Perezhogin's stick struck Stafford in the head, opening a cut that would take 20 stitches to close. Stafford was hospitalized with a concussion along with a series of facial contusions.
Perezhogin was later charged with assault causing bodily harm, a criminal charge to which he pleaded guilty.

[pyrrhonist]

While the tools at ESPN again make a situation seem far, far worse than what really happened, the Perezhogin incident just didn't seem to get the same villainous publicity that Bertuzzi/Moore did, and Perezhogin used a stick! It's unfathomable to me that people still talk as if they'd shoot Bertuzzi dead in his tracks if they saw him on the street, but Perezhogin's actions don't draw that same ire. I'm puzzled at the double-standard......

[hammerbillsfan]

It seems like Vancouver attracts all the dirty stuff in hockey too. (see: Marty McSorley)
Here is some other dirty things that has happened in hockey, this stuff isn't new. :horror:
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/columns/top10/hockey_lowlights.html

[AndreReed83]

You're right, the double standard shouldn't be there. Both were horrible, ugly incidents. Although, almost seemed like Bertuzzi was so incensed that he might have killed Moore if he hadn't been stopped...

[pyrrhonist]

Although I disagree that Bert wanted to kill Moore, I'm glad we agree the double-standard is foolish.

Perezhogin used his stick as a weapon, but yet he has been forgiven. Far worse damage could've been done with his attack, but yet, he's playing now for Montreal like it is all done and forgotten. I figure that if any incident would continue to be used in the non-hockey media to show how "ugly" & "barbaric" hockey is, it would be the Perezhogin incident.

Of course, as non-hockey oriented as ESPN is, it figures they would have an article about it, so they can try and piss on hockey some more. :down:

[AndreReed83]

What REALLY ticks me off about ESPN is the fact that they seem to deem cheap shots as fighting. I don't mind the occasional scrap. Anytime you have a passionate, contact sport with a bunch of guys carrying sticks, you're going to have some fights every now-and-then. Usually, these fights occur to calm things down and get control. They are almost the complete opposite of cheap shots.

So, ESPN calls anything violent in hockey as fighting and ask whether it should be allowed. They call it, as you said, "ugly" and "barbaric." Yet they NEVER get on to other sports for fighting. There are little skermishes ALL the time in football. Basketball, there are ridiculously hard fouls out of anger (and intent to injure) and ESPN usually ignores them. How many times in baseball do the dugouts clear out?! Hell, look at how many times teams threaten to bean a player in the face just because of something he might have said or the way he looked at a homerun he hit. The worst one is NASCAR. You have people saying they are going to wreck each other on purpose, driving at 180 mph. Then you got the people who run onto the track while the race is going and throw there helmets at cars and the pit crews fighting. I could keep going but it's really not worth it.

[hammerbillsfan]

Keep a eye on this game tonight: Colorado vs Vancouver.
1st time since the Bertuzzi incident.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=2200119