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Cormier’s charges are a bitter pill to swallow

Patrice Cormier of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies continues to suffer the consequences of his actions in January.

The former captain of Canada’s world junior team has now been charged with assault causing injury months after he knocked Mikael Tam of the Quebec Remparts to the ice with an elbow to the head.

Cormier was suspended by the QMJHL for the rest of the season, a punishment that was supported by the National Hockey League and the American Hockey League, preventing the New Jersey Devils’ prospect from playing out the rest of the season as a professional.

The hit to Tam’s head certainly merited a season-long suspension. I said it at the time and I still believe that it was a just punishment.

Criminal charges, however, take things to a whole new level.

There is going to be a huge outcry over this – both positive and negative – and then gas will be poured on the issue during the first intermission of tonight’s broadcast of the Vancouver Canucks-Chicago Blackhawks game when the CBC’s Don Cherry is given some airtime on Coach’s Corner.

Hits to the head, French-Canadian players and the law weighing-in to judge hockey? Oh man. This is like the perfect storm of Cherry Pet Peeves.

In any event, a ton of ink is going to be spilled in over the possibility of a hockey player doing time for an act on the ice.

Of course, the big question is – should Cormier even be charged in the first place? It pains me to say it but, yes, he should.

As evidenced by the strong reaction of the Canadian Hockey League, the QMJHL and the NHL that play was definitely outside the normal parameters of safe play. Further, there’s an argument to be made that Cormier did it on purpose. The video evidence certainly makes it look like Cormier purposely targeted Tam.

Despite the protests of some fans, there is precedent for the law getting involved in overly-physical hockey disputes. In fact, it’s happened on 14 different occasions since 1900.

If that happened on the street it would undoubtedly result in the victim pressing charges, so why shouldn’t it on a rink?

It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but for justice to be completely done, Cormier must go through a criminal trial.