Montreal Police have announced that they will open an investigation into the hit that Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara put on Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty.
The hit ended up putting Pacioretty in the hospital with a severe concussion and a cracked vertebrae. Pacioretty’s return to hockey is up in the air at this point.
Much of the outrage came after the NHL failed to suspend or fine Chara for the hit. Many league sponsors including Air Canada have threatened to pull their sponsorship from the NHL if nothing is done to protect players from serious head injuries.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman called the injury to Pacioretty ‘horrific’ but said it’s part of the game of hockey and that the NHL would be able to find new sponsors if current ones pull out.
Montreal Police then became involved Thursday acting on a request by Quebec’s director of criminal and penal prosecutions, Louis Dionne.
“The police investigation will be held. Like all police investigations, evidence will be gathered and an investigation report will be submitted (to the DCPP),” said spokeswoman Martine Berube.
“(The DCPP) will then evaluate to see whether there’s grounds for prosecution.”
As far as what could happen to Chara, Berube said that, “It’s too early to say. That would depend on what charges are laid. That’s a little difficult to predict at this point.”
After Thursday morning’s pre-game skate, Chara reiterated that he wasn’t intentionally trying to hurt Pacioretty.
“You feel bad when a fellow player gets severely hurt,” he said. “I know, deep down, I did not do it intentionally.”
Source: The Canadian Press, Yahoo Sports, TSN
