Boulerice and Chris Simon both share a few things in common. First, they hold the NHL’s record for the longest suspensions in history at 25 games a piece. Second, both of their illegal crimes against another player are identical. They are both responsible for two-fisted hockey stick attacks across the face of an unsuspecting opponent.

On October 10, 2007, during an 8-2 Flyers victory over the Vancouver Canucks, Boulerice and Ryan Kesler (Vancouver Canucks) spent the majority of the night agitating one another. As the cameras followed the play across center ice, a cry of disbelief could be heard throughout the crowd that something had gone wrong. The whistle was blown. For those sitting at home, the fans were unaware of what had occurred. They could only hear the sportscasters’ numbing shock as they mumbled through the microphone.

Ryan Kesler was face down on the ice and not moving.

Upon review of the play, as the unsuspecting Kesler skated from behind the net of Martin Biron (goalie, Philadelphia Flyers), he was immediately halted in his tracks when Boulerice skated up to him and broke his stick across his jaw. As Kesler lay immobile, Boulerice stood over him gloating.

It was a senseless and violent act against his opponent. Quite similar to Chris Simon using his hockey stick as a baseball bat on Ryan Hollweg’s head in the March 8, 2007 match-up of the New York Islanders vs. New York Rangers.

Luckily for both Kesler and Hollweg, they walked away with very minor injuries.

Both Simon and Boulerice received a 25 game suspension from the NHL for each of these incidents. Simon recently returned to the ice after serving his 25 game suspension. Boulerice was waived and sent to the Flyers’ AHL affiliate, the Philadelphia Phantoms.

Criminal Charges?

The question remains of whether Boulerice should have been brought up on criminal assault charges. In past incidents, the local prosecutor has investigated the illegal violent on-ice acts to determine whether criminal charges should be brought against the perpetrator.

The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office investigated the Simon/Hollweg incident to see if criminal charges should be brought against Simon for using his hockey stick as a weapon in his vicious cowardly assault on Hollweg.

Hollweg was interviewed by the DA’s office and was reported as being uninterested in pressing charges against Simon. He wanted to move on and concentrate on the playoffs. Even though the prosecutor could press formal charges, the DA decided against it.

The DA's decision to investigate the Simon/Hollweg incident was based on prior criminal convictions of two violent on-ice incidents: McSorley and Bertuzzi.

In 2000, Marty McSorley (then Boston Bruins) was found guilty of assault with a weapon for his on-ice two-fisted hockey stick attack on Donald Brashear (then Vancouver Canucks) during a Boston Bruins - Vancouver Canucks game.

In 2004, Todd Bertuzzi (then Vancouver Canucks) delivered a career ending blow to the back of Steve Moore’s (then Colorado Avalanche) neck. Bertuzzi was formally charged and pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm.

Bertuzzi’s act was the most violent of all the incidents. He ended Steve Moore’s professional hockey career with his own two hands. To this day, he is reminded every day of his mistake against Steve Moore. Fans make sure to remind him every time he dons a NHL jersey. Moore’s civil suit followed Bertuzzi to the 2006 Olympics, and Steve Moore’s brother, Dominic (Minnesota Wild), reminds him each time he plays against his team.

Not the First Time?

Boulerice’s two-handed whack to Kesler’s face was not his first incident. In 1998, Boulerice was suspended for one year by the OHL for violent stick-swinging and charged with assault to do great bodily harm less than murder to which he pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of aggravated assault.

In determining his punishment, NHL's disciplinarian, Colin Campbell, only takes into account the player's past NHL record. Boulerice's career in the OHL could not be used as a determinant. According to Campbell, “I think that that’s an issue that we have to deal with the NHL Players’ Association, as far as blending that criteria into our criteria. Right now, as it stands, we’re only allowed to look at their record in our league and how they play and act in our league.”

Boulerice’s violent history in hockey should have been taken into account during the NHL's disciplinary decision and also before he even became part of the NHL.

This brings rise to a new question: Should the NHL take into consideration a player’s past when bringing them into the NHL?

In my opinion, a player’s past performance as an overall hockey player, no matter what league he came from, should be a determinant in the decision-making process of allowing a player to enter into the NHL. The NHL made the mistake of turning a blind eye on Boulerice’s rap sheet. They let a violent criminal take the ice and in turn, endangered the lives of other NHL players. He is a repeat offender that committed the same crime where he previously pleaded guilty.

There is no excuse for such senseless acts of violence on the ice. A player should not be allowed to play professional hockey again if they are repeat violent offenders and if serious harm came to the victim (such as in Bertuzzi’s case). By allowing a player to return, even if the player feels deep remorse, the NHL is permitting this illegal behavior.

I would have thought that the entire NHL would have learned from the prior incidents to never use your stick to cross-check another player in the face. You should not have vicious retaliation towards another player that may have hurt your teammate.

In the many e-mails from hockey fans across North America that I received this week on the Boulerice incident, people feel that Boulerice should have criminal charges brought against him for this act of on-ice violence. I would have to agree with them.

There is no place in hockey for senseless violence. Just because the NHL is a sports league, it does not mean that because an act occurred during a game, it makes them oblivious to the laws of the country they are in. There are fans who believe that the LAW should have no say during any event that takes place during the course of a game.

I pose this hypothetical to those fans: If a player sought retaliation for an act that previously injured their teammate and brought a knife or a handgun out during the game and shot and killed the other player…or say they beat someone to death on the ice…based on the logic of keeping the law out of the NHL, should the player still be allowed to play? Should the “law” stay out of it and let the league take care of its own business?

The NHL is not the law. They are a business that is subject to the same laws of the land like you and I are. The law must get involved when an illegal act has occurred.

In the future, the NHL needs to crack down and create rules that will further protect its players from any more senseless violence. If it takes reviewing their past in other leagues, so be it. If it means ending the pro career of repeat violent offenders, so be it. In the end, it is the NHL that must protect its own players from each other.