Toronto Petitions League
-- Toronto Sun

Jay Shearin
June 23rd, 2004

--- tsn.ca


"Cheap. That's all that I can really say about it. Just a pure and simple cheap shot".


These words, fresh after Toronto's 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers, weren't something that a lot expected to hear.


In the blink of an eye, an otherwise spirited contest between Florida and Toronto was ruined with a simple swing of the stick by Florida's Jiri Hudler. Patrick Stefan, the unlucky recipient, was skating up the towards the neutral zone after making a solid hit against Hudler. Hudler used his fantastic skating speed to track Stefan down. He then gave him a few tugs with the curve of his stick to get him to turn around, but Stefan was already looking for the play in his own zone. Frustrated, Hudler took his stick and took a swing at Stefan, who immediately fell to the ice in a heap. Play was stopped at 17:18 of the first period.


"It's not something you really ever expect to happen," says a dazed Stefan. "In all my years of playing hockey, this hasn't ever happened to me this way. I just finished my check like i'm supposed to do. This is playoff hockey, I don't care if he is 6 inches shorter than I am. We finish checks in this league".


Toronto GM Josh Howell has filed a grievance with the league on behalf of Patrick Stefan and the Toronto Maple Leafs organization.


"It's just deadly obvious that this was intentional. Jiri Hudler got one minute of icetime in this game before his incident, and he used it to take out one of my best players with the swing of a stick. If that isn't intentional then I don't know what is. I'm hoping the league will look into this and take the appropriate actions against Mr. Hudler and the rest of the Florida Panthers organization".


Hudler recieved a two minute minor penalty and a game misconduct for his actions. Showing much protest, he was escourted out of the building and taken back to the team hotel. Stefan lay motionless on the ice.


"Everything pretty much went black," says Stefan. "The last thing I remember is trying to open one off my eyes and not being able to. I thought I had gone blind. Thankfully, the cut that opened up was above my eye and that took a little pressure of my actual eye. I'm just lucky that no major damage was done. I've seen this happen before to Bryan Berard, I don't want to be the second Leafs player to lose half his vision on the ice".


Stefan has a bruised cornea and is doubtful for Thursday's Game 4 against the Florida Panthers. Florida leads the series 2-1.


"I just want this fair and down the line." Howell quipped. "I don't know about the rest of you, but this is an obvious attempt to take out Stefan and i'm not going to stand for it. The league needs to review this and i'm talking about now".


Patrick Stefan is receiving treatments from Dr. Paul Franks at the Toronto Memorial Hospital. He is under a very intense rehabilitation process that involves workouts for the area around the eye as well as constant care regarding his vision and blurriness.


"We're involved in developing a full face shield for Stefan that will prevent this from being a problem if he would feel he's ready to play by Thursday," said Coach Pat Quinn. "We're hoping that Stefan gains at least 75% vision back in that eye by the time the next game comes up. If he does, he will play. If he doesn't he won't play. I'm not leaving it up to Stefan because periphial vision is something that is highly coveted in this league. I don't want Patrick to get blindsided should he decide he's ready to play again. We can't take that risk".


Stefan said Tuesday afternoon that he was feeling a lot better, though the eye was still quite sore. Stefan now sports a very deep and dark bruise around his eye. It is also sealed shut to about a quarter of it's normal radius. Patrick can close his good eye and still make out blurry shapes in his right eye, but he's still a long way away from hitting the ice.


"If this accomplishes only one thing, it means war for us. We're not going to let this go unavenged, that's for sure. Toronto doesn't roll over like that". says Howell.


"They had better be ready".


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tsn.ca
Copyright 2004

Hurricane GM Chris "Rock" Ralph is reported to be supporting the Leafs in their case. Rock is reportedly after saying somethin' along the lines of Hudler eing a "little czech twurp who's too damn small to really check & uses his stick as weapon." Allegedly Rock went on to say that if he pulled that in Raleigh he would be "rocked like a hurricane" and probbably not be fit to play again in the CTCHL.

Stay tuned to see what disciplinary action takes place, if any.



Dave "Tiger" Williams reporting from Raleigh, North Carolina