If Todd Bertuzzi’s punch from behind and tackle on Colorado forward Steve Moore on March 8, 2004, seem to have receded into the background when the Vancouver Canucks and Avalanche meet, as they did Saturday at the Pepsi Center, one of the many reasons might be the extensive roster turnover for both franchises.
The Avalanche has only five players who were with the team for that 2004 game in Vancouver, and the Canucks have eight.
The holdover Avalanche players are Joe Sakic, Milan Hejduk, Karlis Skrastins, John-Michael Liles and Kurt Sauer. The remaining Canucks are Markus Naslund, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, Brendan Morrison, Sami Salo, Mattias Ohlund, Matt Cooke and Trevor Linden.
Also, because Salo is out with a sprained knee and Sauer was a healthy scratch for the Avalanche, only 11 of the players in uniform were on the ice on the night Moore was hurt.
Bertuzzi, now with Florida, underwent back surgery to repair a herniated disc Thursday and is expected to be out at least six weeks.
Moore, who suffered fractured neck vertebrae and a concussion in the attack, hasn’t been cleared to take contact or attempt to play since. His lawsuit against Bertuzzi, the Canucks and the team ownership is on track to be heard in Ontario next year.
Footnotes
Defenseman Jordan Leopold, is skating with his teammates again after suffering a recent setback in his rehabilitation following sports hernia surgery in the offseason. “We’ve got a week (homestand) here to kind of get a clearer idea of exactly when he can play, but it’s looking good,” Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville said Saturday. … Skrastins and Morrison extended their league-best ironman streaks to 447 and 445 consecutive games, respectively. Skrastins is 39 games short of Tim Horton’s league record for defensemen. The overall league record is Doug Jarvis’ 964 consecutive games, with Montreal, Washington and Hartford from 1975-87. … Avalanche winger Antti Laaksonen was a healthy scratch for the first time in his tenure with Colorado, now in its second season, and winger George Parros was in the lineup for only the second time since he was picked up on waivers from Los Angeles on Oct. 3, the eve of the regular-season opener. He played on the fourth line with Brad Richardson and Mark Rycroft.
