Wilf Paiement, as former NHL star, was...

Wilf Paiement, as former NHL star, was ordered by a New York judge to pay $85,000 for smashing the nose of another player with a hockey stick during a 1978 game in Detroit.

State Supreme Court Justice Eugene Nardelli said Paiement, who retired in 1988, must pay the estate of Peter Gilbert, late owner of the company that owned the Colorado Rockies, now the New Jersey Devils.

Paiement was playing for the Rockies when he hit Detroit’s Dennis Polonich in the face with his stick on Oct. 25, 1978. Polonich sued Paiement and APA Sports Inc., which owned the Rockies. A federal court jury awarded Polonich $850,000. In a $650,000 settlement reached the next year, the team paid $85,000 and the Rockies’ insurance company paid the rest.