Prosecutors Argue in McSorley Case

Marty McSorley’s stick attack on Donald Brashear was “an excessive act of violence” not within the usual bounds of hockey, the government’s lead prosecutor said Friday in his final argument in the NHL player’s trial.

Brashear, who banged the back of his head on the ice after McSorley hit him in the Feb. 21 game between Boston and Vancouver, sustained a concussion, lost consciousness for a few moments while on the ice and suffered memory lapses. He returned to play after several weeks and has fully recovered.

“We say the act depicted is such an excessive act of violence, so gross in its delivery, that it must engage the criminal law because of the risk of harm it presents,” prosecutor Mike Hicks said. “It’s not a risk the community can accept as within the normal bounds of an NHL game.”

Bill Smart, McSorley’s lawyer, argued that NHL players give “explicit consent” to the risk of on-ice contact and McSorley’s hit was an accident, not an assault.

McSorley, who has played in the NHL for 17 seasons, could get up to 1 1/2 years in prison if convicted of assault.

The judge is expected to rule on the case next Friday.

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The Minnesota Wild claimed former Edmonton Oiler left wing Zdeno Ciger as the first of only five players chosen in the waiver draft.

Ciger, property of the Nashville Predators for the past two seasons, was playing in Slovakia for the past four seasons. Ciger, 30, played in the NHL from 1990-96 with the New Jersey Devils and Edmonton.

Teams were allowed to protect 18 skaters and two goalies.

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Center Kris Beech, selected seventh overall in the 1999 NHL draft, signed a three-year contract with the Washington Capitals. The Capitals haven’t decided if Beech will start the season with them or be returned to his Canadian junior league team in Calgary. Because he has one year of junior league eligibility remaining, NHL rules don’t allow him to be sent to the minors.

The Capitals also signed Czech defenseman Jakub Cutta to a three-year deal.

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Defenseman Mark Eaton was traded by the Philadelphia Flyers to the Nashville Predators for a third-round pick in next year’s NHL draft.

Eaton appeared in 27 games with Philadelphia last season, collecting one goal, one assist and eight penalty minutes.