The Donald Brashear-Marty McSorley Incident

The Donald Brashear-Marty McSorley Incident was an incident that occurred in the National Hockey League (NHL) with Marty McSorley and Donald Brashear on February 21, 2000 in a game between the Vancouver Canucks and the Boston Bruins.

Incident
During the game, Brashear was involved in a fight with Marty McSorley. Brashear won the fight and on his way to the penalty box, he taunted the Bruins bench.

Later in the game, Brashear collided with Bruins goaltender Byron Dafoe, who had to be taken off on a stretcher with a knee injury. For the rest of the game, McSorley attempted to fight Brashear, who refused.

With 4.6 seconds left in the game, McSorley struck Brashear with a two-handed slash to the temple with his stick. Brashear collapsed and his helmet fell off upon impact. He suffered a seizure on the ice and the slash resulted in a grade three concussion. Goaltender Garth Snow would later attempt to fight McSorley, but McSorley was ejected from the game with 2.8 seconds left in the game.

Disciplinary Actions\Criminal Charges
McSorley later received an indefinite suspension from the NHL and he was charged with assault with a weapon as a result of his actions.

The case went to trial in British Columbia where Brashear testified that he had no memory of the incident.

McSorley testified that he tried to hit Brashear in the shoulder to start a fight with him, but he missed which resulted in the head shot.

McSorley was found guilty, but he avoided a jail sentence and was required to complete 18 months of probation in which he was not allowed to play in a game against Brashear.

Aftermath
Brashear returned to play prior to the end of the season.

McSorley (who missed the remaining 23 games of the regular season) had his suspension officially set at one year following the conviction, but he ultimately never played in another NHL game during his career.