McSorely was charged criminally and convicted for his chop on Brashear. Dino Cicirelli was also charged for an on ice play.
I read a PhD thesis written on the topic of criminality and violence in sport. It was New Zealand centric but did refer to those NHL incidents. There have been a number of players criminally charged for incidents relating to rugby.
The thesis conclusion was basically that charges are appropriate for excessive violence that occurs outside of the usual and accepted game play. It bases much of this on the doctrine of implied consent. Fighting hockey players do so willingly and consent is therefore implied. A ball carrier being hit, or facemasked or usual game type activity has consented to that by virtue of participating.
This game was over. That play is outside of what is accepted and usual conduct of the game. In no way did Mason Rudolph give implied consent to be beaten with his own helmet.
If participating in football is implied consent for that, then there is a big problem.
