Fun times for fallen star

By Iain MacIntyre, Vancouver Sun columnist – For a long time, I wished Todd Bertuzzi would just go away. Didn’t everyone?

We were tired of the Steve Moore story — Bertuzzi’s 2004 assault on the National Hockey League grinder that ruined two careers. Frustrated the horrible spectacle apparently failed to give Bertuzzi pause, to make him grow up or at least outgrow the petulance that caused him so often to sulk and bray and bicker with former Vancouver Canuck coach Marc Crawford.

We were disappointed he tried to blame others, notably Crawford, for what happened to Moore on March 8, 2004, and angry at his unwillingness to work with Moore to settle the retired player’s lawsuit against him.

Bertuzzi was a pariah, and the National Hockey League didn’t need him anymore. Couldn’t he just quit? Turns out he nearly did. Several times.

Back in the Vancouver arena where he became for a couple of fleeting years at the start of this decade one of the best players in hockey, Bertuzzi admitted Monday he thought several times about retiring after leaving the Canucks.

Not because of a heavy conscience, mind you. But because of a series of injuries and team switches that left him disillusioned, feeling homeless, directionless.

The Detroit Red Wings changed that. And maybe they have helped change Bertuzzi, too.

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Storm bio… Todd Bertuzzi was the first player ever selected by the Storm when the club re-located to Guelph from Hamilton.  The Sudbury native went on to play four seasons with the Storm and ranks third all-time in club history with 280 points.  He also owns the Storm record for most goals in a Storm season (54) and career penalty minutes (538).  Drafted by the NY Islanders 23rd overall in the 1st round (1993), Bertuzzi has gone on to a successful NHL career with 622 points in 848 games (as of 02/26/09).