Todd Bertuzzi apologizes to media: 'Sorry if I was a douche'

Todd Bertuzzi, who had a 20-year career in the NHL marred by controversy, has apologized to the media for the way he acted at times.

"I was too hard, I told you guys, 'Sorry if I was a douche, man,'" Bertuzzi said while appearing on Sportsnet 650 radio. "It's true, I wasn't very co-operative at times because I wasn't ready for that stuff. I didn't want to speak every day. I was paid to go play hockey and entertain fans not to have stuff written in the paper. I could care less what was written in the paper, the stories that you guys needed. I just wanted to go play hockey and entertain fans, that's all I wanted to do."

Bertuzzi, now 45, was involved in the infamous incident with forward Steve Moore back in 2004. During a game between Bertuzzi's Vancouver Canucks and Moore's Colorado Avalanche, Bertuzzi sucker-punched Moore and fractured multiple vertebrae in his neck, ending his NHL career. It resulted in criminal charges against Bertuzzi and a civil lawsuit, which put the media spotlight squarely on Bertuzzi for several months.

"Getting older and understanding that a lot more comes with it, I'm sure things would have been less abrasive after 2004, but at the same time what's done is done and we all learn," Bertuzzi said. "If people want to hate me or have an opinion on me because of that then that's OK I'm fine with that.

"Vancouver, you know what, looking at it now, they were great, they really were. I was just at that point annoyed with having to answer the same set of questions, I was not prepared for what I needed to do."

Source: Sportsnet 650

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