Thrashers prospect Cormier could see jail time
Atlanta Thrashers prospect Patrice Cormier is facing criminal charges for a hit to an opposing player in a junior hockey league game.
Annie-Claude Bergeron, a spokesman for the Crown prosecutor's office in Rouyn-Noranda, said on Tuesday that Cormier has been charged with assault causing injury.
Cormier, a 19-year-old forward with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, was suspended on Jan. 25 for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs for an elbow to the jaw that sent Mikael Tam of the Quebec Remparts into convulsions on the ice.
Cormier will appear in court July 12. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 18 months in jail.
An appeal was turned down by commissioner Gilles Courteau on Feb. 19, but the Huskies then asked for an independent arbitrator. That also failed, as arbitrator Jacques Sylvestre upheld the suspension.
Tam spent a night in hospital after the hit, but eventually was able to return to the ice. Tam was then suspended on March 8 for two games for a hit from behind in a game against the Gatineau Olympiques.
Cormier, who was captain of the Canadian world junior team, was chosen in the second round of the 2008 draft by the New Jersey Devils. He signed a three-year deal with the Devils last summer but was sent to Atlanta during the season in the trade that brought star forward Ilya Kovalchuk to New Jersey.
