Montreal PD ready to speak with Bruins’ Chara about Pacioretty hit

June 28th, 2011 by mattk

Chara/By S. Bradley

Winning the Stanley Cup brings more demands on a player’s time during the offseason from interested media and new sponsors than a usual summer.

But it sounds like Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara is going to have one more post-Cup appointment to deal with later this month that few players have ever had to experience.

CBC news today reports that the investigation into Chara’s March 8 hit on Montreal forward Max Pacioretty, who suffered a severe concussion and fractured vertebrae, is still being conducted by the Montreal police. It sounds like speaking with Chara will be the last step in this process.

Sgt. Ian Lafrenière had this to say to the CBC:

“We haven’t met Chara, we don’t have his version of the facts, and also at the end of it, [a report is] gonna be presented to a crown prosecutor, and this is the person who will decide whether there will be some accusations.”

Here’s hoping that the Chara chat is just a formality. The MPD has been professional in waiting until the Cup playoffs ended despite Chara’s numerous crossings of the border to both Montreal and Vancouver. While Pacioretty has expressed sour grapes over the lack of a punishment for Chara from the NHL over the months since the play, the Habs forward has quietly let it be known even he doesn’t see a need for criminal charges.

Maybe the Bruins can schedule Montreal into the Cup’s summertime tour. After all, the folks up there haven’t seen it in 18 years.

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