## Facts

- During a 1969 NHL pre-season game in Ottawa between the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues, Bruins player Ted Green and Blues player Wayne Maki became involved in a brief on-ice altercation near the Bruins’ goal.
- Evidence indicated Maki grabbed Green’s sweater and allegedly “speared” Green in the groin with his stick, an act described as dangerous and commonly provoking immediate retaliation in hockey.
- Green responded by striking or pushing Maki in the face with his gloved hand, described as a “half chop,” while play continued under a delayed penalty signal.
- The confrontation later escalated into stick-swinging violence in which Green sustained a serious head injury, but the criminal charge against Green focused on the initial gloved blow to Maki’s face.
- Maki testified that similar gloved face blows had happened to him many times in his career, suggesting such contact was common in professional hockey.
- Green was charged with criminal assault and tried in the Ontario Provincial Court (Criminal Division).

## Issues

1. Whether a gloved strike or push to an opponent’s face during professional hockey play constitutes criminal assault.
2. Whether, and to what extent, participation in professional hockey implies consent to physical contact that would otherwise satisfy the elements of assault.

## Decision

- The court acquitted Green and dismissed the assault charge.
- The court treated the incident as occurring within the fast-paced and physical context of professional hockey.
- The court concluded that the Crown had not established criminal assault in light of the type of contact involved and the sport context in which it occurred.

## Legal Principles

- In contact sports, players may impliedly consent to a range of physical contacts and retaliatory acts that would be criminal assaults outside the sport setting.
- Whether conduct is criminal in sport depends on context, including the game’s rules, customs, and the type and degree of force used.
- Implied consent is not unlimited; criminal liability remains available for conduct that materially exceeds what participants can reasonably be taken to accept as part of the game.
- Player testimony and evidence about the frequency and ordinary nature of a specific form of contact may be relevant to determining the scope of implied consent.

## Conclusion

The court acquitted an NHL player charged for a gloved blow delivered during play, holding that the act, assessed against the accepted physicality and customs of professional hockey, fell within the scope of contact to which participants impliedly consent rather than constituting criminal assault.


R. v. Green, 16 D.L.R. (3d) 137 (Ont. Prov. Ct. 1970)