Junior hockey star Patrice Cormier charged with assault for on-ice hit to the head

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Patrice Cormier, the former captain of Canada’s world junior hockey team, was charged with assault causing injury in connection with an on-ice hit to the head of an opposing player in January.

Cormier, 19, already had been suspended for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs because of the elbow he delivered to the jaw of an unsuspecting Mikael Tam.

A forward with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League who was drafted by the New Jersey Devils in 2008 and is now a highly regarded prospect of the Atlanta Thrashers, Cormier could be sentenced to 18 months in jail if convicted. A court date has been set for July 12.

The hit in question came during a Jan. 25 game when Cormier elbowed Tam of the Quebec Remparts. Tam, who dropped to the ice and went into convulsions, spent that night in the hospital but eventually was able to return to action.

-- Debbie Goffa