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Wednesday, December 8, 1999

The Lake County state's attorney's office on Tuesday charged the Glenbrook player, also 15, with two counts of aggravated battery, alleging that the youth caused great bodily harm and that his hockey stick was a deadly weapon. The player's name was not released because of his age.

State's Attorney Michael Waller said the incident occurred after the buzzer sounded to end the game, indicating an intent to harm.

"This was an unusual set of circumstances, which we believe justifies bringing these charges," Waller said.

Jeff Steinback, a lawyer for the boy charged, said his client did not intend to harm Goss. Steinback said his client is "heart-sick over what has happened to the other young man."

"It was not intentional. And obviously, making the decision to charge him has compounded the tragedy," Steinback said.

Steinback suggested he may argue the check occurred as the buzzer sounded. "If a tackle in football begins prior to the end of the game and the individuals don't land until after the game is over, is that really after the game?" he said.

Waller said he acted on accounts from witnesses, although others who saw the incident dispute that it was intentional.

"I think it's a terrible thing that the police have to get involved in something that happened during the contest of a sporting event," said Alan Kray, president of the Northbrook Hockey League, which sponsors the Glenbrook team.

Both teams involved in the incident are affiliated with the league. They are not sanctioned by high schools.

If convicted, the boy could be held in a juvenile facility until he is 21. He is to be arraigned Jan. 5 in Lake County Juvenile Court.

After undergoing surgery Nov. 15, Goss was released from the hospital and is now a patient at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.

"He still does not have use of the lower half of his body and only has limited use of his arms," said Karl Lutz, president of the New Trier Hockey Club.

Thursday, December 9, 1999

They are charging another teen with aggravated battery in an extraordinary step that hockey officials couldn't recall happening before at the high-school level.

George Strickland, an assistant state's attorney for Lake County, said the blow was apparently in retaliation for an altercation the boy had earlier in the game, the Chicago Tribune reported today.

"That's what you get for messing," the youth told the victim as he lay injured on the ice, according to Strickland.

However, the youngster's lawyer, Jeffrey Steinback, called the prosecutor's comments "a wholesale distortion of the truth," the newspaper said.

"Something terrible happened to a young boy, a terrible injury, a tragic injury, but that doesn't make it criminal," Steinback said Wednesday.

Neal Goss, of suburban Glencoe, is currently in the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Jim Smith, secretary of USA Hockey, the group that oversees all U.S. amateur hockey, said he will be released from the institute on Christmas Eve.

The boy who skated into him has been suspended from play, Smith said.

"This is a double tragedy," he said.

The match between players from Glenbrook North and New Trier High Schools took place Nov. 3. Both players are from well-to-do Chicago suburbs. The teams are not formally affiliated with the two high schools; they are sponsored by local clubs, but are allowed to use the school names.

Authorities said the boy, whom they declined to identify because of his age, skated into Goss from behind, a penalty offense.

The hit came within a few seconds after the final buzzer, according to Lake County State's Attorney Michael Waller.

"I think it's a certainty that if this had happened during the game, we wouldn't have investigated it," he said Wednesday. But he said a month-long investigation of the case indicated that when the youngster checked Goss from behind with his stick, he meant to hurt him.

But Alan Kray, president of the Northbrook Hockey League, said witnesses told him a few seconds might have remained on the clock.

"It happened within the context of the game," he said.

Meanwhile, Goss and his father filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday against the Glenbrook North player; Glenbrook North coach Adam Young; the Northbrook Hockey League, which sponsors the Glenbrook North team; the Illinois Hockey Officials Association; and the Amateur Hockey Association of Illinois.

The lawsuit contends Young "peristently and regularly heckled and ridiculed" the young Goss during the game, encouraging his players to target Goss. It also says referees and league officials did nothing to prevent or halt the abuse.

Efforts to reach Young by telephone early today were unsuccessful.

Critics who believe hockey, football and other sports are too violent have focused on the case to drive home their point, according to Karl Lutz, president of the New Trier Hockey Club in suburban Winnetka.

The devastating injury has had a powerful emotional impact, he said.

"There's tremendous sadness, grief and horror that a child has been paralyzed and there are those in the community who, when a terrible tragedy happens, want to find somebody responsible and get their retribution," he said.

Last February, a player for minor league hockey's Anchorage Aces was charged with assault for bashing a rival with his stick in Fresno, Calif. And a 19-year-old player for the Plymouth, Mich., Whalers was charged with assault for whacking an opponent in the face with his stick in 1998.

Attempts to reach the Goss family for comment Wednesday were not successful. The boy's grandmother answered the phone, but declined to comment.

The player charged was not arrested. He was summoned to appear in juvenile court on Jan. 5.

Thursday January 6 2:09 AM ET

 Teen Hockey Player Pleads Innocent

 By MIKE ROBINSON Associated Press Writer

 WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) - A teen-ager pleaded innocent to aggravated battery
 stemming from a high school hockey game last November in which the captain of
 a rival team was paralyzed after being slammed into the boards.

 The youthful defendant, 15, sat silently through a brief hearing before Circuit
 Judge John G. Radosevich on Wednesday, allowing his attorneys to do the
 talking. He left the Lake County courthouse out of sight of reporters.

 ``When he learned the magnitude of the injuries, I think it's fair to say that he was
 devastated,'' defense attorney Jeffrey Steinback said at a news conference later.

 The Glenbrook North student, who hasn't been identified because he is a juvenile,
 is charged with two counts of aggravated battery for delivering the hit that sent
 Neal Goss, also 15, into the boards head first. Goss is paralyzed from the chest
 down.

 The collision occurred close to the buzzer ending the game between Glenbrook
 North and New Trier, both located in Chicago's north suburbs.

 Radosevich told the defendant that if he is found guilty, the penalties could range
 from supervision - after which his record could be expunged - to confinement in a
 juvenile facility until he is 21 years old.

 The head of the criminal division of the Lake County State's Attorney's office,
 George Strickland, said that his department had a ``responsibility under the law''
 to bring charges due in part to the severity of the injury.

 ``He intended to injure the victim,'' Strickland said. ``We're not contending that he
 intended to paralyze him.''

 Steinback said it was too early to say exactly what happened in the Nov. 3
 incident.

 ``There are no facts that have been established in this case whatsoever,''
 Steinback said. But he said he believed that what happened ``was in the context
 of the game.''

 The game was marked by taunting and intense hits before the incident.

 A civil lawsuit filed by Goss includes officials with the Illinois Hockey Officials
 Association as defendants, contending they were unable during and after the game
 ``to adequately and ably control the game between the two teams.''

 The suit also claims Glenbrook North coach Adam Young ``rallied his players
 during the game to take special action against'' Goss because of his leadership on
 the New Trier team.

 The next hearing in the case has been set for Jan. 26.