A B.C. provincial court judge has handed Todd Bertuzzi a conditional discharge, after the Vancouver Canuck pleaded guilty to assaulting Steve Moore of the Colorado Avalanche.

"I have concluded that the imposition of a discharge is not contrary to the public interest,'' Judge Herb Weitzel said in his decision Wednesday night.

When Bertuzzi appeared in Weitzel's Vancouver courtroom earlier in the day, his about-turn on plans to fight charges related to the sucker punch he laid on the Colorado Avalanche's Steve Moore during a hockey game at General Motors Place last March demanded clarification.

"You pleaded not guilty in an earlier appearance. Now you enter a plea of guilty. Do you now wish to change the plea?'' Weitzel asked.

"Yes," Bertuzzi responded. "I plead guilty."

Hours later, after Weitzel said he would not wait for Moore to fly to Vancouver to personally read his victim's impact statement, the judge delivered the sentence.

A conditional discharge means Bertuzzi can avoid jail and a criminal record but only if he completes one year on probation, during which time he must perform 80 hours of community service. He is also forbidden from playing in any hockey games that also include Moore.

Moore's lawyer asked for a sentencing delay until January so that his client could provide a victim impact statement, but Judge Weitzel said he's satisfied with reading the 16 pages of written victim impact statements from Moore and his mother.

"I have no desire to interact with (Bertuzzi) in any way," Moore said in the statement read in court. "If I'm ever able to play again, I would ask that Todd Bertuzzi never be permitted to play in any sporting activity I'm involved in."

Bertuzzi's punch in the hockey rink left the 25-year-old Moore with facial cuts, fractured vertebrae, a concussion, and doubts about whether he would recover enough to ever play hockey again.

He has mostly recuperated from these injuries but doctors have said they don't know when Moore can return to the ice.

Despite a tearful apology during a news conference, the NHL suspended Bertuzzi for the rest of the season and the playoffs, in which the Canucks lost to the Calgary Flames in a seven-game series.

The suspension cost Bertuzzi more than $500,000 of his $6.8 million US salary and cost the Canucks a $250,000 fine.

He was also left off the Team Canada roster for the World Cup tournament.

Although European teams have expressed interest in Bertuzzi during the NHL lockout, he cannot play for them until the criminal case is over, the International Ice Hockey Federation ruled earlier in December.

"The violent nature of Mr. Bertuzzi's action with the severe injuries inflicted to the opposing player, as a result of his deliberate act, were regarded as an extremely serious violation of the rules, putting the sport into disrepute," the federation said in a statement.

Bertuzzi could be back in court even after the plea bargain is settled if Moore decides to file a civil suit.

With files from CTV's Todd Battis and The Canadian Press