The Canadian Way: Boring and Dirty, According to Don Cherry

Well let him get smacked.

Hey I’m a Crosby fan but I really could care less. I’m not much of a deep hockey guy though.

I played soccer.. my celebration was the "airplane". I incorperated a summersault once. I kind of hurt my head so I decided against it full-time.

I did some other stuff too, but my main thing was the airplane.

Ovechkin has done more for the sport of hockey than anyone, and this continual bashing of his enthusiasm is tiring. He has filled the seats in hockey arenas across the United States and Canada, contributing directly to lining the pockets of team owners. His love for the sport is refreshing and his passion and enthusiasm is exactly what hockey needed. He celebrates each goal with a level of excitement rarely seen. Can you say "sour grapes?"  

And, Crosby is just like Mario Lemieux, always complaining every single time another player touched(s) them. Hockey is a contact sport and if Crosby can’t handle it, perhaps he should try ballet.

I enjoy watching Don and have so for many years.  Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and in this case, Don has his.  Personally, I agree with Bruce Boudreau and I too believe Cherry is wrong is this case.  Alex Ovechkin enjoys hockey, he enjoys the game, he loves being out there on the ice and doing what he does best.  Is that so wrong?  I thought that’s what it’s all about, "FORTHE LOVE OF THE GAME."

What Don Cherry has done, by stating what he did on HNIC, is put a big old TARGET on Ovechkin’s back.  He’s (DC) put the challlenge out there to those who wish to make a name for themselves in the NHL by stating, "I am predicting somebody’s going to get him, and somebody’s going to get him good…."  That’s just wrong, it’s wrong for the game, and it’s wrong for a person of his (DC) stature and influence to be promoting such indescretions and violence.  That’s not hockey Don, and personally, I don’t think that’s you too.  Keep doing wahat your doing OV.  

I’m sorry, but I have a very hard time taking seriously some balding, crusty old fart who dresses like a 1970’s pimp and bellows in front of the camera as if he has an inferiority complex and needs to be heard by the whole wide world. What’s wrong with a player enjoy the sport he plays like Alex Ovechkin does? In my mind, Cherry was wrong to say what he did, and in the way he said it, his irresponsible commentary will only up the goonery throughout the league, and who in their right minds needs that nonsense. In the meantime, if NHL teams want to prevent Ovechkin from doing his celebratory thing——STOP HIM FROM SCORING GOALS! How simple is that to figure out?

let me get this straight:  don cherry is bashing someone for over the top antics…….anyone else see the hypocracy here?

am a flyers fan, but i love alexander oveckin.  his celebrations are genuine, and the guy is the face of the NHL.

"And, Crosby is just like Mario Lemieux, always complaining every single time another player touched(s) them. Hockey is a contact sport and if Crosby can’t handle it, perhaps he should try ballet. "
-yer goddam right

There’s several problems with this article, and several of the reactions to it:

1. Saying that he’s standing up for Canadian players like Sidney Crosby over Ovechkin is just plain ignorant. Don Cherry himself got into a heap of trouble when, as a juinor (and a minor), Crosby was criticised by Don Cherry for pulling a nifty lacrosse-type move in a 10-0 thumping of an opposing team, saying that it’s a "hot dog" move and he’ll get himself injured for it in the next game against this same team. Essentially, he’s saying the same thing about Ovechkin now: doing something unnecessary will get you intentionally injured. Now, I don’t agree with it, but implying nationality-bias, and you people blindly agreeing with it, is rather stupid.

2. Don Cherry promotes his view of hockey culture. Whether you do not like it, fine, but I’d add, the more modesty-orientated hockey culture isn’t that bad considering the general bad behavior of of the ‘other’ North American sports. I can’t speak for everyone, but I’d rather have Jarome Iginla or Wayne Gretzky as my child’s role-model than, for example, Barry Bonds. Whether he is right or not isn’t the point; the point is that he’s standing up for what he believes is right.

3. If you’re going to make use of french-language expressions because Don Cherry hails from bilingual Canada, please note that (a) Don Cherry is as WASP as they come and doesn’t speak a word of french, and (b) please try to get the french grammar correct, as making a mistake in the space of only two words only makes you look like the fool.

Don Cherry is sandpaper to most people that are not Canadian and he likes it that way. We have been used to his old time hockey and the rules that went with it. As it was so well said earlier, Crosby himself has caught the ire of Grapes so please get off of  it. The stuff OV does is fun to a point, but sometimes people on the other team may see it in the same light as Cherry does and may try to hurt him. It’s hockey and please don’t tell me that OV doesn’t know this!! He knows and he is ready for it when it may happen. I must admit that OV has a great outlook, but he just jumps up and down more than a little bit.

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This is just Don Cherry being his
bigoted self. If Ovechkin were Canadian born, he wouldn’t be saying
these things. The great thing about hockey is that if the other team
gets tired of Ovechkin running players or celebrating too much, they
will police the situation themselves and handle it the old fashioned
way. But it’s up to the opposing team to make that determination,
not Don “Archie Bunker” Cherry.

Cherry is sour because an Euro is stealing the show from his
beloved Chrissy.  I think his collar is cutting off the oxygen to
his brain.

Whatever, I stopped paying attention to Don Cherry years ago.  Think about it:  the guy consistently talks about how Europeans are ruining the game, while the facts show that about 80 percent of the excitement in the NHL comes from Europe.  Look at the top 10 current points leaders in the NHL.  How many are Canadian?  Three?  And I bet Cherry wouldn’t even count Igilna as a Canadian, considering his mom was American and dad Nigerian.  And why are the Washington Capitals breaking all their previous attendance records (and boosting attendance around the league)?  Yes, that was a rhetorical question.  (Okay, so maybe having Canadian Mike Green doesn’t hurt.)

Time for Cherry to go.  Join my Fire Cherry group on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=54295599658