Cherry is an idiot and might have been good 15 years ago. i worked in canada again and again and watched his crap.. and played hockey, so why care what he says. get lost and retire… it is about time

Posted by AO1 from Europe on 03/01/09 at 03:58 PM ET

Cherry is a loon, but he’s right about Ovechkin.  AO is a jackass and it won’t be long before someone kicks his ass on the ice for his gloating.  And I will be laughing when it happens.

Posted by puckhead from Jersey, you dolts! on 03/01/09 at 04:01 PM ET

Sure, puckhead, and then that guy will get a penalty.

Then Ovechkin will go on scoring and celebrating and being an All-Star player.  And he will be laughing when it happens.

Posted by kushiro on 03/01/09 at 04:06 PM ET

Cherry is dead on about AO and the capitals in general. i ever saw a team celebrate a goal the way they do. everytime someone scores a goal they act like it’s ot goal in playoffs or act like pee wee team.

Cherry is a person who comes from a generation of hockey inwhich it was ment to be play and is dead on subjects that the real hardcore hockey fan believes that should be apart of the game today.

Posted by FlyersFan on 03/01/09 at 04:10 PM ET

Don Cherry:  Everything that is wrong in hockey.

Posted by Primis on 03/01/09 at 05:28 PM ET

Yet Cherry makes no mention of all the cheap shots that Crosby has given this season.  How odd…..
He’s just a good ol boy.  He quite down as the years go by and Crosby is beat out by AO or Malkin or some other guy.

Posted by AvsRock from My timeshare in insanity... on 03/01/09 at 05:28 PM ET

If Crosby were Russian, he’d get ripped to shreds for being robotic, distant, enigmatic, full of cliches, whining to the officials, expecting special treatment as a so-called “superstar,” and a coward who cheap-shots players when they can’t fight back by punching them in the gonads.

If Ovechkin were Canadian, he’d be lauded for showing so much passion for the game, so much pride, appreciating how difficult it is to score and celebrating the effort of his teammates as well as his own, being so fan-friendly and personable just like a “regular Joe,” always skating hard, never shying away from contact and doing anything to try to help his team win games - everything that is great about the skill and talent of Canadian hockey manhood.

For a country that like the US was based on primarily European immigration, some of it very recent, it strikes me as odd to be constantly dismissing other nationalities as near worthless and definitely lesser than “true Canadians.”

He’s an old xenophobic bigot.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 03/01/09 at 05:46 PM ET

If Don Cherry was an American we would hear all kinds of criticisms about him, especially his overt xenophobia. But I guess it’s only okay for a Canadian to spew the views Cherry does.

Posted by Red Winger from Sault Ste Marie on 03/01/09 at 05:49 PM ET

Perhaps, Kushiro, then he’ll score a goal and morons will call him the best player in the league.  A one-zone player who, like Kovalchuk, couldn’t find his d-zone with a map and wouldn’t know what to do when he got there.  No defensive responsibility because he just can’t do it.

Malkin is the best player in the league.  Parise is the best all-around LWer.  Those guys play goal line to goal line.

Posted by puckhead from Jersey!!!! on 03/01/09 at 05:58 PM ET

I have enormous respect for Don Cherry

There is Shawn Lavigne’s problem right there.

Cherry would shock me if he said anything remotely intelligent or a good kind word towards a European player.

Posted by PuckHound61 from Speckville USA on 03/01/09 at 06:31 PM ET

Another reason the NHL is in trouble: No national voices anyone can take seriously.

Posted by HockeyinHD on 03/01/09 at 07:18 PM ET

The Caps are the most fun team in the NHL to watch, because they play with this passion and excitement.  Don Cherry is dead wrong on this one.

Posted by Steven on 03/01/09 at 08:04 PM ET

As many of you have said, Ovechkin’s ebullience is infectious, and fun to watch. I do see Cherry’s point, however, that someone may take a run at him for it, particularly if the Caps are hammering a team with a big lead and the showmanship continues. Either way, I do like the enthusiasm, and being local to D.C., know that Ovechkin and the Caps have brought hockey back into the mainstream here, so Cherry’s criticism are kind of irrelevant.

Posted by penguinsfan on 03/01/09 at 09:06 PM ET

i dont see how Cherry is being a “xenophobic bigot” at all.  he’s probably right most of the time about the european players.  its just an observation, hes not crucifying anyone.

Posted by whocares from whatev on 03/01/09 at 09:49 PM ET

i dont see how Cherry is being a “xenophobic bigot” at all.  he’s probably right most of the time about the european players.  its just an observation, hes not crucifying anyone.

Because it’s a double standard.  He shows clips of Datsyuk hammering his Canadian boys and he scoffs and says he’s hitting in a dirty way.  Gary Roberts does the same thing and he’s playing good old North American hockey.  He is crucifying Europeans, he picks his spots and when people call him on it he rolls his eyes and mocks them. 

I don’t care if you think the game isn’t as hard hitting as it was once before but there’s plenty of Euro’s who hit just as hard as the NA players and there’s plenty of NA players who play just as ‘soft’ as the Euro’s are perceived.

The Wings don’t fight, but they step it up just as much as any team in the playoffs and that’s all that matters.  Moral victories are for losers.

Posted by Heaton on 03/01/09 at 10:42 PM ET

Cherry is a senile old man. Ovechkin loves to score and his enthusiasm for scoring is shown in his celebrations. Good for him. I like his celebrations, I like his enthusiasm for the game, I like the way he has finess but also is not afraid to throw his body hard in a check. He is a great player and since he is Russian that is the only fault with his game that Cherry can find so he makes an issue out of celebrating. Cherry should be sent to the old folks home. He is past his prime when the worst he can find with Ovechkin is over celebrating. What joke Cherry has become. I look forward to the day that Kelly Hrudey takes over the first intermission.

Posted by Bo from FL. on 03/01/09 at 10:43 PM ET

When Ovechkin gets run at, it’ll prove he’s doing his job.  Someone will hit him and he’ll just hit right back and not cry home to mommy every time someone does something he doesn’t like.  He said Teemu Selanne had no passion while they watching highlights of him scoring and fighting back in the old days.  Now, a european’s too passionate?!?  Give me a break Don.  You’ve got a lot of hockey knowledge but not a lot of brains

Posted by Matt Fry from Winnipeg on 03/01/09 at 10:44 PM ET

I’m gonna defend Don Cherry here.

You guys have to read “Hockey Stores and Stuff” to get a feel for this guy.  There’s a ton of good stories in there and you really get a feel for how the league was 30 years ago vs. how it is now.  You get an angle on how he views the current league.

Truth is we are working with a shadow of the former league.  There ARE a ton of euro players adding very enjoyable skill to the game, and their play and the new rules have killed pretty much the entire goon-fight nature of the game.

On that, it comes down to what you enjoy about the game.  I like the skill plays, but truth is when it comes to the Wings he’s dead-on; the game was more fun to watch with guys like MacCarty and Probert doing their thing.  I think we need that back on our team.  Not just them, but Shanahan, Kocur, even Stevie doing their part.  The game today, nobody on the team acts like they give a rat’s ass.  That’s gotta change.

The thing with the AO celebration, whatever, he’s great, it’s fun to watch him do his dynamic thing, I disagree with Don there.

As far as Don going too far, all of you are just caught up in his trap; that’s his schtick.  If you read his book you might know that.  I believe Don should be the next prime minister of Canada for the same reasons I think we need a fighter on the Wings again and that we should re-hire Hasek: Entertainment Value.

btw, calling Ian Laperriere?

Boy I’d love to see that just to piss off the Dive fans.

-Hippy

Posted by Hippy Dave from Portland by way of Detroit on 03/01/09 at 10:57 PM ET

Btw LOVE the YouTube posts of Coach’s Corner on the site and wish you would make that a regular thing.

Posted by Hippy Dave from Portland by way of Detroit on 03/01/09 at 11:05 PM ET

The game today, nobody on the team acts like they give a rat’s ass.

So the only way for the Wings to show that they give a rats ass is to throw a temper tantrum on ice or get in a few fights?  Back in the 90’s the Wings had more elite competition to go against, who do they have now?  Anaheim is already dead, sweet 2 year rivalry.  The Sharks have a nice little team but they can’t beat the Wings consistently.

Fighting doesn’t put passion into the game, the competitiveness does.  Do you think anyone would’ve cared this much about the Avs had Lemeiux run Draper but the Avs weren’t a playoff team?  Sure there would’ve been a fight but it would’ve been over. 

There’s really no resistance to the Wings being as dominant as they are.  Sure they don’t win the cup every year but they steamroll through every team in the league every. single. year. 

As soon as the Wings either get worse or the other teams get better, you’ll see more ‘passion’.  Notice how physical the Wings were against the Sharks this past week?  It wasn’t because they were matching the physical game, it was because it was an actual test.  I know I’m coming off as an arrogant elitist but that’s the way it is.

Posted by Heaton on 03/01/09 at 11:22 PM ET

some good points, but…
Don Cherry lost me once again.
Pavel making dirty hits? Nik is a sissy and is shown no respect?
Ovechkin celebrates like soccer players? the european’s are the reason the Joe has empty seats, c’mon, sit your ass in a time machine and go back 30 years in time, where everything was just better… you can’t pay Ron MacLean enough to deal with this stupidity every week.

If Ovechkin would just be canadian…

Posted by steph from Bonn, Germany on 03/02/09 at 04:32 AM ET

Fighting doesn’t put passion into the game, the competitiveness does. 

...

There’s really no resistance to the Wings being as dominant as they are.  Sure they don’t win the cup every year but they steamroll through every team in the league every. single. year. 

As soon as the Wings either get worse or the other teams get better, you’ll see more ‘passion’.  Notice how physical the Wings were against the Sharks this past week?  It wasn’t because they were matching the physical game, it was because it was an actual test.

Posted by Heaton on 03/01/09 at 11:22 PM ET

Agreed.  When fans go through the schedule looking for the games that are likely to be most competitive and entertaining, it’s also logical to think the players have a little bit of a letdown when they are playing another run-of-the-mill opponent in the middle of January again.  It happens with all the teams - the same reason why Calgary - Edmonton games are usually more heated than others for the teams, and why it’s sad that Toronto and Ottawa are both so bad this year because that used to be a more entertaining rivalry as well.

And it doesn’t matter what things were like 30 years ago.  I run into people all the time who lament the times when minorities and women “knew their place” like they did in the good old days.  I understand where they are coming from, but it still makes them bigots for belittling others based on ethnicity alone.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 03/02/09 at 07:13 AM ET

And on fighting - I think both the modern NHL rules changes and the salary cap have moved to kill fighting more than any European influx.  Every player has to be able to skate and actually be useful at hockey, otherwise he isn’t worth the cap space that could go to an actual player.  If a player is nothing but a liability when it comes to actually winning hockey games, no matter how entertaining he is he isn’t worth the money if it means a roster space, minutes, and dollars aren’t available for a talented young scorer or a defenseman with an excellent first pass.

Don’t blame the European influx for rules designed to benefit players more like Gretzky and Lemieux with respect to being offensive stars.  The skilled Europeans were ready to take advantage of them.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 03/02/09 at 07:19 AM ET

Don Cherry plays to his audience…i.e. Canada. He will always take a Canuck over anybody else. Nobody takes him seriously. I find him entertaining but he’s usually totally wrong. He said the Wings would win the Cup last year because of the new rule changes in the NHL. The rule changes took place three years ago. I think an all Canadian team the Duck won the Cup last year under the same rules. He will never give any European credit for anything…......Anyway, I think Ovechkin handled this in a very classy manner…although he does jump around too much

Posted by kevin from boston on 03/02/09 at 08:28 AM ET

If Crosby were Russian, he’d get ripped to shreds for being robotic, distant, enigmatic, full of cliches, whining to the officials, expecting special treatment as a so-called “superstar,” and a coward who cheap-shots players when they can’t fight back by punching them in the gonads.

If Ovechkin were Canadian, he’d be lauded for showing so much passion for the game, so much pride, appreciating how difficult it is to score and celebrating the effort of his teammates as well as his own, being so fan-friendly and personable just like a “regular Joe,” always skating hard, never shying away from contact and doing anything to try to help his team win games - everything that is great about the skill and talent of Canadian hockey manhood.

For a country that like the US was based on primarily European immigration, some of it very recent, it strikes me as odd to be constantly dismissing other nationalities as near worthless and definitely lesser than “true Canadians.”

He’s an old xenophobic bigot.

Baroque, this is dead on.  You’re a mf genius…

Dan

Posted by ITDeuce from The Land of Ice and Snow on 03/03/09 at 01:19 PM ET