You know I am not a Grapes fan, but I will give him credit for going on Boston TV and calling one of their boys a quitter. Not sure which was louder, Cherry’s jacket or Mike Milbury.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Now listen here kids, right now, ya see, listen here:

don cherry

Listen to the Chat here

THAT’S A BEAUTY!!!

Here’s my 2 cents, and I am sure I am in the minority. What Dr. Tator said is entirely accurate. Don Cherry’s segments and his rock em sock em hockey has played a role in the number of shots to the head in hockey. Like it or not, Grapes preaches it. He may also preach not hitting from behind and stop signs and other safety things as well, however, having spend too much time in youth arenas listening to parents and coaches talk about the game the night before, 9 times out of 8 they are talking about the fight, or the hit as opposed to the goal or the pass. I hear more references to Grapes with respect to fighting and hitting then anything else, next comes his dislike for most european players.

To be fair, Don Cherry is a sales guy, he is all about selling his side show. No one would give a rats ass about him if he didn’t have a shtick and we all know what his is. So he likes rough and tumble hockey so what- take the good with the bad.

Having said that, I can’t wait to hear Grapes response to this clip telling a reporter to !@#@!#! off and saying he doesn’t give a @!#!@#!@ about a fairly well respected neurosurgeon…All Class that Grapes- In case anyone was the least bit confused about who Don Cherry is, he has shown his true colours with this clip…Nice Canadian boy….

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Thanks to the Globe for the clip.

Don Cherry sounded off on the NHLPA last night on Coach’s Corner with Ron MacLean:

Do you remember this?

We all know what happened next right? Gretzky scored while he should have been in the box and in essence the rest of the series was history, and the LA Kings not the Maple Leafs faced the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Want to tell Kerry Fraser how pissed off you are at him even to this day? OR how much you love his hair? Today is your shot as Kerry Fraser will be the in-studio guest on Leafs Lunch on 640 Toronto. I suspect that you may want to call now as it will be pretty busy to give Kerry @#$@#$@!#$!@

Here is what Grapes said about the call:

Not sure how many of you caught the photo’s of Alexander Ovechkin’s t-shirt and shorts we wore prior to the start of last nights game between the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs. Here is a shot of the shirt- the shorts are better. If anyone has it electronically I will add it.

The back of the T-shirt read respect. The Toronto Sun, I believe has it in print, but not online.

Personally, I am Switzerland on Donald S. Cherry. He is, what he is. I don’t think he believes half of what comes out of his mouth and he tries to be controversial. More importantly, I think Grapes has jumped the shark. (For those of you who don’t know what that means click here)

What I do, to a certain degree think is that he is a spokesman for the NHL. I don’t think he should tow the line, but I think he needs to be a little bit smarter when it comes to his comments on the stars of the game.

“”He’s not going to get any better. I don’t think he’ll do as good as last year,” Cherry, speaking on an NHL conference call, said yesterday of the dazzling Russian. He was doing things he shouldn’t do. He was always cutting into the middle and he got away with it,There will be a lot of guys waiting for him this year. He’s not going to be running around like a bull in a china shop.”

Now, why would he say that? Once again, I ask, what’s the point? Ovchekin is, in my opinion anyway the best all around player in the league right now. He is everything a hockey player should aspire to be. He is fast, he is smart, he is physical, he has great hands and he cares. Why dump on a guy with those attributes. He is not to blame for any more shortcomings of any of his breathern from over seas, the same way Sid Crosby isn’t for any brutal north American (or Canadian) players. He is arguably the most exciting guy in the league. He is one of a few players that I would pay to watch. He works his tail off every shift. All of that is a good thing for the game. Bashing the guy just isn’t smart, nor is it called for. I think Grapes knows better too.