On Thursday, Emile Therien, president of the Canada Safety Council, complained to the CBC that Coach’s Corner “has been a willing participant in condoning violence and fighting in hockey.”
In January, Dyane Adam, Canada’s official languages commissioner, said she’d investigate Cherry for comments about French Canadians.
“Now I have a safety guy after me,” said Cherry. “A guy named Emile is after me so I have the language police and the safety guy . . . It’s a funny thing.”
Cherry said critics have “an agenda to get hockey, get (NHL commissioner Gary) Bettman, get me, get hockey people.”
“The media doesn’t care about Moore one bit,” he said, his face turned red in obvious anger. “When they saw that, they were ecstatic.
“They can get the great unwashed . . . and I’m your leader. This is a time to get us.
“This has hurt hockey so much. (Marty) McSorley (incident) was bad but this was the worst I’ve ever seen with media types and it’s too bad.”
He’s right you know. I may not agree with him all the time, but the accusations and attacks on the game of hockey right now are out of control. I don’t understand how this ‘Emile Therien‘ person really is just blowing hot air. Cherry is Don Cherry. He does not condon violence, he just understands the game, and the game does include fighting. In no way has Don Cherry condoned what Todd Bertuzzi did, and I don’t think anyone will. It’s ridiculous the people (namely, Emile Therien) who believe that Don Cherry has anything to do with the violence in the league right now.
Do you know what I think? I think the league has to take some responsibility. I think the media has to take some responsibility. Especially the media, who I have really, really been fed up with in the last few days. The same media that is reporting this incident as a blow to hockey, and a disgrace to the game, is the same fucking media that sells papers by making revenge storylines, capturing fights, and stoking flames. In no way am I defending Todd, but the endless insulting of Todd Bertuzzi has got to stop. Now. What we ought to be concentrating on is Steve Moore’s health, the NHL Playoffs, and the upcoming labour dispute.
Todd got his punishment, they were not fake tears, and Steve Moore needs time to recover. Lets move on, and get going. It’s up to the league now to debate how to better control and understand the lack of respect in the game, not the media.
#1 by craig - March 14th, 2004 at 00:49
The NHL is totally to blame for this. The worst thing they ever did was to create the “instigator” penalty. In the “good old days” a hired gun on a team could skate over to the opponent’s bench, look every one of those guys in the eye, and say “you touch our boy, and I break your fuckin’ nose!”
They knew he meant it, and could back it up. However, the instigator rule changed all of that. No longer does anyone have to worry about the opponent’s tough guy doing this, because he’ s gone from the game before he can do anything about the cheap shots on the superstars. Not only that, it was generally the enforcers who squared off in a game anyway. As far as Don Cherry goes, he is so often taken out of context by so-called sports writers that it makes me sick. Cherry has ALWAYS, ALWAYS said that more needs to be done to protect the superstars. Let the enforcers do their work, standing face to face, toe to toe with the other guy, and settle the issue once and for all. End of story. This bullshit about carrying grudges from game to game is what is ruining hockey. The cheap shots used to be dealt with, and then the teams move on to the next game. Now, it’s a wait and see issue where you wonder who is going to slash somebody on an ankle just for payback from a previous game.
The players will settle things on their own. When you have to worry about an enforcer beating the shit out of you, you think twice before pulling the cheap shots. The Bertuzzi incident was not about fighting in hockey. It was not about the game. It was about somebody temporarily loosing control of his faculties and doing something stupid. All of us are only one straw on a camel’s back away from the same kind of thing. His punishment was far more quickly levelled than a regular court of law, and I guarantee you the punishment is more harsh than a judge would have, or could have, handed out. A half million US dollars isn’t chump change.
I used to be a rabid fan of hockey. Since it has become a game of defensive traps, and endless clutching and grabbing, it has become uninteresting for me. I don’t even recall the last hockey game I have watched on TV. It’s sad, really, because when I was a kid, hockey was the only thing I ever wanted to watch.
#2 by Mr. Kerry Lacroix - March 15th, 2004 at 19:45
I agree with the comments on your web site. I am still a fan of hockey even though it is going down hill. It could easily be fixed, starting with getting rid of the instigator rule.
I also think that hockey fans should email Emile Therien and let him know what an idiot he is (I have). We should also support our local team (both professional and minor league teams). I still play hockey on the street with the local kids, I am almost 50 years old. We never have any problems because we respect each other, and are there for the fun and exercise, not the bravado and money.
#3 by Pete Engelhardt - March 20th, 2004 at 09:55
I agree with dumping the instigator rule…it’ll clean hockey up a helluva lot quicker than some moron named “Emile” who has a son who is one of the most useless hockey players to don an NHL jersey…Chris is a huge guy but he’s a chicken shit who can’t or won’t hit…Jeez, I wonder where he got that from???