From: allan@cs.UAlberta.CA (Allan Sullivan) Subject: Don Cherry - Coach's Corner summary - April 23, 1993 Nntp-Posting-Host: swanlake.cs.ualberta.ca Organization: University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada Lines: 80 Here's a summary of Don Cherry's Coach's Corner from April 23, 1993. It was taken from a tape delay of a Vancouver-Winnipeg game, but it was filmed during the Toronto-Detroit game that night. I think it was also shown during the Calgary-LA game. (Warning... Anti-fighting people may want to skip this post.) Topics ------ Don's Tie, Doug Gilmour, Wings/Leafs, Quebec/Montreal, Boston/Buffalo, Wendel Clark, Fighting and Stickwork. Episode Summary --------------- Once again, the episode started with a shot of Don's tie... This was a different tie than last time. Don pointed out some of the characters on the tie, but gave them different names... Felix the Cat (Sylverster), Maclean (Daffy Duck), etc. Ron Maclean asked Don what he thought of the current Wings-Leafs game. Don thought it was good. Burns told the Leaf players "They won in their building, we're going to win in ours". Don then began to praise Gilmour again. Don pointed out that Gilmour has never got less than 2 points or a goal in any game since he got 5 points in a game against St. Louis. (Don also claims that he gave a lot of encouragement to Gilmour, which was partly responsible for his good play.) Several clips were then shown of Gilmour from the series... A hit on Constantinov, and a pass to Andrewchuk resulting in a goal. On the game itself, the Wings were taking a lot of penalties in the first period. The Wings have enough talent to score short handed however, and when the Leafs get a power play, Coach Burns tells the Leaf players "Don't let them score on you". Ron brought up the previous Quebec-Montreal game. [Note: Montreal won that game in overtime, despite having a possible game winner disqualified because it was batted in with a high stick.] Don thought the high stick was obvious, even without the use of instant replay. On the Buffalo-Boston series [Note: Buffalo is currently winning the series 3-0], Don gave full credit to Goaltender Grant Fuhr. Fuhr should be getting 1/2 the team's playoff checks for his play. Wendel Clarke has recently been criticized for his performance during the Detroit-Toronto series. Don defended him, by saying that he can't play the way he should, because of the league's new rules. "This used to be a rough and tough league... Now its all hack and slash." Don lays the blame on Gil Stien for the problems. Don's opinions on fighting and stickwork are shared by Wings GM and coach Bryan Murray. A clip from a news conference by Murray was shown, in which Murray made statements claiming the elimination of fighting increases stickwork. Don also read a newspaper article in which Murray makes the following statements: "Players don't fight because they're afraid of getting thrown out of the game as instigator. Instead, they settle grudges by getting their sticks and slicing each other. Is this what the fans want to see? I guarantee there wouldn't be as many slashes if fighting were kept in the game." Don warned league commisioner Gary Bettman to "smarten up" with fighting in hockey. He went on to say that before, there used to be one guy cut with a high stick in a series. Now, with no fights, someone gets cut every period. Rating ------ Typical anti-fighting posturing, but here Don's opinion is supported by Murray. I'd give it a 7.0 out of 10.