More Grief for Pious NHL Fans: Don Cherry Returns

Maybe Don Cherry really did come close to losing his job. Or perhaps his rumored demise was little more than wishful thinking among his enemies in the sports media. Either way, Canada's favorite loose cannon will be back for the 2004-05 NHL season, if there is a season. Hockey Night in Canada has renewed "Coach's Corner."

Cherry's new deal was announced today, along with the return of several other Hockey Night veterans, including play-by-play man Bob Cole.

A former minor league player and NHL coach, Cherry has held the floor on "Coach's Corner" since 1980. The segment appears nationwide every Saturday, during the first intermission of Hockey Night, and it has made him a national icon.

The five-minute soapbox captivates a huge core audience of hockey fans. Cherry combines honest opinions, fractured grammar and an insider's perspective with the flair of a natural performer and an occasionally preening attitude. For many, "Coach's Corner" is a manifestation of the Canadian hockey community, giving voice to its pride, its triumphs and disappointments, its near-sacred traditions and nagging insecurities.

Cherry is an old-style hockey guy. Usually in good humor, he is capable of great solemnity when the conversation turns to honour among athletes and "the brotherhood of hockey players." He is also a proud conservative and a flag-waving patriot who wears his xenophobia without apology. Some Canadians consider him the worst possible subject for an unwieldly, stream-of-conciousness television broadcast every week. His enduring popularity is even more galling.

Cherry doesn't mind critics taking shots at him. He loves a scrap ("two good guys" is his catchphrase when assessing a hockey fight), whether it's on the ice or on the airwaves. In nearly 25 years of opinionating, storms have ignited over his references to "chicken Swedes" and "French guys" and the "left-wing pinko media."

The most recent tempest erupted last season, during a discussion over the use of visors by NHL players. "Most of the guys that wear them are Europeans and French guys," he grumbled, inspiring a fresh wave of demands to get him off the airwaves.

This spring, the tea leaves seemed to suggest that Cherry had finally pushed his employers to the brink. Following his visor comment and a tirade in support of the Iraq War, the CBC placed a seven-second delay on his previously live segment, a tactic used by broadcasters to bleep out inappropriate comments before they make it to air. There were reports that senior CBC executives wanted him out, and the Canadian sports media ran with the story for all it was worth.

Leading the charge was William Houston, a columnist at the Toronto Globe and Mail, a nationally distributed newspaper. A longtime critic of Cherry, Houston declared "Coach's Corner" dead and buried. "That Cherry, 70, is leaving Hockey Night is a given," wrote Houston in his May 8 media column.

Even Cherry himself dropped broad hints during playoff games, suggesting he might be finished.

But by June, all parties had changed their tune. "Instead of showing him the door, the CBC is planning to show Don Cherry a new contract," wrote Houston, doing a swift about-face in his July 16 column.

"We think Don is one of, if not the best, hockey commentators in the country," said Nancy Lee, executive director of CBC Sports, in annoucing the new contract.

One of Canada's senior hockey writers is not likely to concur. "His thinking, and his extraordinary influence, has been the single most destructive influence on the development of Canadian hockey," Roy MacGregor once wrote.

See also:
Controversial Coach - An extensive profile of Don Cherry at CBC.ca