Cherry joining ESPN for Eastern Conference, Stanley Cup finals

ESPN.com
Updated: May 6, 2008, 3:37 PM ET

Don Cherry is heading south of the border.

Cherry, a fixture on the CBC's "Hockey Night in Canada," will join ESPN's "SportsCenter" beginning Friday after Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers.

"Pairing Don Cherry and Barry Melrose will provide NHL fans with two of the most respected and opinionated voices in hockey today," Norby Williamson, ESPN executive vice president of production, said in a statement. "'SportsCenter' will be the place to turn for Stanley Cup analysis, debate and highlights."

Cherry will offer live postgame reports on-site during the conference finals, and he will join Melrose and ESPN's Steve Levy for pre- and postgame analysis during the Stanley Cup finals. Cherry will also appear on ESPNEWS and ESPN Radio and will continue his work for the CBC during the playoffs.

Cherry will donate his ESPN fee to the Humane Society.

Cherry coached the Boston Bruins in the 1970s, leading the team to the Stanley Cup finals twice, before ending his career after one season with the Colorado Rockies (1979-80). He spent many years playing professional hockey, mostly in the AHL, and played in one playoff game for the Bruins in 1955. He has worked for the CBC since 1980.

http://assets.espn.go.com/photo/2008/0506/nhl_g_cherry_200.jpg

I'm happy with this. Toledo doesn't get CBC so the only time I get to see him is when I go home to watch games with my dad.

I remember watching him as a kid before we had cable and only had 8 channels

I'm happy with this. Toledo doesn't get CBC so the only time I get to see him is when I go home to watch games with my dad.

Cleveland gets CBC?

Ha
Ha

No idea, but Toledo doesn't, so when I go back home to MICHIGAN to watch hockey with my dad, we watch CBC.

Great.

Just what ESPN needs - another babbling idiot.

Anybody else see Cherry on SportsCenter last night/this morning?

They were showing all of the empty seats at the Joe (and there were a TON) and having a discussion about "What's wrong in Hockeytown?"

Cherry said the fan base is bored with this team, hate the way that they play they and want to see "rockem sockem robots" (fighting) in Detroit because "it's a redneck town".

He referred to the Probert/Kocur era as the time when the fans were most engaged with the team.

Interesting stuff.

Here's a link to that segment: http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?&brand=null&videoId=3389586&n8pe6c=1

They start talking about the Wings about 1:30 into this clip.

His suit looked dynamite last night LMFAO

Anybody else see Cherry on SportsCenter last night/this morning?

They were showing all of the empty seats at the Joe (and there were a TON) and having a discussion about "What's wrong in Hockeytown?"

Cherry said the fan base is bored with this team, hate the way that they play they and want to see "rockem sockem robots" (fighting) in Detroit because "it's a redneck town".

He referred to the Probert/Kocur era as the time when the fans were most engaged with the team.

Interesting stuff.



Empty seats from what??? Wasn't Gm 1 sold out??? At least I heard it was...

Cherry is not a fan of Euro's in the NHL

The games are often sold out, but there are a ton of no-shows.

Here's a link to that segment: http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?&brand=null&videoId=3389586&n8pe6c=1

They start talking about the Wings about 1:30 into this clip.
File Not Found :(

Its there now.

I read that moron was calling Red Wings hockey boring. WTF is he talking about? We have the most skill of any team, we score a ton, the passes are a thing of beauty, great goaltending AND we've got good hitters (everyone's been talking about Kronwell all the time). What does he want? Dump and chase Dallas style?

He wasn't saying we're boring. He was saying we're not what a blue collar town like Detroit looks for. They want the hard hitting, bodies flying style of yesteryear, with Probert and Kocur. He referenced how McCarty is an instant favorite because we know to expect that stuff.

^If he meant that, he should have said that we find that hockey boring instead of saying it's boring:


A Detroit columnist after Game 1 of the series, which was announced as a sellout, wrote about how there were empty seats at Joe Louis Arena. Cherry jumped on this with his own brand of convoluted logic, saying during an appearance on ESPN, the Red Wings play "boring" hockey. He referred to Detroit as "a redneck town" and added: "They want rock 'em sock 'em hockey. I predict they will win the Stanley Cup, but the people don't care."

Maybe we thought Dallas was boring.

Huh, guess I took that wrong then. I don't find it boring. I love watching the way the Wings play.