Orr is wrong, Grapes had to go
Bobby Orr is the greatest hockey player ever.
I saw him live once at the old Boston Gardens. Barely a teenager, I went with a Bawh-stun cousin who knew how to game the system.
We spent two periods in the nosebleeds, the seats on such a steep angle you felt like you’d fall onto the ice when you stood up.
“Now,” my cousin said at the end of the second. “Where?”
“There. Just follow me,” he nodded and bolted from his seat.
‘There’ was a pair of seats just a few rows from the ice near what would be the Boston blueline for the third period.
My cousin had been watching them, knew they were empty and by the time the game restarted we were sitting pretty. My beloved Montreal Canadiens were up 3-1. Then Bobby Orr happened. Twice.
On his second goal he glided around his own net, scooped up the puck and raced down the ice. He didn’t best just one of the powerhouse Canadiens, he beat all six of them, including the goalie. Even I cheered.
But Orr is wrong when it comes to Don Cherry.
Grapes finally got it done recently, he managed to say something that got him fired. Veering away from hockey, he took a shot at those not wearing a poppy before Nov. 11.
“You people that come here, whatever it is, you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey. At least you can pay a couple bucks for a poppy or something like that,” he said as co-host Ron MacLean stared at him.
“These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada, these guys paid the biggest price.”
‘You people that come here.’ Translation, said Cherry’s critics: immigrants.
It took some time, but a social media firestorm and anger from advertisers, plus Cherry’s unwillingness to apologize, closed the deal. He was out. Orr was irate.
“I know Grapes better than anyone,” he said of his friend’s dismissal from Coach’s Corner. “He’s not a bigot and he’s not a racist. What they did to him up there is disgraceful.”
Bobby, you’re the best player ever. But you’re wrong about Cherry. As I kid I loved the NHL. I was an avid fan during the Canadien’s powerhouse days when Ken Dryden was in net and a long list of other future hall of famers played in front of him. As I got older, I drifted away, but I’d find the game for the first intermission to listen to Don rant. It was fun. It was unpredictable. But over time it got ugly and I stopped watching.
“Alpo?” he hooted one night, mocking the name of Winnipeg assistant coach Alpo Suhonen’s name. “Isn’t that a dog food?”
Broken down enforcers who started speaking out against fighting?
“Pukes,” said Cherry.
The young and wildly talented Russian winger Alex Ovechkin having some fun when he celebrated a goal.
“I’m predicting someone’s gonna get him and someone’s gonna get him good,” Cherry said. “Don’t you Canadian kids act like it.”
Women at games? “When you come to the games, keep your eyes on the puck. I’m telling ya, I’ve seen some awful smacks, and it’s always a woman yapping away there.”
Times changed. Grapes, at 85, didn’t. His dismissal wasn’t disgraceful, it was overdue.