Finland, Norway all the same to Cherry
As much as we all look forward to seeing an all-star team of Canadians taking on the best from Russia, the United States and Sweden, there’s just something about professional hockey players at the Winter Olympics that fits about as well as Zdeno Chara in a standard-issue bed in the Sochi athletes’ village.
The incongruity is abundant. When it was time for Thursday’s game between Canada and Norway, it felt more like the Olympic telecast was being interrupted by Hockey Night in Canada than simply switching from one sport to another.
Congratulations to the German luge relay team. Now, let’s go to Ron MacLean, Don Cherry and all those other broadcasters who are wondering where they’ll be working come October.
From a Canadian perspective, the hockey tournament is separate and distinct from the rest of the Olympics.
With a few exceptions, we’re just becoming acquainted with the biggest stars in all the other sports; meanwhile, we’ve been talking about the hockey roster for months and we know more about some of the Canadian players than our next-door neighbours.
And while the appeal of the rest of the television coverage is the opportunity to be introduced to new sports and personalities, the hockey broadcasts are all about recognizable faces and standard formats.
Hey, there’s the Coach’s Corner music, followed by this exchange between Cherry and MacLean:
“The Finns have come out and they’re saying, let’s hit. Let’s hit the Canadians.” “Norwegians.” “What?” “Norwegians, but ... small detail.” “Same thing.” In other words, Don Cherry is in mid-season form. Much of the coverage was just like any other Hockey Night broadcast, including overwrought analysis and the usual emotionless intermission and postgame interviews: “We want to grow as a team ... feeling-out process ... came on good in the second ... finished off in the third,” said Canadian forward Jamie Benn after the win.
It’s not his fault; Benn was simply in character as a professional athlete. But it was a sharp contrast with all the other dialogue from the Olympics: the genuine emotions of relief, jubilation and disappointment on the unjaded faces of athletes still keenly aware of, and excited about, their moment in the spotlight and the rare chance to speak to Canadians back home.