Cherry defends Roy’s rampage

Don Cherry believes Patrick Roy’s outburst of frustration in his first game as head coach of the Colorado Avalanche last week was a good thing.

Roy got into a screaming match with Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau during Colorado’s home opener on Wednesday, pushing over a glass partition between the two benches.

While the league fined Roy $10,000 for the display, Cherry said on his “Coach’s Corner” segment of Hockey Night in Canada that he believes the incident sparked the players on the Colorado bench.

“Everybody’s saying, ‘What a bad thing.’ Are you crazy? All the players love this,” Cherry said over video footage of Roy’s outburst. “Look at the players looking in the background. They’re smiling. They love it. They’re in the game.”

Cherry then showed footage from a1997 game in which Roy exchanged blows with Detroit Red Wings goalie Mike Vernon.

“What you think they’re talking about in Colorado after that game? You really think he wouldn’t act like that?” Cherry said. “He’s a fighter.”

Cherry also mentioned the $10,000 fine imposed on Roy, saying “that’s nothing” for the Colorado coach.

Earlier in his segment, Cherry said he believed that Daniel Alfredsson would have remained with the Ottawa Senators, and that GM Bryan Murray was prepared to give him what he wanted.

But Cherry said Murray had to negotiate with him, and that was all it took for Alfredsson to decide to go to Detroit. He added that one of the benefits Alfredsson had in signing with Detroit was there would be less pressure there and that he would have a number of Swedish teammates.