Don Cherry: Fighting for Fighting in the NHL

Love him or hate him (and there is little in-between for most people), Don Cherry is not afraid to say what is on his mind. With his heart on his fashionable sleeves, Don protects fighters and fighting in hockey from the bleeding hearts of the media world who would have hockey turn into soccer on ice.

Thanks to Cherry's weekly sermons and tirades on Hockey Night in Canada, the Powers That Be finally voted to relax penalties against players who instigate fights. Players will be able to accrue five instigator violations before being suspended, rather than the current three, allowing the George Parros' of the NHL to do their jobs more effectively.

Fans in the USA just don't get to experience Don Cherry in his natural environment: blasting critics, campaigning for no-touch icing, and telling kids to keep their stick on the ice. Cherry's opinions aren't always right or politically correct, but he is entertaining and gives the establishment a nice shakeup now and then.

"It's ridiculous," he said. "Look at how big that Ultimate Fighting has become. It's bigger than wrestling."

"People down there don't want to see European hockey. That's evident in Detroit, where the building is one-quarter empty. It's sad. Why is it that way? Because they want to see the type of hockey that included the likes of Bob Probert, Joey Kocur and Darren McCarty, not this."

Do Canadians love the guy? Hell, yeah!!

In a national poll run by the CBC in 2004, Cherry was voted the seventh-greatest Canadian, ahead of Wayne Gretzky and Alexander Graham Bell.

As Brian Burke, the general manager of the Anaheim Ducks, said, "I've timed workouts to watch him."

You can see the greatness of Cherry at the Coaches Corner website.