Geez, Owen, it sure looks like you put a lot of thought into this.

Or did you?

"Had I thought it thru [sic] a bit more ..."

"I'm too lazy to 'look it up', and besides I might uncover something that makes me re-evaluate my thinking. "

Hockey, on its own, is a beautiful game. We don’t need anymore dunderheads extolling the virtues of the more distasteful side of the sport, or sports in general - intimidation, fighting, etc. Yes, that might put a few more bums in seats (actually, it might lose fans also) and they’re bound to happen at times, but why make that a centre piece of hockey when the focus should be on the grace, speed, skill, and athleticism.

 

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Originally posted by Paul R

"Had I thought it thru [sic] a bit more ..."

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Paul, the salient part of that sentence ["... people who watch hockey are normal, regular people.."] seems to have gone into the big black hole.   [And re. thinking: "When I'm hungry I eats; when I'm tired I sleeps; when I think, my head hurts."    ]

Chuck, I  think we agree about +99%... the main diff I see is what you and I see as Cherry's sphere of influence.

Re. the speed, grace, etc. of the game.... I gotta ask [tongue-in-cheek]: "Who ya talking about?"   I never got to a level where anybody had any interest in characterizing my style of play... but if they had, I suspect "plodding" would be near the top of the list.  My legs couldn't keep up to my mind!  [FWIW, I wasn't a scrapper.]

If you look/listen hard enuff there's a connection to hockey [specifically Byfuglien]:  https://globalnews.ca/news/6228563/quebec-manitoba-bill-21-ads-francois-legault/            Touche! for Mr. Legault. 

I heard the good Premier reprimanding the Hon. Pallister  yesterday,, how a black hockey player from northern Minnesota ends up in a political hissy fit is beyond me,,,,,, then again I’m just hangin’ around to see what in tarnation is gonna happen next !

C'mon Chuck, aren't you setting a pretty high standard if you expect those guys we can't mention to be funny AND make sense?   I'd settle for either-or, and see a combination as a big bonus....   [ I suppose there's lots of examples of the latter; though I'm not particularly well-read, some of Churchill's quips come to mind.]

Here’s a good one that we can’t discuss here...

quote:

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Originally posted by chuckv97

I heard the good Premier reprimanding the Hon. Pallister  yesterday,, how a black hockey player from northern Minnesota ends up in a political hissy fit is beyond me,,,,,, then again I’m just hangin’ around to see what in tarnation is gonna happen next !

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Is he jealous 'cause Winnipeg has an NHL hockey team and Quebec City doesn't? (Come to think of it, lately Montreal doesn't seem to have one, either.)

I just read this in my hometown paper. My grandfather was born on Wolfe Island.

I learned I went to the same school as Don from kindergarten to grade 7. Rideau Public school a block from my house!

 https://www.thewhig.com/opinion/columnists/cherry-sells-off-season-sanctuary

Don Cherry went to school...?!?

Ha! Ha! Chuck! Same one as me! THat must say somthin'!

Ya, school’s fer sissies, ya know, eh! Just shoot it down da ice,, dump and chase ! Never mind all dis la-dee-la playin’, eh!

Chuck, how long do you think it will be 'til Cherry's "dump and chase" influence will significantly wane?  

It’s gone the way of the Dodo bird, Owen. When you even see Milan Lucic passing the puck, you know D&C is history.

I dunno, Chuck.... I've always said that dump-and-chase  has it's place [and will continue] depending on the situation... i.e. who has the better chance of getting to the [dumped-in] puck first?  If the offensive team gets [i.e. in reality retains] possession it's a good move.... if the defence gets there, gains possession, and has time to "make a play" then it wasn't a smart move.  I've always maintained that he wasn't selective enuff in it's usage.... but ... I don't have "Coach of the Year" award backin' me up.  

FWIW, methinks Cherry's influence in off-ice matters also went the way of the dodo bird .... a couple of decades ago.   

A shoot-in when you’ve got a speedy winger at full steam going up the ice , to me, would be a good time to dump it in. But to just dump & chase constantly is poor strategy, imho.
Cherry used to tell his plodding defenseman Dennis O’Brien to just fire it off the glass to get it out of the end zone. He had poor Dennis (an ex-St. Catharines Blackhawk, btw) so nervous that he would either drill it up into the stands or down the ice for an icing call.

...sounds to me like O'Brien's [or is that Oh Brien?   ]  problem was maybe that thought he knew better.  Heck, even I know the diff between  off the glass and over the glass.   Having said that I do agree with the importance that DC put on the winger "getting the &%$#*^ puck out" at  the blue line, coming out of his own end...maybe he wanted to simplify it for plodding (?) guys.... give them one option instead of 3 or 4 choices??   [Edit: ...I wonder if he ever told Orr to just shoot it off the glass?]

[As an aside... I've noticed that the visiting high-school hockey teams' wingers are consistently much less skilled [or more nervous?] than the local team at getting the puck out over their own blue line [i.e. 'way too much "la-dee-dah" and not nearly enuff muscle, IMNSHumbleO].    I have no idea why that should be.  I have no knowledge of how things are taught in minor hockey, but that they'd be taught appreciably different from one town to another, doesn't sound right either.]

Another bit of his wisdom (?)  I agreed with was his take on "no-touch icing."... the fact that he referred to managers and owners who preferred the status quo as "dummies" didn't/doesn't bother me in the least.   

He sold the place? Dang! I had dreams of a bunch of us "pinko cyclist kooks" putting on pink t-shirts and riding back and forth in front of his shack. Rats! Foiled again!

...it's a moot point Paul, but I trust you were prepared to print "commie" or "pinko" on the fronts and/or backs.  The Whig-Standard article says he "participated in various fundraisers," and you wouldn't want him to think it was some sort of fundraiser to fight cancer.  

I have a pink "pinko cyclist" button.

I'd never heard of him before I read this thread. Sounds like a dick. You play hockey on ice ??? Isn't that slidey and dangerous ? Doesn't the ball go everywhere ?
Surely what those brave guys were fighting for was, among other things, the right to choose to wear a poppy or not.

Okay, Paul .... just now on radio there's a dude expounding about vaccinations.  He used the word "heterogeneity."  ALMOST without thinking  , my question to my wife was: "Heterogeneity? ... Where's Don Cherry when you need him?"   

I suppose that's an off-ice influence that will persist for sometime in this household.   Heck, if I achieve (?) an "average" life expectancy, it might last me 'til I join the big jam in the sky.

quote:

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Originally posted by neilends

Don Cherry can go to hell. I’m one of the “you people” he was referring to: I was born in Canada but to parents who immigrated from India to Canada. I believe Don’s TV statement referred to something about “you people” not appreciating the sacrifices of Canadian war veterans, but coming over to Canada and enjoying its milk and honey.

My grandfather was a tank commander and Army Captain who killed Nazis in Egypt, and also served in Burma, in World War II. The British war effort was struggling and they pleaded with India’s leadership to pledge India’s massive troop size to fight under British command. They did so. My grandpa fought bravely alongside British soldiers and officers to defeat the Axis powers. And when I was in Canada, I wore a goddamned poppy. Don’s insinuation about “you people” is a despicable lie.

I never met my grandpa because he died of a battlefield illness. My mom was 3 at the time. Where is Don’s gratefulness for MY family’s sacrifices, while he’s uttering these slanderous lies about “you people”? I would like to know. And I’m still waiting.

And Canada’s milk and honey? Approximately $45 trillion in wealth was transferred to the British empire from South Asia during colonization. That’s where your milk came from, Don. Don’t get me started on where the honey came from.

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As someone with mostly French-Canadian ancestry, the guy has also been taking a crap on us for years.  Good riddance!

 

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Originally posted by AndrewD

...You play hockey on ice ??? Isn't that slidey and dangerous ? Doesn't the ball go everywhere ?
 

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Geeez, Andrew, I thought every Englishman was well-aware of England's storied hockey past:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_hockey_at_the_1936_Winter_Olympics   [I'm surprised it's not taught in the schools... after all, it's not every year that England beats Canada in hockey]

and it's illustrious present:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_Ice_Hockey_League

Re. the ball going everywhere:  the rink in Togo [Sask., NOT Africa] was the small-town-typical arch-rib construction with sheet metal exterior.  For a change-of-pace, we pesky little blighters would sometimes use a sponge ball instead of a puck in our knock-around shinny games.  With the exposed arches, the ball did indeed go everywhere.

[And as an aside for Chuck.... the (good)  "starts-and-stops" at the start, soon changed to "la-dee-dah / going for a skate" (not good) before very long.]

“fly-byes” - a Conn Smythe favourite pet peeve. He once said of a soft player, “ He could go into the corner with two eggs in his pocket and come out with neither of them broken.” (or was that "Pal Hal" Ballard?)