Novice hockey brawl has been overblown

Sir Cherry,how fortunate we are that you are not coach of the Penguins! M. Lemieux would not have endorsed, anyways. Do you still think Crosby is too young as captain? I think you are too old for your old fashioned mentality. Servus Peter

Don Cherry ; Thank you very much for commenting on the poor taste of the National Anthem singer at the Boston/ Toronto game, when he wore a toque during both anthems. He touched his head a couple of times, so he must have been fully aware that he had it on - what a poor reflection on our nation.
I greatly appreciate your ability to voice what so many of us at home are thinking!

I think Don is auditioning for a guest spot on the Simpson's as Crusty the Clown. He used to have style but the suit he wore on HNC tonight made him look like a clown. If he wants to be taken seriously then he should go back to the way he used to dress. Loose the pink and multi-coloured jackets and bring back some style.

Just a comment on the anthem singer who wore a hat.
When did taking your hat of become a custom in Canada, sometime in the 80'sor 90's? This is just another Americanism that has somehow been adopted in Canada. No one ever took of their hat during the anthem when I was a kid, it was just to cold. Don stop supporting these false American patriotic traditions, get back to being a real Canadian and pull that stocking cap down tight during O'Canada.

Please tell the outdated Don Cherry that I am 62 years old and that I do not have a problem with a young person who is likely more in touch with what is going on in the world wearing a hat during the National Anthem. By the way,who in there right mind would wear a jacket that relates to the drug culture of the 60's but Don Cherry. He is a loser and does not deserve to be on television.

Barry Johnson

Was a little disappointed tonite when Don Cherry did not drag the guy that sang our national anthem over the coals for keeping his tuque on whilst singing. Is this not disrespectful, even the players take their helmets off.

Disrespectful

I’m in the military who is serving overseas in Germany. I was able to watch the Boston vs. Toronto game on Dec 8.
I heard the area announcer say “Please rise and remove your hat for the nationals anthems”. The singers were from the “We will rock you” production. The female sang the USA anthem and the male sang the Canadian anthem. While both did fine in the singing part, however I found it DISRESPECTFUL of the male singer to sing the anthem with his gray sock cap on. It would be bad enough if a fan left their hat on but the person singing the anthem should been setting the example and the worst part that he sang with it on during the home country anthem. Somebody should have caught this disgrace before it got on the ice.

A Hockey Fan,
Jay Buckley
SGT, USA ARMY

Tonight to open the Bruins - Toronto (Dec 08)game a young man sang the Canadian anthem. To my shock and dismay, he wore a black toque/hat/beanie during a lovely rendition of our country's anthem. How could the organizers allow this? Do we not have national pride? Does not the announcer at the Rogers Center ask everyone to remove their headdres for the singing of our beloved anthem? Don Cherry did you miss this faux pas or just choose to not comment. I for one am offended. Any other proud Canadians out there feel the same?

Don what do think about singers wearing tuques during anthems...

Dear Don

I wanted to thank you for being so kind to a young man named Justin Byers. Justin suffered a spinal injury this past year at a school wrestling practice. I was one of the RN's that took tare of Justin in the Pediatric Critical Care Unit. He is an exceptional young man who has overcome impossible odds. Justin and I watched Coach's Corner together several times while he was in hospital. He is a true fan/player of the game. Thank you so much for facilitating his going to the game on Dec.8. My hats off to you GRAPES.

Ray St. John
London

Don & Ron --
I am writing to you to ask for your help.
In Jan 2008, Ottawa's 310 students at Robert Hopkins Public School (aged 4-12) are launching a huge, innovative & cool project involving the arts & hockey, with support from the Ottawa Sens Foundation, Ken Dryden and artists Christopher Griffin & Sarah Westbrook. Kids will make visual art using wooden hockey sticks, compose and sing hockey songs & create dances, along with learning about hockey in history, science, math etc. In the end, 10 artwork will be donated to Roger's House, a palliative care facility, to brighten the world of special kids.
Help us get the word out; come see us; we need help getting wooden hockey sticks in the hands of all these kids so that they can celebrate Canada's biggest natural resource - hockey and the love of our country.

Dear Don
I am a 16 year old midget hockey player for the Goderich Legion Br.109 Sailors. Me and my team mates were invited to a tournament in Stockholm Sweden. All of us were keen on going then we found out they were bantams and sent the invitation to the wrong team, so once all that got figured out we are going in the same tournament a week earlier. So now we get a phone call from the Ontario Minor Hockey Association saying that our team has to pay for a OMHA representive to come with us. So our team has another meeting and by this time parents were less keen but still we wante dto go. then the OMHA called again saying we can't play in playoffs! We were devided our own league wont let us play in the playoffs that we payed for. They said because of that week difference we can't play. I was wondering wat your opinion is?

About the "kids brawl", The ones to blame are the parents, and just about every player who plays the game. I find myself cheering and getting excited while I watch my favorite team's justice enforcer do his job after the whistle has blown. In the midst of my hooting and cheering, I stop and shift my attention as I lock eyes with my 5 year old and see that he's cheering with me. He has his arms in the air cheering, standing in front of me but just off to the side as not to block my view of the television. And like I've trained him never to block my view of the game, I've just trained him to respond to violence in the game with cheering and a jolt of loud excitement. This actually happened about a week before I saw the "kids brawl" and I hadn't thought about it much till I saw the news story and realized that the blame for the society shocker on the news lay in so many areas. The thing to do now isn't to try to place the blame, but figure a way to resolve a problem that has spread much to quikly and quietly as we've all seen on the news.

The parents and coaches should be ashamed of themselves. I have played hockey my whole life at all levels and at eight years old the game should be about fun.The competion and poor sportsmanship comes from the parents and transfered on to their kids because winning at all costs is taught.I learned this from the incidents I was involved with as a kid with my parents but not at eight years old. I go down to the local rink now and observe borderline behaviour from the parents and players all the time. Anybody who knows the game has to shake their heads at these two teams and especially the parents and coaches involved.

Why was there even a brawl? Why can't players play just good clean hockey, which is much more entertaining than what one sees on TV?

I will start watching the odd game, then change the channel in disgust because of the fighting and dirty playing. That is not "sport"; it is simply a bunch of goons thinking they are putting on a good show!

Hockey Canadas decision to remove body checking until peewee, just plain wrong. What prompted this? Medical data? Data that was skewed because it was not reflective of the paramaters set out by the ruling. The medical data was not for atom age players only playing in contact leagues and it did not break it down further for rep/houseleague. Injury as a result of a body check/coincidental contact/falls on own.
Are we headed for another round table in the future as to what is wrong with our game again?

All parents that have kids involved in the minor hockey program involved in the dust up should have the coaches explain thier actions-and apologize on tv for thier actions and the minor hockey organization should suspend all involved for one year-that might send a message that the adults are ruining the sport of hockey-not the kids. If my kid was part of those teams-he wouldnt be on the ice until proper changes were made or safeguards were in place so this doesnt happen again.

Brawl (n): a noisy quarrel or fight; row

Can someone please tell me...in what universe is Michael Coren left-wing?

I have been following Don Cherry for years on Coaches Corner and am probably 50/50 on his take on life and opinions in general HOWEVER, nothing trumps the story I just read about the ice shavings at the last game at Maple Leaf Gardens, in Feb 1999, which were gathered up by staff at MLG, and then sold (by melting the ice) into 2500 pre made pucks; only to be sold for 50 bucks a piece !! MLSE made a sweet profit of 125,000 dollars - on melted ice !!

And we thought that JFJ had problems.

I believe that the whole NHL needs to clean its house,as our upcoming hockey people starting in the minor system is getting influenced by the big boys on T.V. and that's why we are having big problems in sports to-day,and people are getting fed-up with all the politics of the game. !!!

Lets all grow up and play the game the way it was meant to be played,Sportsmanship !!

Regarding the hockey brawl involing the kids. The media went overnoard in their coverage regarding this and I am sure poeple was disgusted over it. Even my wife was turned off by it and she doesnt enem watch hockey.
As for the Leafs, blame the defence not the coaches or general managers. If they stop making so many boneheaded plays , they might even win a few more games. Thats my two cents for this time.

Don't really care for team sports anymore. The essence of sports has been diminished...People like Don Cherry have become way too self centered and overblown. Mind you, I'd like to play a game of squash with him and hammer him a few times just so he can say that people's concerns are overblown. Get a life Don. Seek some help.

Once again, Cherry shows why his opinion is so irrelevant. The issue with the AAA brawl isn't that the kids fought - that's no big deal as they really only pushed each other around, never did anything dangerous and really, it's part of the game. The problem is that on video coaches can be clearly seen sending kids off the bench to fight and encouraging the players to make it a bigger deal then it was. That adults would break the rules and instigate a bigger fight then was occurring is disgusting. The adults encouraged breaking the rules and poor sportsmanship when they sent out additional players from the bench. And what are these kids to do? They are taught that being a good team player is to listen to their coaches - we can't put any blame on them for this mess. The coaches should be removed - especially the one on video sending in other players.

To make matters worse, the parents then get involved as the players on the ice stop fighting and stand around watching their coaches and parents fight. The kids showed better gamesmanship and class than their supposed "teachers". That's the problem here. If a child had been seriously hurt, there would have been no one to blame but the coaches.

When children display more maturity than their adult authority-figures, there's a problem that must be addressed. Leave the kids alone and nail these idiot coaches.

I think Cherry's got a good point regarding the Leaf's. You either fire the guys or make it well known that they're there to stay. One thing that can kill a hockey team is instability and uncertainty. If the coaches, general manager, or players feel like they're on shaky ground, it's going to reflect in everything they do, as a team. As a team (that includes everyone), they need a stable foundation to build their decisions on, no matter what those decisions might be.

Been watching and playing since I was a kid, anyone can tell it's defence not management causing the leafs problems.Don't care much for JFJ but it's not his fault. Give the "D" a boot in the ar--.