If any hockey commentator is planted firmly in Team Canada’s corner, it’s Don Cherry.
The Canadian icon took to Twitter on Boxing Day to return a jab thrown Canada’s way by Team Russia’s most prized junior player, Nail Yakupov, who told Russian reporters that the guys wearing the maple leaf play dirty.
“I will have to keep a cool head and ignore provocations. Especially against the Canadians. These guys play dirty. We got used to that, we played a few games in the North America, so our team is ready,” Yakupov, 19, told R-Sport prior to the tournament. “Of course, I’m ready for the leading role morally, physically and by all other criteria… I feel great and I’m ready to play my heart out.”
Cherry responded to Yakupov’s stir-causing remarks Wednesday through a series of tweets to his 106,000-plus following:
I see where Nail Yakupov said Canadian hockey players are dirty. Let me see… We let him take a Canadian kids spot in the Canadian Hockey — Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerCBC) December 26, 2012
I see where Nail Yakupov said Canadian hockey players are dirty. Let me see… We let him take a Canadian kids spot in the Canadian Hockey
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerCBC) December 26, 2012
League, let him learn his hockey in our program, treat him royally, give him great coaching so he can go number one overall and he calls us — Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerCBC) December 26, 2012
League, let him learn his hockey in our program, treat him royally, give him great coaching so he can go number one overall and he calls us
Dirty. Canadian people are no naïve, no let me change that word to dumb. We love everybody and everybody hates us. Like I said, when you — Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerCBC) December 26, 2012
Dirty. Canadian people are no naïve, no let me change that word to dumb. We love everybody and everybody hates us. Like I said, when you
Hear Russians cheering for Germans you have to wonder. And the kid Yakupov is just being honest as that’s how he feels about us. — Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerCBC) December 26, 2012
Hear Russians cheering for Germans you have to wonder. And the kid Yakupov is just being honest as that’s how he feels about us.
I could care less what Nail thinks of us, what bugs me, he took a Canadian kids spot in the Canadian Hockey League — Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerCBC) December 26, 2012
I could care less what Nail thinks of us, what bugs me, he took a Canadian kids spot in the Canadian Hockey League
Yakupov, selected No. 1 overall by the Edmonton Oilers during the 2012 NHL Entry Draft after scoring 160 points in 107 games for the Ontario Hockey League’s Sarnia Sting, leads the Russians against Team Canada in a New Year’s Eve world junior hockey championship showdown, the final round-robin game for both Pool B teams.
Team Canada is captained by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Yakupov’s fellow Oiler.
