You can’t watch the 2016 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic between the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins without looking back at their storied rivalry.
Similarly, you can’t talk about Don Cherry without mention of the opinionated coach’s eventful time behind the bench in Boston.
In a special New Year’s Day edition of Coach’s Corner on location at Gillette Stadium, Cherry looked back at his time with the Bruins organization, featuring some vintage video from broadcasts gone by.
Cherry spent five seasons as head coach of the Bruins from 1974-79, and won the Jack Adams award for Coach of the Year following the 1975-76 season. The Bruins made it to the Stanley Cup Final twice under Cherry in 1977 and 1978, both times losing to — you guessed it — the Canadiens.
Among other memorable moments from his time coaching the Bruins, Cherry added a little colour commentary to all those Bruins-Canadiens playoff battles, including the infamous farewell wave to then-GM Harry Sinden — “See ya, Harry, we’re all gone.” — during Boston’s Game 7 loss in the 1979 semifinal.
“There was a lot of fun at the Montreal Forum,” said Cherry. “You add in a little colour. The people behind the bench, it was like in baseball … you had a little fun.”
“I think you need in the game a little colour right now.”
