One night after the United States was eliminated from contention at the World Cup of Hockey, Don Cherry weighed in on the controversial post-game tweet sent out by Phil Kessel.
In case you missed it, the Americans lost 4-2 to the Canadians Tuesday night which dropped their record to 0-2 and made their upcoming game on Thursday against the Czech Republic inconsequential.
The American roster was certainly scrutinized when the leadership group decided to leave off skill players such as Tyler Johnson, Bobby Ryan and Kessel, in favour of more “gritty” guys like Justin Abdelkader, Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan (who was later injured). So an early exit was certain to raise questions about the future of USA Hockey.
But it was Kessel who was at the centre of attention Wednesday, after he threw serious shade at the USA program following Tuesday’s loss with this tweet:
On Coach’s Corner, Don Cherry gave his opinion of Kessel’s reaction — and he was not supportive of it.
“Kessel was playing it perfect and he had to go after they lost and say those those things,” Cherry said. “I don’t understand it. Now you know why nobody wanted him in Boston, why he didn’t make the all-star team and why they got rid of him in Toronto. You just don’t do those things when guys are down.
“I don’t know why Kessel did that. He was playing it perfect.”
Cherry wasn’t alone with this reaction. Some of the American players were asked about The Tweet on Wednesday and they didn’t see the humour in it.
“It’s disappointing. It’s almost to say that we were coasting or don’t care, weren’t representing our countries as well as we could have,” said David Backes.
Added Zach Parise: “He couldn’t even have played, could he? Didn’t he just have surgery? I thought he did. Regardless, I don’t really care what Phil said. We were here. We tried hard, we played hard, and came up short.”