It’s been three weeks to the exact date that Don Cherry went on his now famous tirade against those “bunch of jerks,” the Carolina Hurricanes, and their creative celebrations.
Since then, instead of getting angry about it, the Hurricanes turned what appeared to be a negative into a very positive and well-received marketing campaign, turning Cherry’s comment into a fun t-shirt that the 85-year-old also appeared to endorse.
It was all water under the bridge at that point, right? Not so fast.
On Saturday, Cherry, apparently, wasn’t done on this particular topic of his ire and once again reiterated his disgust in the Hurricanes’ bouts of exuberance.
“The players hate this here, by the way, they hate this stuff,” said Cherry during his ‘Coach’s Corner’ segment during Hockey Night in Canada.
To support his claim, Cherry then used video clips of two players, the Winnipeg Jets’ Adam Lowry and Calgary Flames’ Elias Lindholm, appearing to mock the Hurricanes’ Viking Clap celebration.
“[Lowry] did that there, the ‘thunder clap’ that they do,” said Cherry. “Now watch [Lindholm] doing the same thing. Players hate that. They hate it.”
Two players isn’t exactly the greatest of sample sizes, but Cherry believes his experience as a former professional player mostly in the 1960s gives him greater insight into the kind of mood these Carolina jubilations put opposing players in now.
“I tried to say it but here at Sportsnet they think it’s nice, and do you know why they think it’s nice, it’s because they don’t know,” Cherry said making sure to sarcastically emphasize the last word nice. “They’ve never been in the pits, but I think as a player and I still think as a player.”
Adding: “They don’t know hockey and they think it’s lovely.”
So once again Cherry has made his position known, and all we can hope for again is for Carolina to once again come with another delightful clap-back.
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