When Nail Yakupov told reporters ahead of the World Junior Championships that Team Canada plays “dirty” hockey, you knew Canada’s reaction would be loud. You also had to figure Don Cherry would have something to say about that and, you guessed it, he took to Twitter to take exception to it all.
Take it away, Grapes.
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 (@CoachsCornerDC) 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 (@CoachsCornerDC) 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
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) 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.
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) 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
— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) December 26, 2012
Listen, this is Don Cherry doing what he does best. He picks a side, in this case and almost always the pro-Canada side, and runs with it.
Never mind that the big part of rivalries means always cheering against your biggest opponent (Canadian, Russian, and American fans are all guilty of this) and the whole “he took a spot away from another kid” thing is just a matter of competition.
But hey, he said something outlandish to match what Yakupov had to say in the first place. Well done, everyone.