The Hockey Stop

Could there be a thaw in the Cold War between Canadian commentator Don Cherry and Russian hockey player Alexander Ovechkin?

In a shocking revelation during the first intermission of the Leafs-Caps game last Saturday night on CBC's "Hockey Night in Canada," Cherry actually had some positive things to say about the Great Eight. The comments came after Ovie's 87 mile-per-hour cannon that scorched the back of the twine at Air Canada Center.

For those who aren't familiar with the plaid suit-wearing personality, Cherry has a jingoistic view of hockey players. In other words, he prefers farm-bred boys from Saskatchewan over finesse-bred boys from Sweden.

And he has gained a reputation for having a particular dislike of Ovechkin. This was evident after Ovechkin's celebration following his 50th goal last year in which he pretended his stick was on fire and was too hot to touch. On CBC, Cherry defended the "Canadian way" and derisively compared Ovie to the "goofy" celebrations soccer players make after scoring a goal. He then predicted that someone was going to hurt Ovie by "cutting him in half."

Fast forward to last Saturday night.

Cherry still went on his same tired routine about the curve of Ovie's stick (as if the stick is the reason for AO's lighting the lamp every five seconds) and that Ovechkin is getting a "free ride" because he plays a physical game and finishes his checks but never has to drop the gloves (as if there is a correlation between the two).

But then the anti-Euro provocateur actually had something positive to say about Ovie when the topic turned to his two-game suspension for a knee-on-knee hit. When asked if Ovechkin should change the way he plays Cherry said this:

"You don't get it, I love the way he plays. I love that he is hell bent on banging and smashing and everything. I think he's great. I hope he keeps it up. All I'm saying is he's going to get hurt doing it. But you can't change your bull terrier. Your bull terrier's got to play like a pit bull. That's the way he is, that's the way he plays -- like a pit bull ... don't get me wrong, I like Ovechkin."

And considering how popular Ovechkin and the European-stacked Caps are in Canada, Cherry would be wise to tone down his inflammatory and provincial comments. The demand to see Washington is so high that they were featured on "Hockey Night in Canada" four times in the past five weeks, which is more than the Canadiens, Senators, Flames, Oilers and Canucks.