DEVELOPING STORY: NHL Gives Glendale 12-31 Deadline On Coyotes

((HT: GlobeSports/Shoalts))

In his exclusive that ran in the Globe and Mail Saturday, resident hockey watchdog David Shoalts has it on good info that the National Hockey League has given the City of Glendale until the end of the calendar year to find a buyer that will keep the Phoenix Coyotes in town, or the league will sell to a waiting buyer who will move the team...

Those words are in the agreement that the City has figured out with the league in dealing with covering the anticipated operating losses of the franchise- the ceiling being US$25-million.

The league has only admitted to talking to three groups about the future of the Coyotes: Jerry Reinsdorf, Ice Edge, and the Chipman-Thomson ((Chipman is pictured thanks, Joe Bryksa/Winnipeg Free Press)) group that would move the team back to Winnipeg.

Naturally, no one involved is commenting on the Shoalts report...

Gary Lawless, in his piece in the Winnipeg Free Press, relays some of the document:

"The owners currently have a bona-fide offer from a viable purchaser who would relocate the hockey team to another market for the 2010-11 season and contemplates that the owners [the NHL] would break even on their investment in the team through the end of the 2009-10 NHL season as well as the NHL potentially receiving a relocation fee..." the document obtained by the Globe reads.

Don Cherry addresses the issue on Hockey Night in Canada's post-game show on CBC after the Philadelphia-Montreal game Saturday afternoon...
Starting about the 1:25 mark...
((HT: CBC/NHL/HockeyHaven76))

Don Cherry Does Not Like E-Mailers

Especially when they say silly things on "Hockey Night in Canada..."

To fill time these days on television, a lot of shows feel that social media is the answer- turning TV into sports talk radio to show the voice of the fan...

That, instead of actual information or something like that...

Grapes is another who does not suffer fools, and Ron McLean agrees with him for a change. The exchange starts at the 4:30 mark when Jeff Marek and Scott Morrison open up the I-Desk for jibber-jabber.

((HT: CBC/NHL/HockeyHaven76))


Bully...

Alain Vigneault Does Not Like Ron McLean

((HT: Youtube/CanucksHD))

Remember the excahnge we ran earlier this week where Vancouver Canucks winger Alex Burrows went off on NHL official Stephane Auger...??? Auger was making up for, what he thought, was a spot where he was shown up by Burrows against Nashville about a month ago...

The end result was that Burrows got fined by the league and Auger came out clean...

Fast forward to pre-game on CBC's "Hockey Night in Canada" Saturday night, and host Ron McLean and the league's Colin Campbell had a discussion about the issue bringing in the issue of Burrows' past of a pest...

When AV caught wind of it, he let McLean have it with both barrels on the "After Hours" program...

Here's the exchange among Vigneault, Glenn Healy, and Scott Oake...
The magic happens about 2:25 in...
((HT: CBC Sports))

Don Cherry Discusses Tator Goodness

Dr. Charles Tator is not a fan of Don Cherry...

He has openly criticized Cherry's views on the sport he loves so much claiming Grapes is a "negative influence."

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Globe and Mail caught up with Tator for his "Usual Suspects" column- and Tator is now getting hate mail on his stance:

“Letters say, ‘You don’t know anything, Don Cherry is marvellous, you’re nothing, you don’t understand hockey, go back to the lab. …’ That sort of thing.”

Tator is not taking the opposition to heart. “If this is what it takes to get issue in front of the public, then I’m okay with it. I’m comfortable in saying what I believe.”

To recap where we've come from on this...

Here's the "Coach's Corner" segment where Cherry doesn't want to dignify the doctor with any kind of acknowledgement...
((HT: CBC/NHL))


Here's the audio of a Q-and-A session where Cherry was less than diplomatic of his assessment of the good doctor with Colin D'Mello...
((680AMNews Toronto/Whotheman.com-NSFW!))


Those of us at OSG HQ have long thought Cherry was a lightning rod for his sport, both good and bad. He's been an advocate for maintaining the difference between chippy play and being professional on the ice.

He wants the best for his sport and its presentation. He wants kids to learn about the sport, its history, and the proper policing of its on-ice laws.

Doctor Tator has decided that the bully pulpit Cherry has developed isn't enough for his own desires and means, and he wants a complete retraction of what has made Cherry's sport the fabric of the hemisphere that it is...

The HQ maintains Doctor Tator needs to relax beyond a proportional means...
Cherry has demanded the game change for the safety of its players, and that there is a way that it can keep its identity and history without sacrificing its soul.

Tator is trying to be a "Soul Collector..."

Head Injuries In Hockey. It's All Don Cherry's Fault

Hockey fans, we have a breakthrough. Head injuries in the sport can be blamed on one person who continues to emphasize aggression in Hockey, it's Hockey Night In Canada personality Donald S. Cherry.



That's the finding of Dr. Charles Tator, a Toronto neurosurgeon who told a Regina, Saskatchewan seminar on concession in Hockey.

"He's a negative influence," Tator told CBC News in reference to Cherry "The aggressive, lack-of-respect hockey that he preaches — we need to get that out of the game."

There are some at the conference that didn’t share the same opinion. You can read the entire article here.

Hello, hockey is an aggressive sport. You take that and some of the violence out and you might as well have ice capades with sticks. What about the helmets? Improve those.

As for blaming Don Cherry for head injuries please. If you watch Grapes' Coaches Corner segment during the first intermission on Hockey Night In Canada, he constantly brings up ways to improve the safety of the game like no hitting from behind when a player is against the boards fighting for the puck. Cherry even would like to see a soft barrier around the rim at the top of the boards. He is also an advocate for youth hockey players wearing neck guards to prevent skate blades from cutting their necks (It does happen.)

Cherry is old school though and will give a shout out to a player that's aggressive on the ice but honors the code of the sport. Heck Cherry played and coached in the NHL when players didn't wear helmets.

To blame Grapes in a concussion conference blows the credibility of Dr. Tator because I'm not sure he has done his homework. Attacking a great ambassador of Hockey, especially north of the border, smells of just getting attention rather than coming to a rational conclusion to help prevent concussions in the sport.

Here's Saturday's Coaches Corner. Thanks CBC Sports/Youtube.com.









Nice Cherry promotes Rockem, Sockem, Hockey. By the way, here's a trailer for the 21st installment of Rockem, Sockem, Hockey.

Photo Courtesy: CBC Sports