“He’s dead wrong” were the words of response given to the press by Boston Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference most recently in his verbal scrap with former Bruins coach and current commentator Don Cherry. What Cherry was wrong about in Ference’s eyes was his rallying against Ference’s earlier comments about the hit that Bruins’ Daniel Paille laid on Dallas Stars forward Raymond Sawada.
You can view the hit here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mJbKBZdsN4
Paille was suspended four games for his blindside swipe during the thriller against Dallas in Boston last Thursday: the entire Bruins squad seemed fueled by aggression in the contest, reacting initially with fighting majors (4 in the first period) and then with goals (2 on 2 shots in the first, 6 potted overall).
For your viewing pleasure, you can access all four fights from the first period via this link: http://thesportsjury.com/201102041143/nhl/bruising-bruins
Ference and Cherry began waging a war of words immediately following Thursday’s game. Ference’s original statement was this:
“It’s a bad hit, right? That’s what they’re trying to get rid of. You can’t be hypocritical about it when it happens to you, then say it’s fine when your teammate does it. It’s a hit they’re trying to get rid of. You hear it from every player after they do it. They feel bad. Same thing. I talked to Danny and he feels bad. It’s tough. That backchecking forward, to make those kinds of hits, it’s so hard to do it in a clean fashion with the new rules.”
Cherry’s response was harsh:
“I don’t care if your teammate is an ax murderer. What you’ve got to say to the guy, you tell him in the dressing room. You tell him that was a dirty hit. You never go to the press like Ference did and say that was a bad hit. The kid’s going to lose $23,000 over that. They don’t need a guy like Ference. I’m going to tell you something right now, I’d hate to be in that dressing room right now.”
So Ferrence called Cherry’s comments bollocks, and it would appear that the former coach doesn’t know what he is talking about: Paille reached out to Sawada this weekend in kindness. Said Paille, “We just had a brief conversation and he understood where I was coming from. I think he’s the same type of player as me, so he was very nice throughout the whole conversation and understanding with me.”
There is clearly an issue in the NHL with headshots (previously discussed here: http://thesportsjury.com/201101251047/nhl/knocked-out ). It would seem then, that it shouldn’t matter where Ference makes his commentary on the issue of a teammate doling out an illegal hit, especially if asked directly by the press about it. Old Coach Cherry is out of his element on this one.