Don Cherry ‘very disappointed' by Ron MacLean's comments about health, Hockey Night in Canada exit
The former co-host of Coach's Corner isn't ready to call MacLean's candid comments to the Kingston Whig Standard a 'betrayal,' but admitted to feeling aggrieved by the narrative created after so many years have passed.
'I'm very disappointed in Ron that he would bring this up,' Cherry, 91, told the Toronto Sun's Joe Warmington in a conversation about MacLean's assertions. 'I'm very disappointed that he would reach back five years and do this.
'He should let it go,' he added.
Cherry said he was 'really surprised' when his wife Luba showed him the story, noting to Warmington that as far as she is concerned, MacLean is not welcome at their home or to contact them. Luba told the writer she would speak with her husband's former peer directly.
Broached with the subject of Cherry and his son Tim possibly ending their podcast Grapevine by Whig Standard sports writer Gare Joyce recently, MacLean was reminded of Cherry's departure from HNIC and tied it to the pneumonia he was suffering from at the end of a long Stanley Cup Final between the St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins that June.
MacLean alleged that Cherry was struggling to breathe on their flight to Boston for a decisive Game 7, and he was taken to a sauna upon landing in an attempt to 'clear out his lungs.'
A then 85-year-old Cherry would go on air that night, but his account of what occurred after the game differs from MacLean's.
'Don and I didn't have our post-show ritual beers (because) he was so sick,' MacLean told the Whig Standard. 'I just had a couple of beers by myself and then I got a call from (National Hockey League Commissioner) Gary Bettman — you know, he and I are like, well, pick your poison — and he asks, 'How's Don?' I tell him, 'He's good. Why do you ask?' (Bettman) says, 'Well, he's in hospital.' That was a shocker.'
For his part, Cherry insisted to Warmington that while he was 'pretty tired,' there was no hospital visit in Boston.
'I went to my room,' he said, admitting he later visited a hospital upon returning to Canada, where he spent one night being assessed and treated for pneumonia.
Regardless, MacLean went on to suggest the 'pneumonia scare' led Cherry to begin 'plotting a way out' that ultimately arrived on a November broadcast ahead of Remembrance Day when he spoke about immigrants to Canada not wearing poppies to honour Canada's fallen soldiers.
'You people come here, whatever it is, you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey. At least you could pay a couple of bucks for a poppy,' Cherry said at the time.
Rogers Sportsnet released him two days later following public backlash, which MacLean said 'was the right outcome.'
'Don needed out, and the time was right. (Remembrance Day) was his last swing, taking a stance that's unpopular, but that feels good in his world. For Don, it's all a fight. It's all a battle. So he was happy and I'm happy for him.'
Cherry also flatly rejected that assertion, saying 'he wasn't looking for a way out.'
'He can say what he wants, but it never happened.'
Cherry said he's not been in contact with MacLean about the statements, nor does he plan to reach out.
As for the future of the Grapevine podcast, Cherry and his son told Warmington that the show will continue.
Rex Murphy: Don Cherry's cruel exclusion from the Order of Canada
'I've been through some ordeals': Ron MacLean is the last Canadian icon
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