Few feuds in modern Canadian sports culture have blown up to the level of the ongoing spat between longtime sportscaster Ron MacLean and former NHL player and coach Don Cherry since it started on a November 2019 episode of the “Coach’s Corner.”
What started simply as Cherry’s Remembrance Day comments has become a full-on feud. Since then, the two have been going back and forth about where they stand in their political viewpoints, with fans and supporters split between the two.
But Cherry recently got support from a fellow Boston Bruins legend.
Why Did Bobby Orr Defend His Former Coach Don Cherry?
The history of Cherry and the Bruins goes a long way. Cherry was the coach of the franchise from 1974 to 1979. He coached former Bruins legend and two-time Stanley Cup winner Bobby Orr during those days. Orr was there to support his former coach.
This all came to light when MacLean claimed that the infamous “Poppygate” incident from 2019 was pre-planned. Cherry made comments about immigrants and the wearing of poppies on Remembrance Day in Canada. MacLean was quoted as saying to the Toronto Sun that, “I think that pneumonia scare was it. The pneumonia said to Don, ‘It’s time.’
“He had to think, ‘Why is this grind suddenly so hard?’ He was ready to have an exit strategy,” MacLean said in an interview with Lorrie Goldstein of the Toronto Sun. “From that moment on, he was plotting a way out.” This was extremely low for MacLean towards his former colleague and on-screen partner of many years.
Orr said in his defense, “Suggesting Don Cherry used encouraging people to wear poppies on Remembrance Day as an exit strategy from ‘Coach’s Corner, revealing he had pneumonia in 2019 and that he doesn’t have many friends, I have only one thing to say to you, Ron MacLean: Shame on you. From one of Grapes’ millions of friends and fans.”
This marked yet another chapter in the Cherry-MacLean feud, since Cherry’s comments on immigrants got him under fire and ousted from “Hockey Night in Canada.”
How Did the Original November 2019 Incident Spark This Feud?
Cherry and MacLean had been longtime sportscasters on the Rogers Network since 2019 rolled in. But on November 9, 2019, Cherry commented on the immigrants, saying, “I live in Mississauga (Ontario). Very few people wear the poppy.”
He mentioned the tradition of wearing a poppy on your clothes on the date, but he no longer wanted to lead the campaign since so few people follow it nowadays.
“You people love, they come here, whatever it is, you love our way of life,” Cherry said. “You love our milk and honey. At least you can pay a couple of bucks for poppies, or something like that. These guys (the war dead) paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada.
“These guys paid the biggest price. Anyhow, I’m going to run it again for you, great people and good Canadians who bought a poppy. I’m still going to run it anyhow.”
But these comments backfired on Cherry, who was fired from the broadcast.
Since then, MacLean’s comments that it was simply an exit strategy have been a point of contempt between the two longtime colleagues.