Veteran Hockey Anchor Don Cherry Not Betting on Regular Season to Survive -NHL Lockout Update
When someone like Don Cherry speaks his mind on an issue related to hockey, people are bound to listen due to his extensive history of being in the game and knowing when and how things are going to play out.
In his latest statement regarding the National Hockey League (NHL) lockout, Coach’s Corner star Don Cherry, is not optimistic at all about the regular season being played out or saved any time soon.
“If I’m betting, I’d say no [NHL season],” Cherry told host of Hockey Night in Canada, Matt Galloway.
For him, the start of the New Year will be extremely crucial in determining whether a regular season might be played out, but if there is none on the cards by then, fans will just have to let go of hockey this year and stay busy with something else. Surprisingly,
Don Cherry also came to the defence of NHL Commissioner, Gary Bettman, of whom he has been a critic of throughout these years, but definitely not without logic.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” Cherry added. “[The owners] had a vote at the start… 30 said yes [to the] lockout. It wasn’t Bettman. If they had said no lockout, there wouldn’t have been a lockout. He’s the guy everybody goes after, it’s ridiculous. If 20
owners walked up to him right now and said ‘we’re going back,' they’d go back.”
Blaming the team owners does seem quite rational when looking at how the lockout was implemented, since it could not have come force if and only Bettman was the man deciding. It is Bettman’s third lockout since he has been in the position of Commissioner,
which has now been for 19 years.
For Don Cherry, Bettman could have definitely handled the situation a lot better, but in the end, it is the 30 team owners who are to make the final decision and play it out.
While nothing may be final in regards to the 2012-2013 regular season as of yet, one this is clear and that is a personality like Don Cherry has definitely given up hope, which will be devastating for fans everywhere.
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