WARMINGTON: Watch 'Cherry's Corner' to find out the latest from Grapes
Legendary Coach and broadcaster Don Cherry predicted Maple Leafs would beat Panthers in Game One and believes they'll win series too
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As you might have guessed, the Coach is in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ corner.
How do you like them, Grapes? Yes, Don Cherry is predicting the Leafs will beat the Florida Panthers in the second round of the playoffs.
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WARMINGTON: Watch 'Cherry's Corner' to find out the latest from Grapes Back to video
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And how do I know that?
I heard him say it on Cherry’s Corner, that’s how. If Rogers and Hockey Canada are not smart enough to put the legendary hockey coach on the air, we will go to him and do our version of the show.
We did that Tuesday.
Eat your heart out Rogers. You haven’t had Coach’s Corner since Remembrance Day 2019. But we have the Coach. Cherry’s Corner is the place to find Grapes in the morning after the games — and after Game 1, he was raring to go.
“Here I am, bigger than life,” the 91-year-old teased.
Man, we miss him on the airwaves. You can watch the Cherry’s Corner video that photographer Jack Boland and I did with Cherry on torontosun.com.
“It’s a good start,” said Cherry of the Leafs first win Monday. “You can’t do better than that – win the first game.”
And what a game it was. The Leafs got off to a fast start and hung tough throughout until they got that backbreaking fifth goal which ended up being the buffer needed to secure the 5-4 win.
“They (the Leafs) got down to business last night and it’s a good job they got the fifth goal,” he said.
Cherry called the first series against Ottawa for the blue and white and he’s doing the same against the cats.
“I am going with Leafs all the way. I’m quite a leaf fan,” he said.
“I think it goes six. It will go six,” said Grapes of the series. “And I really believe . . . the Leafs will beat them.”
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If that happens, there will be a lot of excitement in Toronto. But, Cherry added, there’s still a long way to go and anything can happen with a team as strong as the Panthers.
“The hockey is pretty tough,” said Grapes.
And he believes new Panther Brad Marchand could prove to be a juggernaut in the way of Leafs’ efforts to win this series.
“He hasn’t really shown up yet but he will show up before this is over, that’s for sure,” said Cherry. “Marchand is Marchand — he will be there.”
As for the big elephant in the room on what does Canada’s seventh greatest Canadian think about Panthers Sam Bennett’s elbow to Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz’s head, in true Cherry style, he defended the tough guy. And didn’t throw him under the bus.
“I like the guy who hurt him. I like that, Bennett. He plays it tough,” said Cherry.
Saying there’s no question “he did it on purpose,” he doesn’t think Bennett deserves a suspension on the play. “That was a dirty play but sometimes you have to do that in hockey.” He hoped Stolarz was OK, but Don explained in the NHL playoffs, you are going to have incidents like this as teams try to get to the next round.
“I didn’t know he went to the hospital,” said Cherry. “But I still like Bennett. I wouldn’t suspend him.”
The league listened. There was no discipline.
Meanwhile, two other guys Cherry loves in this series are the Leafs Matthew Knies and their coach Craig Berube.
“Knies is a big guy who takes the body,” said Cherry. “But he’s got nice hands, too.”
As for Berube, “there was nobody ever tougher than him. Maybe Bob Probert. But there were not too many guys who would take him on,” Cherry said, adding, “he gets 100% out of his players.”
And he will have to for Grape’s predication to come true.
“The Panthers will be tougher in next game,” he said.
This is why he has posted a question to X about whether it would be a good idea to dress Leafs enforcer Ryan Reaves in this series if things get out of hand?
“I think they should dress him and have him in the background and ready to go,” said Cherry of Reaves. “He brings a lot to the table. It sends the message when you dress a guy like that.”
Whatever happens, Don said he will be watching with his son, Tim, and grandson, Del, who star with him every week on the Don Cherry Grapevine podcast taped every Sunday.
“I love the playoffs,” said Cherry.
And his fans loving hearing what he has to say about the playoffs.
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