Cherry weighs in on Alexei Emelin’s hits against Avs: ‘the jerk of jerks’

TORONTO — Hockey commentator Don Cherry directed his ire at Montreal Canadiens defenceman Alexei Emelin on Saturday night’s episode of Coach’s Corner.

Emelin threw a hip check at Avalanche forward Joe Colborne with less than four minutes remaining in Montreal’s 10-1 win over Colorado on Dec. 10. The hit sent Colborne flipping through the air and Emelin then shoved Avs veteran forward Jarome Iginla, who chased the Habs player, trying to fight him.

“This guy is the jerk of jerks. You just don’t do stuff like this if the score is 10-1, either way,” said Cherry, who was warning children playing amateur hockey to be aware of the attitudes of the other players on the ice.

“Kids, always be aware when you have a jerk like that,” Cherry added. “You have a code of honour. When you’re up or when you’re down in the last five minutes you never have a hit like that.”

However, Cherry had sympathy for Emelin’s teammate Carey Price, who was pulled from Montreal’s goal in Friday’s 4-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks. Price gave a hard stare to the Canadiens’ bench as he skated off the ice near the midway point of the second period.

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Cherry thought Habs coach Michel Therrien should have waited until the second intermission to bench Price, instead of embarrassing him in front of the Bell Centre crowd.

“You get them out at the right time,” said Cherry. “(Hall of Famer) Kenny Dryden in my book said that yes, he got pulled once by (former Canadiens head coach) Scotty Bowman but he never got pulled during the game.  You never get pulled during the game. … You don’t pull a guy like that.”

The Canadian Press