Grapes says Dats has no......

[esteef 2,679]

That's too comical! Datsyuk has carried this team since Zetts went down, so if he doesn't sprawl all over the ice trying to blocks shots I'm all right with it. It's almost like that's the only ***** in the armor Cherry and Co. could find on Dats so they just went with it. Gotta stay topical with the new contract signing and all, why not use that as yet another chance to rip the Wings (too soft, too old, too slow, don't blocks shots, blah, blah...). Hilarious.

esteef

[arnoldbuck 0]

Don Cherry has always slammed guys for blocking shots standing up the way Datsyuk did; I believe he calls it a "flamingo" or something like that. The fact that Pavel was covering his face only gave Don more to talk about.

Still, I feel that this criticism is really unnecessary given the fact that Datsyuk finally had the breakout post-season game we've all been waiting for. I don't think it's fair that this wasn't mentioned at all.

So true eh. I dont deny the talent of guys like Crosby and Staal, but for all the hours of praise they are given, you think someone would give Dats a shout out for a solid all round game.

[betterREDthandead 58]

Actually I saw it on CBC - didnt know he said this on NBC.

Ok. Point doesn't change.

[redwinger4747 6]

Have any of you guys ever heard Cherry say something good about a player who was niether Canadian, nor played for a Canadian team?? And I mean EVER??? Because I have not. He only says good things about canadians or players for canadian teams.

[arnoldbuck 0]

Have any of you guys ever heard Cherry say something good about a player who was niether Canadian, nor played for a Canadian team?? And I mean EVER??? Because I have not. He only says good things about canadians or players for canadian teams.

I have to imagine at some point he once gave a compliment to a non-Canadian. Though I imagine he probably quoted the comment, "... just like a good Canadian kid!"

[Icteria virens 11]

Not sure about this. I got to see a lot of Red Army team and the USSR team in the eighties and they did block a lot of shots by dropping on the ice.

how would they go down? Most Russians would either stay standing or at most go down to one knee, just a cultural difference.

[RusDRW 155]

I do not think there are any cultural differences. For example, Danny Markov is known for blocking shots. And, yes, he is Russian. But hey, have you seen, Sid the Kid blocking shots? Of course, no, because he is so important on the ice for 60 minutes rather than in hospital for the rest of the series. The same with Dats. Could you imagine our first center getting out in game 1 due to blocking a shot? If it happens in Game 7, be 100% sure he goes down and blocks it. It is all about importance of the moment.

[FireCaptain 563]

That's something that has bugged me about The Wings for a long time.

I remember watching the Edmonton series. On one play there were 3 or 4 EDM players sprawled out on the ice blocking the shot and the pass. We didn't score on them. It's effective.

Our guys like the "stand up and make a pole" type shot block. Not very effective.

Did anyone else see what this looney old man said about Datsyuk during Coaches Corner? He showed footage of Stevie diving in the way of shots, saying how that's the way it should be (no argument here)...but then he shows a shot of Datsyuk squaring up to a shooter covering his face with one glove and his junk with the other..then made a remark about how there's nothing down there to protect anyway...MacLean then went on to say something about Datsyuk being scared of "a boy named Susan" and they whined about his new contract. Funny how they didn't mention anything about having 2 pts in game 1.

Call me a pessimist, but.....

I'd hardly call 2 pts a "breakout game".

The same way I wouldn't call ONE SINGLE victory the 'complete dismantling of Calgary' as some people are.

Don Cherry has always slammed guys for blocking shots standing up the way Datsyuk did; I believe he calls it a "flamingo" or something like that. The fact that Pavel was covering his face only gave Don more to talk about.

Still, I feel that this criticism is really unnecessary given the fact that Datsyuk finally had the breakout post-season game we've all been waiting for. I don't think it's fair that this wasn't mentioned at all.

Edited April 14, 2007 by FireCaptain

[Icteria virens 11]

I do not think there are any cultural differences. For example, Danny Markov is known for blocking shots. And, yes, he is Russian.

I didn't say Russians didn't block shots just that they have been typically trained to not go down all the way like North Americans.

[Guest tangstoiggy]

He was just as bad. That little dork said that Datsyuk is afraid of "a boy named susan"- whatever that is supposed to mean. I'm pretty sure that Datsyuk could take MacLean in a fight though- that would be a battle for the ages lol.

Grapes does like to spout off, well and Ron McClean is a good ole Alberta Boy,

And its not Susan,,,,,,its Zuyzin, one of the poop D-men for the Flames

[J-Swift 0]

Call me a pessimist, but.....

I'd hardly call 2 pts a "breakout game".

The same way I wouldn't call ONE SINGLE victory the 'complete dismantling of Calgary' as some people are.

I'll be the first to say that Datsyuk still has something to prove in the post-season, but he scored a playoff goal for the first time in years and was the first star of the night, so I don't really see the need to slam his performance in Game 1.

In spite of Don Cherry's anti-European comments from time to time, I have to agree with some of what says. I will agree with Don in the sense that standing like that simply isn't a great way to block a shot. But the way in which he phrased his criticism was uncalled for.

[Elshupacabra 0]

The last thing Datsyuk needs is to lay down and block some *****-ass shot and get hurt, then Cherry (and the rest of the world) would be saying, "Datsyuk isn't a playoff preformer, he looks like a retarted goat out there" So I say this to you Datsyuk: Stand up, get out of the way of those shots, let Markov, Lija, Schnider, Chelios, Lebda and Franzen worry about shot blocking, you just play like you did in game 1 and you'll be fine.

Edited April 15, 2007 by Elshupacabra

[Rice 42]

You can download the segment here.

Whatever. It's all part of Cherry's act.

Edited April 15, 2007 by ARice89

[FireCaptain 563]

I wasn't slamming his performance. I just don't think a single 2 pt night is a "breakout".

Now, if he scores a few more in the next 3 or 4 or 5 games, feel free to use the term 'breakout' in regards to his playoff year.

I do hope that now that the goal-less streak is off his back, he'll explode for us in the playoffs.

I'll be the first to say that Datsyuk still has something to prove in the post-season, but he scored a playoff goal for the first time in years and was the first star of the night, so I don't really see the need to slam his performance in Game 1.

[Kp-Wings 3]

I do not think there are any cultural differences. For example, Danny Markov is known for blocking shots. And, yes, he is Russian. But hey, have you seen, Sid the Kid blocking shots? Of course, no, because he is so important on the ice for 60 minutes rather than in hospital for the rest of the series. The same with Dats. Could you imagine our first center getting out in game 1 due to blocking a shot? If it happens in Game 7, be 100% sure he goes down and blocks it. It is all about importance of the moment.

Grapes doesn't like Sid that much either. The four reasons being that he's a French Canadian, he's not gritty, he wears a visor, and he doesn't block shots. He has actually, on one occasion, said that Jordan Staal will be a better player than Sid. While it's no doubt Staal will be a good player, he will not be as good as Crosby. Grapes only says this because Staal was born in Ontario and doesn't wear a visor. Whether Staal will fill Grapes other expectations, being a gritty shot blocker, remains to be seen.

Grapes does like to spout off, well and Ron McClean is a good ole Alberta Boy,

And its not Susan,,,,,,its Zuyzin, one of the poop D-men for the Flames

I honestly don't know why you guys hate Zyuzin so much. He is probably more solid then our very own Nik Kronwall, although less physical. If there was room on the Wings roster he might not be a bad fit.

Edited April 15, 2007 by Kp-Wings

[LeftWinger 5,153]

Grapes wouldn't compliment a European player if he was on death row.

...not exactly true. Cherry was complimentive of Fedorov when he first entered the league. He said (while talking about Feds during a Toronto/Detroit game) "At least you guys (Red Wings) got one who is not afraid to throw a body check." That is about it though. I do believe he like Vladdy as well. But, alas, the likes of Vladdy and a young Fedorov are long gone and the mold has been broken, now all we get out of Russia are skilled players. Which we accept...

...they have been typically trained to not go down all the way like North Americans.

...the men or women?

[Kp-Wings 3]

...not exactly true. Cherry was complimentive of Fedorov when he first entered the league. He said (while talking about Feds during a Toronto/Detroit game) "At least you guys (Red Wings) got one who is not afraid to throw a body check." That is about it though. I do believe he like Vladdy as well. But, alas, the likes of Vladdy and a young Fedorov are long gone and the mold has been broken, now all we get out of Russia are skilled players. Which we accept...

...the men or women?

If that comment was made when Fedorov entered the league, that would be over 17 years ago. At that point, Grapes actually made sense with some things he said. Now, he is just an enraged ass that hates everything non-canadian.

He might have liked Vladdy, but I can't remember. If he did, it would shock me. Vladdy was a great player, but was a European, and that's beyond Grapes liking.

[zetterbergfuturemvp 0]

don cherry is a f'n moron ....after the leafs beat the habs he was complaining on air over and over how it wasnt fair that brodeur wouldnt be in nets against the islanders and how the devils owe it to the nhl to play him .........LOL .........they dont owe anyone anything .........sometimes (most of the time ) he can be really stupid

[YoungGuns1340 1]

Datsyuk doesnt block shots , Not because hes russian (which is what Dons getting at) but because hes a skill guy.

Still , I wish we had someone blocking shots.

An dthe clips he showed were Yzerman blocking shots when we were up 6-0 agaisnt the avs. Stevie was probably the only guy to do stuff like that

What?? Detroit has blocked a ton of shots this year. Lilja, Markov, Kronwall, Cheli, Franzen, Calder, Malts, Draper...thats definitely something Babs has improved. Ive heard other teams make comments about Detroit being so good at that its one of the primary reasons Hasek faces so few shots.

[Statts 4]

That's too comical! Datsyuk has carried this team since Zetts went down, so if he doesn't sprawl all over the ice trying to blocks shots I'm all right with it. It's almost like that's the only ***** in the armor Cherry and Co. could find on Dats so they just went with it. Gotta stay topical with the new contract signing and all, why not use that as yet another chance to rip the Wings (too soft, too old, too slow, don't blocks shots, blah, blah...). Hilarious.

esteef

I agree.

If that is the worst thing they can say about Datsyuk’s game, then that just means he’s doing a hell of a lot more things right.

[ben_usmc 253]

This from the same guy saying The Leafs need to get rid of any American or Euro players, so kids from the area can see more hometown players. That way they know they can grow up and play for the Leafs to. He was a little before my time as a coach, was he any good, because by that logic thank god he isn't Detroits.

[OkThatSmells 0]

Sure he can be pretty annoying sometimes but I can't think of many funnier things than hearing him speak about Alexei Kovalev.

[Icteria virens 11]

......the men or women?

I knew that would come back to bite me when I typed that !

[Kp-Wings 3]

Sure he can be pretty annoying sometimes but I can't think of many funnier things than hearing him speak about Alexei Kovalev.

Alexei Kovalev... What a dog!

Yeah, I'll give Grapes this one. He is pretty funny when he talks about Kovalev.

[Icteria virens 11]

Grapes doesn't like Sid that much either. The four reasons being that he's a French Canadian, he's not gritty, he wears a visor, and he doesn't block shots.

How is Sid considered French Canadian? I know he's from the Maritimes and that some do speak French in that region as a geographical consequence of being close to Quebec. I know that some ppl from Quebec have moved to the Maritimes and that French is more commonly spoken in the Maritimes than the Prairie Provences.

Is French his first language or maybe one of his parents is French Canadian???