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Blue & Coach Don Cherry

In 1955, Don Cherry played one playoff game with the Boston Bruins. He spent the next 16 years in the minors. In 1974, he was hired as head coach of the Boston Bruins. Cherry's Bruins finished first in their division four seasons in a row and he was the NHL Coach of the Year in the 1975/76 season.


Blue, a female, white bull terrier, was his loving side kick for many of his coaching years.

Donald Stewart Cherry
Born: February 5, 1934
Place of Birth: Kingston, Ontario

Major Notes:

• Don Cherry is known as one of the most controversial hockey commentators as well as an excellent hockey coach.
• He was a high school dropout in Kingston.
• Cherry played his early hockey as a defenseman with the junior Windsor Spitfires and the Barrie Flyers.
• He was picked up by the Hershey Bears in 1954 and began a long career in the minor hockey leagues for several teams.
• Cherry had only played in one game of NHL hockey that being a playoff game for the Boston Bruins.
• After leaving hockey at this point, he tried working in construction.
• However, he found his missed hockey and, in 1971, joined the Rochester Americans as a defenseman.
• Before the season was half over, he was made the team's Coach ending up as Rookie Coach of the Year.
• In 1974, he accepted the position of Head Coach for the NHL Boston Bruins.
• He was very successful leading the team to four straight division championships and two Stanley Cup playoffs.
• In 1976, he won the coveted title of Coach of the Year in the NHL.
  Cherry continued to coach in the NHL until 1979 when he retired from coaching.
• He walked into another career when he began making appearances on Hockey Night in Canada as a commentator.
• His remarks, tips, and controversial style led him into his own segment of the show called "Coach's Corner".
• He branched out and became the owner of several restaurants known as the "Grapevine" and became a part-owner in a junior hockey club.
• Because of some of his remarks on TV, a special 7-second delay was used for a short time on his segment of Hockey Night.
• In a special poll, Don Cherry was honoured by his fans by being voted as one of the top ten "great" Canadians.

Don Cherry is not only a hockey icon; he's a national treasure. Plain-spoken, flamboyant and always entertaining, he has become one of Canada's most recognizable celebrities.
Cherry's wildly popular "Coach's Corner" on Hockey Night in Canada, co-hosted with Ron MacLean, is often the most watched segment on the CBC and is a mainstay of Saturday night television. His knowledge of—and love for—our national game is peerless.

Born in Kingston, Ontario, Cherry chased his hockey-playing dream as a teenager across the continent, from Sudbury, Ontario to Spokane, Washington. In 1955, he appeared in a playoff game for the Boston Bruins; it would be his only on-ice NHL appearance. After stepping away from the game, he dabbled in different careers, doing everything from construction to working as the "world's worst Cadillac salesman."

In 1974, he was hired as head coach of the Boston Bruins, earning Coach of The Year honours in the 1975-76 season. The same year, he was named assistant coach of Team Canada. In 1980, he appeared on Hockey Night in Canada with then-host Dave Hodge in a new segment called "Coach's Corner." Years later, in what became a career-defining interview with Brian Williams, Cherry condoned on-ice violence in hockey, after a bench-clearing brawl during a world junior championship game between Canada and the Soviets. The move helped boost Cherry's popularity and moved him to the front of the national conversation, where he has remained ever since.

In 2004, The CBC conducted a nationwide poll of "The Greatest Canadians," and at the #7 spot—right behind Nobel-winner Lester Pearson, but in front of former Prime Minister John A. MacDonald—was Canada's favourite hockey commentator, the king of tell-it-like-it-is, Don Cherry.

Hockey Night in Canada: For the past 16 years in the Coach's Corner with host Ron MacLean, Cherry has stayed true to form with his candidness, often controversial and always entertaining comments.

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