After Team Europe blanked Team USA Saturday afternoon in the World Cup of Hockey’s opening act, it was clear they’d been motivated to unite as quickly as possible.
And on Coach’s Corner Saturday evening, Don Cherry showed us just how motivated they truly were, brandishing a Toronto Sun newspaper headline that displayed doubts about the team’s viability.
“I said earlier today, when I saw the [Toronto] Sun, I will bet any money on Team Europe,” said Cherry, who held up the headline that read, “Euro Trash?”
“This is the worst thing that you can call a European,” he said. “I can hear the coach now, ‘Look what they think of us, They think we’re trash. Let’s go out and show them.'”
Europe suffered two humbling losses to the young Team North America in pre-tournament action by a combined score of 11-4, indicating that perhaps a mishmash of players from different countries who’d never played as a unit would spell disaster in a short tournament. Not so, Saturday, as the European Union took it to a flat American team that could barely cobble together a scoring chance, winning 3-0.
“Poor Tortorella didn’t have a chance,” Cherry said. “I would have bet the farm on it.”
