In the wake of the controversial offside call against Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog in Game 7 against the San Jose Sharks, the debate over whether these types of calls should be reviewable has been reignited.
For what it’s worth, Don Cherry is actually in favour of reviews.
“I know a lot of people hate, it but I am for it as long as they don’t take too long,” Cherry said during his Coach’s Corner segment Thursday during the first intermission between the Boston Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes.
Cherry said he wished he had something like this during his own coaching days.
That doesn’t mean Cherry likes what happened to Landeskog and the Avalanche, however.
“It is ridiculous,” he said.
“There’s nothing that kid could do. I felt so sorry for him and now he has to spend all summer, the whole deal, it’s his fault.”
Actually, Cherry doesn’t blame Landeskog but, more or less, the size of NHL benches and some of the people who commonly inhabit it.
In an impassioned segment, the 85-year-old expressed the need for a backup goalie or a trainer on the bench to be on designated door duty, so that the unfortunate scenario that Landeskog found himself in doesn’t happen.
“Look at the backup goalie, standing there picking his nose,” said Cherry as video of Landeskog’s offside was shown. “[Now Landeskog’s] gotta undo the gate, and that’s called an offside and that could cost him the Stanley Cup right there.”
Digging deeper into this issue, Cherry also believes that with the benches being smaller across different arenas, it’s unfair for some teams where the gate is positioned for guys to get off without being dinged with an offside call.
“The benches should be on either side,” he said. “It’ll never happen, but they should be on either side.”
Lastly, Cherry said that both factors in combination can lead to dangerous situations that result in injuries as players scramble to get off.
“You should always have a guy ready and have the door open at the right time and not have guys hurt like that.”
[relatedlinks]
