Is Don Cherry a Hall of Famer??

There's been a lot of debate over the past couple of months as to whether or not perhaps Canadas most familiar face when it comes to hockey should be a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Count me in as one who says yes he should be. Hockey is a piece of Canadiana and so is Don Cherry. Like him or hate him, he has done a lot for the sport through his weekly appearances on Coach's Corner and his rock-em, sock-em videos and one could argue that Hockey Night in Canada gets the viewers it does in the first game of the doubleheader because they want to know what Don is going to do or say and is this the night perhaps that he suffers the meltdown of meltdowns. Say what you will about him but he is a rockstar. Just ask the people of Shaunavon about that when he appeared there a few years for "Hockey Day in Canada". When word came out Cherry was on his way to the rink, I think the whole town showed up and when he emerged from the RCMP cruiser that took him there, the place exploded with everyone wanting one touch or one photo of "Grapes". To this generation, Don Cherry isn't a hockey coach, he is someone who spouts off his views. He could be compared to John Madden. Many who watch the NFL now realize he was a coach but they associate his name with the wildly popular video game named after him. Don Cherry's contribution to hockey is one that should not be ignored. He should most definitely in my mind be a future Hockey Hall of Famer. One can only imagine what kind of jacket he would bring out for that ceremony.

Elsewhere, the Rider Nation is still moaning about the loss of Anton McKenzie and Maurice Lloyd. Like I said yesterday, money was the key issue and both men got more elsewhere than they were going to get here. You would probably do the same thing so stop it and lets move on.

The Tampa Bay Lightning may be calling the Habs and other teams today to talk about Vinnie Lecavalier after the performance of Steven Stamkos last nite. The number one draft pick this year had a breakout game last night as he recorded his first pro hat-trick in a loss to Chicago. Speaking of the Habs, a lot of debate over the benching of Alexei Kovalev. It doesn't take long in Montreal for the swords to be sharpened and one has to think his days as a member of "Les Habitants" are short.

How bout this from the Florida Panthers......

DAVID SHOALTS
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

The Florida Panthers are giving away tickets again — with a twist.
The Panthers, long the NHL's most generous franchise when it comes to handing out free tickets, are tying their latest giveaway to their performance. Anyone who buys four tickets from now through the end of the regular season will get tickets to four games next season if the Panthers do not make the playoffs.
The promotion is called the Panthers Promise Plan. If the Panthers do make the playoffs, those buying tickets will get priority for playoff tickets.At this point, thanks to a good run since January, the Panthers are in decent shape. Before last night's games, the Panthers had a 28-20-8 record and were tied for seventh place in the Eastern Conference with the Buffalo Sabres.

Would you call this a good marketing idea or not??? I'm not sure.