Six years after the infamous Coach鈥檚 Corner segment that ended Don Cherry鈥檚 four-decade run on “Hockey Night in Canada,” we鈥檙e still litigating the ending.
A long-form profile last week included startling new claims from Ron MacLean, Cherry鈥檚 former on-air partner. MacLean suggested Cherry had orchestrated his 2019 departure听from “Hockey Night” as a kind of planned 鈥渆xit strategy,鈥 citing an apparent health scare that MacLean claimed happened during the 2019 Stanley Cup final in Boston.
鈥淗e was ready to have an exit strategy,鈥 MacLean said in the article. 鈥淔rom that moment on, he was plotting a way out听鈥 and I thought he did it well.鈥
The framing was, at best, poorly attuned and, at worst, revisionist.
MacLean detailed Cherry鈥檚 alleged illness, described moments where he 鈥渉ad to park him on a bench and get his luggage,鈥 and relayed a story about NHL commissioner Gary Bettman informing him that Cherry had been admitted to hospital.
Cherry鈥檚 reaction? Disbelief.
In a blistering rebuttal published by 海角社区官网Sun columnist Joe Warmington the next day, Cherry called the claims false. 鈥淣o, I wasn鈥檛 looking for a way out,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 never even thought of that.鈥
Rogers owns just about everything in Canadian pro sports. And it’s acting like it.
And on the topic of being hospitalized in Boston?
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 go to the hospital in Boston. I went to my room,鈥 Cherry said. 鈥淚 was pretty tired, but I just didn鈥檛 go to the hospital.鈥
This isn鈥檛 just a factual dispute. It cuts to the heart of one of the most controversial exits in Canadian broadcasting history. Cherry has always maintained he wasn鈥檛 planning his departure, and that his comments, however divisive, were genuine and unplanned. Whether you agree with what he said or not, what followed wasn鈥檛 a retirement. It was a firing.
Which makes the new spin feel off. No one really believes Cherry wanted out on those terms. And no one believes MacLean in 2019 thought his co-host was 鈥渓iberated鈥 by the backlash that followed.
Fans who supported Cherry haven鈥檛 forgotten MacLean鈥檚 actions in the days that followed the 鈥測ou people鈥 remark. They remember him on national television, publicly distancing himself from his friend of 38 years. They remember the apology. They remember it didn鈥檛 feel like someone quietly covering for a friend easing into retirement. It felt like someone choosing his chair over his co-host.
If last week鈥檚 article left a bad taste, MacLean鈥檚 latest statement may be an attempt to rinse it out.
鈥淚 was completely out of line to engage in the conjecture and to share details of Don鈥檚 health scare in 2019,鈥 MacLean said Sunday. 鈥淚鈥檓 deeply sorry. I鈥檝e apologized to Don.鈥
That kind of clarity is rare. In a media world full of carefully worded statements and dodged accountability, MacLean鈥檚 comment is about as close to an unqualified apology as you鈥檒l hear.
But it raises the obvious question: Why bring it up in the first place?
The 91-year-old broadcaster launched his podcast just a week after being fired from Sportsnet in
Why mention private health matters six years later? Why paint a picture of Cherry as frail, strategic, and eager to walk away from a job he was fighting to keep? Why suggest it was mutual when every fact, quote, and clip says otherwise?
This isn鈥檛 just about reputations. It鈥檚 about trust. Not just between two former co-hosts, but between a broadcaster and his audience.
Fans watched Cherry and MacLean as a package deal for years. They didn鈥檛 always agree with them, but they trusted the dynamic. MacLean was the steady hand, Cherry was the firebrand. When it unravelled, it wasn鈥檛 just about politics or poppies. It was about loyalty and integrity, the kind of unspoken code that comes with sitting next to someone on national TV every Saturday night for nearly four decades.
The hurt hasn鈥檛 healed, at least publicly.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to talk to him about it,鈥 Cherry told Warmington. His wife Luba added that MacLean wouldn鈥檛 be welcome in their home.
You don鈥檛 need to be a psychologist or a media critic to figure out where things stand.
This entire saga, from Poppygate to now, is a case study in legacy, narrative control and fractured trust. It鈥檚 also a reminder that if no one pushes back, the truth can quietly be rewritten.
Cherry says his podcast will be back next season. We鈥檒l see what unfolds this fall.
What鈥檚 clear is this: He didn鈥檛 orchestrate his own exit. He was shown the door. And now, his old co-host admits he was wrong to suggest otherwise.
That matters. Because history isn鈥檛 just about what happened. It鈥檚 about who gets to tell the story.
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