Don Cherry Interviewed

SUN: If you could make one change to the game of hockey, what would you do?

CHERRY: There’s two. One is the instigator rule. So many injuries are a result of the instigator rule. All I have to do is mention Gretzky. He had a credit card when he was in Edmonton. It was unbelievable. He never got hit. I think he got hit once the whole time he was in Edmonton. I used to talk to the people in the States when I was down there and they said there’s a rule in the National Hockey League that you can’t hit Gretzky. I said it’s not that, the rule is Semenko and McSorley. Today, nobody can protect anybody. It’s absolutely asinine. The governors actually said they’d put the instigator rule in so tough guys wouldn’t pick on the stars when it was the exact opposite. Now you’ve got little weasels running around with their visors — sticking and acting brave. A few years ago, you’d take and cuff them and they wouldn’t do it.