Ya! My favorite hockey commenator Don Cherry (”Coaches Corner”) is joining ESPN to cover the NHL Eastern Conference Finals and will be making regular appearances on SportsCenter. Oh and in case you’re wondering, my second favorite (and Cherry’s sidekick on the popular CBC show), Ron MacLean is coming too.

For those of you who may not be familiar with Canada’s dynamic duo, you can catch them at the end of each Flyers-Penguins game. And what does Don himself have to say about this?

“I guess they like my jackets.”

When it comes to hockey (IMHO) this is the best decision ESPN has made in a long time. Congratulations Don and Ron! You are my favorite hockey commentary team!

Don Cherry

The use of performance enhancing drugs or any drugs for that matter have always been an issue in professional sports. Especially now with the Clemens/McNamee case dominating the sports pages, its hard to wonder what sport has the upper hand when it comes to staying squeaky clean.

Hockey has always had the rough image of being a sport that my possibly be too violent at times. Recently there has been some pondering in the industry if increasing the NHL’s drug testing policies might help feed the publics appetite for morality.

Currently, players in the NHL are subject to at least one and as many as three, “no notice” drug tests during the course of the season. As proof that there might not even be a drug problem in this sport, only one player, Sean Hill, now of Minnesota, has produced a positive test.

However, some people argue that as long as there is no out-of-season testing, the whole process lacks teeth and the results are considered meaningless. During the off season is when players do their most intensive training and that’s when a performance-enhancer or growth hormone would provide the most benefit.

Regardless of what people are wanting the fact is, that nobody really knows how pervasive steroid use is in the NHL, if at all. To date there is only a small handful of dabblers who have been nabbed. If the league’s desire is to be clean, the NHL would really have nothing to loose and so much to gain.

Drug Testing

Early this morning at about 3 a.m. outside a Tampa night club, Montreal Canadians’ rookie defenceman Ryan O’Byrne and veteran winger Tom Kostopoulos were arrested.

Police reported that O’Byrne, 23, stole a woman’s purse while Kostopoulos resisted an officer. O’Byrne insisted that the purse was his girlfriends, but police said that it had belonged to another woman.

“Several associates, who were identified as NHL players/members, crowded around the officers and police car,” stated the police report. “They were told numerous times to get away from the police car and to not interfere.”

Charges were laid against Kostopoulos, 29, for resisting an officer without violence and O’Byrne was charged with grand theft. Both players were released on bail.

I wonder how this will affect The Canadians game against the Tampa Bay Lighting tomorrow night.

Hockey News

NHL goal-scoring leader (and multi million-dollar man) Alex Ovechkin was named January’s first star by the league on Friday. Ovechkin earned his keep with the Washington Capitals by leading the NHL with most points (22) for the month. And for those of you who know what that whole + and - thing is about, he was a +9.

Nashville Predator captain J.P. Dumont earned a couple of awards today: NHL’s second star (for his six goals and 20 points on the month), and he was also awarded a four-year extension worth $16 million. Nice.

Montreal Canadiens goalie Christobal Huet was named the NHL’s third star by posting a record of 8-2-1 with a 2.40 goals-against average and one shutout in January.