not sure of the specifics but cherry told mike tirico he and crosby (and if you read between the lines, crosby's family) had some altercation years ago when crosby was playing in junior hockey because cherry was critical of his play.

cherry went on to say how great of a player he throught crosby was and that he didn't have a problem with him personally, just there was some incident years ago and as a result, he won't have anything to do with crosby.

it was interesting that the sport's most well-known analyst won't have anything to do with it's best player, but was upfront with the issue and went on to say he thought crosby was a great player, they just have a bad history.

i give cherry credit for that.

but cherry talking so much about gary roberts was both accurate and vintage cherry. so i'm not sure how people thought that was so unusual.

whoops, i got caught up in the hype. crosby is the no. 2 player in the nhl. ovechkin is tops.

Uh, why should Crosby be a Don Cherry (or anyone's) favorite? The guy is a sniveling diver, an embarrassment to old-time hockey. If you breathe on the guy he goes down like he was shot. When 87 learns to respect the game the old-timers will come around to respecting him.

@ Tyler...........you must be a Flyer or Rangers fan.............You know nothing about the game if you think Crosby is an embarrasment for hockey.......

Regarding Cherry - yes, Roberts deserved credit for his part in game 3 but to ignore Crosby.s performance is just Cherry being Cherry - keeps him name in the limelight by slighting Crosby and just goes to show you how people become bitter as they age...

Gretzky and Lemieux were accused of embellishment too. Crosby gets pulled down an awful lot because he's a strong skater and puck handler. It happens to good players. But he's no more a diver than anyone else in the league. I don't know how many Rangers and Flyers I saw flop on the ice after they were touched during these playoffs. As for Don Cherry, somebody needs to put his dinosaur ass in a home.

If I was 87, anon's swipe at me would have just caused me to fall down. Don Koharski: Do something! Help me!

Ash is correct - both of those players had to deal with the same old griping from their elders. Doesn't respect the game, flops too much, blah, blah, blah. I like Cherry, but to ignore Crosby is akin to ignoring an 800 - lb. elephant in your living room.

And as for special treatment, speaking as a long - time Hawks fan, I knew that guys like Hull and Mikita got the calls that regular players didn't - that's the way it's always been for higher - echelon players in the league.

This story needs more maple syrup.

BP, now you know the plight of us Pittsburgh sportsbloggers. Mention Crosby at all, and you get the trolls coming out with the beligerent "diver!!!!!!!!111!!!!1!" comments. As if it fits in to whatever is being discussed.

I thought the Penguins played in Kansas City? No?

"how people become bitter as they age..."

Don Cherry has been this way for at least as long as I've been watching him...about 20 years.

Cherry ignoring him seems like some kind of compensation--evening out the insane Crosby love during coverage of the games on NBC.

Wanting to offset the hype seems like a pretty lame reason for ignoring the player who scored two goals for the winning team.

Crosby scored a goal in the minors by lifting it on his stick lacrosse-style from behind the net in a 6-0 game and Cherry called him out saying that if he did that in the NHL he would get hammered by players on the other team.

Crosby's parents/family obviously didn't like that even though I think Cherry was right.

Tyler,

Your old-guard Canadian attitude is what's killing interest in the States. The sport needs some semblance of a star. Name me one magnetic player on any of the Six Canadian Teams, Senators, Canucks, Habs, Leafs, Oilers and Flames.

The real reason Cherry hates Crosby is that he wears a shield. Cherry hates all players that wear one. He thinks you are a whimp if you wear one.

I can't speak for the Flyers, but the number of Ranger players who took any dives in the playoffs was 0. I'll admit Osgood and Franzen have been flopping but Crosby is just as bad as ever and it's nice to have one announcer who isn't all over him. I didn't know that about Cherry and Crosby but that is a good reason and I almost wish he would do that in the NHL so someone would finally really clobber him. Although the Penguins have already sent their goon Laraque after a REPORTER who criticized Crosby and since very few NHLers are as big as Laraque it'll never happen...too bad, nobody deserves it more than that smug little bitch.

Ovechkin is better than Saint Cindy