Don Cherry calls out the Leafs for dirty play

If you haven’t been following the first round playoff series between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, do yourself a favour and cancel any plans you have for tomorrow evening. The team hated rivals will do battle in Boston’s TD Garden for a pivotal Game 5 with the series knotted up 2-2. Along the way we’ve seen dirty hits, suspensions, some incredible goaltending and highlight reel goals. In short, it’s playoff hockey, baby.

One thing that has stood out to legendary CBC broadcaster Don Cherry though is the Leafs’ propensity for slew footing the Bruins players. If you’re not familiar with exactly what a “slew foot” is, it’s one of the dirtiest plays in hockey. When you approach an unsuspecting player from behind and push the back of their skate forward either with your stick or with your own foot/leg, that’s a slew foot. Because ice is… well slippery, there’s no defence to the slew foot and it usually ends up with the recipient crashing backward to the ice. Again, it’s an ugly play and Grapes has seen enough of it out of the Leafs.

Check it out:

Those are some dirty, dirty plays. Good on Grapes for catching this garbage and for calling people out on it. With all the talk about injuries and concussions and with people wailing and moaning for fighting to be taken out of the game, why is no one looking closer at these type of plays? 

Technically, slew footing is usually addressed with a two minute tripping minor. But, if the NHL is serious about eliminating dangerous plays they’ll consider throwing the book at slew footing infractions.