A politician recently said that “it only has ever been radicals that have changed this country.” That’s certainly true in hockey where Evgeny Kuznetsov’s creative cellies continue to spread despite the best efforts of Don Cherry.
Canucks prospect Tyler Madden celebrated scoring Northeastern’s overtime winner against UMass-Amherst on Friday with a celly that Canes and Kuznetsov fans should be familiar with: he slid on his butt and rowed the air with his hockey stick.
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Kuznetsov first did this celebration in the KHL with Traktor Chelyabinsk.
Nearly a decade later, Brock McGinn led the Hurricanes in a post-win celebration started by former-Capital Justin Williams.
Another win. Another epic celly. #TakeWarning pic.twitter.com/IrTemQaLOn
— Carolina PumpCANES 🎃 (@NHLCanes) October 27, 2018
“I never practiced that,” Madden said to the Boston Herald’s John Connolly. “I just got on my butt and started paddling.” Northeastern had lost to UMass 6-1 the previous night so the 2-1 winner was especially sweet.
Kuznetsov may be inspiring players today but that is merely him paying it forward since he was inspired by the players he saw when he was younger too.
“For me, it start when I’m little boy,” Kuznetsov said in his Player’s Tribune article several years ago.
“I tell you one of my very first memories,” Kuznetsov said. “My dad take me to the rink, and I see this older guy score goal, and he do a really cool celebration. Slide around on his knees, you know? I say to myself, I want to do that. This looks so fun.”
Don Cherry recently criticized Kuzy for his bird celly, which Kuzy does for his daughter. “You do not make fun of a team when you score,” Cherry said. “You play the game. That’s the Canadian way. You listen to me. Don’t listen to anybody else.”
Kuznetsov’s stance on Cherry is a forgiving one–and a telling one. “He’s nice guy, you know?” Kuznetsov said last June. “Sometimes I did watch his videos (when I was young in Russia). If Don Cherry talking about you, that mean he thinking about you.”
Thankfully, Cherry’s videos weren’t the only ones Kuznetsov watched, and the videos of celebrations made a stronger impression because this looks like a lot of fun.
Headline photo: gonuathletics
