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= Don Cherry's "hockey gods" jinx =

Overview
In recent year's Don Cherry has also become known for his (for lack of a better term) "hockey gods" jinx which he first bestowed upon the 2017-18 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds following their lopsided victory (and excessive celebrations) over opponents the Saginaw Spirit and on the Canadian national men's junior hockey team competing at the 2019 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. In both cases, following lopsided victories and excessive goal celebrations over their mismatched opponents, Cherry used his pulpit on Coach's Corner on Hockey Night in Canada to deride the players and teams for running up the score and "hotdogging," predicting that "the hockey gods" or "karma" would retaliate against the players on these teams for their lack of class.

2017-18 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds
After entering the 2017-18 OHL Playoffs as the number one ranked team in the country, the Greyhounds swept their first round Western Conference opponent, the eight seeded, Saginaw Spirit, in four straight games, winning the series 4-0 and outscoring them by a combined total of 25-8. This included Game 2 of the series on March 25 in Sault Ste. Marie where the Greyhounds won the game decisively 8-0. On an episode of Coach's Corner as part of Rogers' Hockey Night in Canada broadcast on Saturday, March 31st after the series had concluded, Cherry blasted the junior hockey team claiming that "they were a bunch of hotdogs" and that there wasn't "enough mustard in the world to cover these guys." Citing Greyhounds forward Jack Kopacka's taunting of Spirit defenceman, Keaton Middleton, following his team's fifth goal, Cherry went on to criticize Kopacka's teammates Mason Kohn and Danny Katic on their subsequent goals and celebrations on the team's seventh and eighth goals, saying that, "the hockey gods...and karma gets people like this." In response to co-host Ron MacLean's protestation that "they're kids," Cherry reiterated that in hockey, "we wear shirts and ties we got class." He concluded his segment by warning, "kids you never do that...Never be a hotdog. And karma always comes back and gets you." The Greyhounds, who had only lost seven games in regulation all season (including only twice in the last 27 games and only once back-to-back all year), dropped the first game of their Conference semifinal match up against, the Owen Sound Attack, 4-1 on home ice. Indeed, although the Greyhounds would eventually advance to the 2018 J. Ross Robertson Cup Finals, they would have to squeak out seven game 4-3 series wins against both the Attack and their Western Conference Final opponent, Kitchener Rangers (the latter of whom, on April 23rd and 25th, would beat the Greyhounds in back-back-to-back games for the first time since January 19th and 20th and beat them three times in four games before Sault Ste. Marie won the decisive game seven at home). In the OHL Finals against the Eastern Conference's top seed, the Hamilton Bulldogs, the Greyhounds dropped the first game 4-3 in overtime before beating the Bulldogs twice over the next three games to tie the series up at 2-2 and re-claiming home ice advantage for the rest of the series. However, Hamilton would win game six on the road 6-4 at the Essar Centre and game five back in Hamilton would prove to be a must-win game for the Greyhounds. After taking a 1-0 lead in the first period, Greyhounds forward, Boris Katchouk, accented his second period goal, putting his team up 2-0, by putting a finger to his lips in an effort to hush the crowd as he celebrated his goal. After that, the Bulldogs would go onto score five of the game's next six goals, ultimately winning the game 5-4 and the series 4-2, securing both the J. Ross Robertson Cup and the OHL's bid to the 100th Memorial Cup despite the Greyhounds being the favourite to win both for much of the season. After refusing to comment on the Greyhounds troubles for much of the playoffs, Cherry finally addressed his prior prediction on the Coach's Corner on March 20th following Hamilton's victory over Sault Ste. Marie by saying that Katchok's goal celebration, "upset Hamilton. I know it infuriated them...karma and bad luck will follow you when you're a hotdog, it happens every time."

2019 Canada men's national junior ice hockey team
Predicted by many experts to clinch the 2019 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships on home ice, Canada men's national junior ice hockey team rolled into their opening game of the tournament against their much weaker Group A opponent, Denmark (who would fail to score a goal for the entirety of the tournament). During their game, the Canadians outscored the Danish by a whopping score of 14-0. On Coach's Corner the following Saturday, Don Cherry, referencing his hockey gods jinx on the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, cited the fact that he was "disappointed" in Team's Canada's play. Additionally, the celebration of Team Canada forward, Morgan Frost (who was on that aforementioned Greyhound team) after Canada's third goal provided another reason for Cherry to be weary of the team's success going forward. According to Cherry, "to beat a team 14-0, hockey gods will always come back and haunt you...[they] will come back and get you every time." Following Cherry's prediction, Canada would have to squeak out a 3-2 victory over the Swiss and a 5-1 win over the Czech Republic before falling to the Russians 2-1 on New Year's Eve. In the quarterfinals, Canada took a 1-0 lead over the Finns in the second period before conceding a goal (off a freak deflection off of the skate of a Finnish forward) with the extra attacker which forced the game into overtime. In the extra period, Canada failed to convert on a penalty shot opportunity and a turnover from a missed one-timer (due to a broken stick) by Canada turned into a goal on the other end (following a deflection of the puck), thus eliminating Canada from medal contention for only the second time this century.