OTTAWA - The Canadian Hockey League (CHL) and the National Hockey League (NHL) announced today that Hockey Hall of Fame member Bobby Orr will renew his coaching rivalry with Don Cherry, the star of Hockey Night in Canada’s Coach’s Corner. Tickets for the 2006 Home Hardware CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game go on sale Monday, Dec. 12 at 10 a.m. The Top Prospects Skills Competition will take place on Wednesday, Jan. 17, at 7 p.m. and the Top Prospects Game will be held on Jan. 18, at 7 p.m. at the Corel Centre in Ottawa.
It’s the ninth time in the 11-year history of the event that Cherry and Orr have gone head-to-head. Orr leads the series 5-3. Cherry also picked up a win over broadcaster John Davidson in last year’s Home Hardware Top Prospects Game in Vancouver.
Orr and Cherry were the head coaches in the first six games of the Home Hardware CHL Top Prospects Game. Cherry’s squad won the first game back in 1996 at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens but Orr won three in a row from 1999-2001 against his former coach. In the last meeting between Team Orr and Team Cherry, played in London in 2004, Team Orr won 6-2.
Orr played 12 seasons in the NHL with the Boston Bruins and the Chicago Blackhawks recording 915 points on 270 goals and 645 assists. The native of Parry Sound, Ont. is an eight-time winner of the James Norris Trophy, which is awarded annually to the NHL’s top defencemen. Orr, a member of two Bruins Stanley Cup winning teams, captured two NHL scoring titles and was selected as the winner of the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player three times. In 1999 Orr, a graduate of the Ontario Hockey League’s Oshawa Generals, was selected to the MasterCard All-time CHL team.
Cherry coached in the NHL with the Bruins and Colorado Rockies from 1974 to 1980 before he became a fan favourite on Coach’s Corner. In 1975-76, Cherry won the Jack Adams Trophy as the NHL’s Coach of the Year. In 480 games as a NHL coach, the native of Kingston, Ont. had a record of 250-153-77. Cherry played his junior hockey with the Barrie Flyers and he was a member of the Flyers’ 1953 Memorial Cup winning team. January’s Home Hardware CHL Top Prospects Game will be a homecoming of sorts for Cherry as in 1960-61 he played for the Kitchener-Waterloo Beavers of the Eastern Professional Hockey League. Cherry recorded 39 points on 13 goals and 26 assists that season.
2006 CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game
Tickets are $25 and $15 for groups of 15 and more, prices include all taxes and the CRF but excludes the convenience charges. This is a package price which includes the skills competition tickets on January 17 and the game on January 18.
Tickets can be purchased by visiting www.CapitalTickets.ca, by calling 599-FANS or 1-877-788-FANS, or in person at all Ottawa-Gatineau area Sports Experts locations or the Corel Centre box office.
For group discounts, please call (613-599-0210) or email at GroupSales@CorelCentre.com
