Don Cherry never forgot the time his mother came through for him as a teenager.
His mother, Maude, was always supportive, said the hockey icon, but when he went away to play at a tournament, he spied his mother eyeing his old, holey gloves.
“I never forgot this story,” said Cherry at a Salute to Hockey Moms event in Ottawa Wednesday.
“I remember my mother looking at them and I knew she was going to do something. We were just middle-class people.
“She went and got me new gloves. Every time I look at that team picture, I think, ‘A mother’s love.’”
It’s been years since Cherry has been a player, but hockey moms haven’t changed.
“Parents today, their cars are all wrecked from going to tournaments,” he said.
In addition to driving their kids around, they sacrifice time and vacations, he added.
“Our role is to be very supportive,” said Lou-Anne Clitsome, a mother of a player in the Ottawa District Hockey Association.
“Hockey enforces the qualities that parents wish to instill in their children. Through hockey, the players build character, confidence, a strong work ethic, discipline and pride, among other life skills,” she said.
