Don Cherry was never one to hold his opinions back during the days of his popular "Coach’s Corner" segments on Hockey Night in Canada.
The hockey commentator and analyst would always let rip on the show that aired between periods of NHL games from 1986 to 2019.
Known for his love of rough, physical hockey, the name behind the popular Don Cherry's Rock'em Sock'em Hockey videos featuring highlights of the NHL’s best hits and fights listed Swedish hockey players among his favourite targets for what he believed was their lack of toughness.
The “chicken Swedes,” he would call them.
Swedish players chicken?
Barrie Colts defenceman Gabriel Eliasson would love a word.
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While he has never heard of Cherry, much less watched an episode of Coach’s Corner, the six-foot-seven, 214-pound native of Kungsbacka, Sweden is definitely no chicken.
Far from it, actually. That rugged North American style of play suits Eliasson just fine.
“Of course it does,” said the Ottawa Senators prospect, whose style is as imposing physically as any other player in the OHL. “I’m not a typical Swedish guy. I play my game, and that’s probably why I play here in the OHL. I love it.”
It didn’t start that way back home for Eliasson. Despite his size, his game was more of an offensive one in minor hockey.
That was until he turned 10 years old.
“I wanted to be a shutdown defenceman,” recalled Eliasson. “Play defence hard, because I looked up to Niklas Lidstrom, Staffan Kronwall and all those guys.”
Eliasson admits Swedish hockey is nowhere as physical as the game in Canada. Dropping the mitts to fight? Few and far between.
That’s why the second-year Colt wanted to play in North America.
“I always had dreams to come here and play here,” said Eliasson, who will kick off the second half of the OHL schedule with his Barrie teammates on Sunday afternoon in North Bay at 2 p.m. “I’m very competitive, and that’s why I play like I do.”
The hulking defender wants to play in the NHL someday. Some sound advice from his agent Randy Edmonds reminded him that the best path to take is one that includes playing that physical game.
“I watched video of Zdeno Chara and all those guys,” said Eliasson, who has been among the league leaders in penalty minutes over his two OHL seasons. “If I’m this big and I try to go offensive, they’re (the NHL) probably going to take a shorter guy that’s quicker and has better hands, so I never worried about my points.
“I wanted to be a shutdown (defender), be hard to play against. That’s my style.”
Colts’ head coach Dylan Smoskowitz loves the energy his towering defender, who is known around the league as a “fierce defender,” brings every shift.
“I think that’s exactly what his goal was when he set out at the start of the season to make a name for himself,” said Smoskowitz of Eliasson. “What I’m most impressed with Gabe, is that he’s found a way to create that identity as a fierce defender, but play within the lines and rules of the game.”
The Barrie coach knows Eliasson will take penalties. Sometimes bad penalties, but they can live with them.
“Some are him just being big,” explained Smoskowitz. “It’s strange as a coach, where you don’t want to take that away from him, because you know when you get to the next level, when everyone is more his size, that’s not a penalty. It’s a really good play.
“This is what this league is all about. It’s developmental.”
Eliasson towers over most of his opponents. So much bigger and stronger, and sometimes it gets him in trouble.
“It’s tough sometimes when you’re big, because sometimes the elbow is coming in high, or they just fall because I’m heavier and stuff like that,” said Ottawa’s second-round selection in 2024, who has a goal and four points in 28 games this season.
“You just have to be aware of that, but I still want to play my game. Keep playing like that and be aware of the smaller guys.”
Eliasson is taking a bigger role this season, and he’s relishing it. He takes pride in the work he has done to improve his defensive game, and it’s helped earn him more trust from the coaching staff, along with more minutes.
A leading penalty-killer, he enjoys matching up against opposing top players.
“That’s what I play for, and that’s why I am drafted too,” said Eliasson. “To be that guy that is tough to play against.”
His opponents, said Smoskowitz, take notice every time he steps on the ice.
“You play these top teams, and you have guys on the other side like Windsor’s Liam Greentree or Flint’s Nathan Aspinall, or on our side with Brantford’s Jake O’Brien, you better believe they look twice when No. 78 is fresh over the boards,” he said.
“If we can have some skill players hesitate because they don’t know what’s coming at them with the big guy in the back end, that’s going to give us the advantage. We’re just happy he’s wearing a Barrie Colts jersey.”
After winning a bronze medal with Sweden at the World U18 championships, Eliasson admits he’s a little disappointed that he’s not playing representing his home country at this year’s World Junior Hockey Championships in Minnesota.
He’s not surprised, though.
“I knew, a little bit, that going to the OHL, I might not play for them at world juniors,” he said. “I had that experience last year, but I think they want to promote their players to play in the NHL, and international rules are pretty soft too, so I think that can be one reason.
“I want to play here. I knew that when I was coming here from Sweden, that might destroy [my chances of playing for Sweden].”
That chip on his shoulder, he feels, will only help him.
“Yeah, obviously,” he said, a wide grin spreading across his face. “It’s fuel for me. Gives me energy to play better.”
