Don Cherry remembers Al Arbour as, "the same good guy I played with in the minors"

We have a lot of fun at Don Cherry's expense around here, but there's no doubt he's a hockey lifer and guy who knows or knew or thinks he knows everyone who's ever put on a pair of skates anywhere.

This evening, Cherry tweeted a series of messages about the passing of Al Arbour, whom he knew going back to their minor league playing days in Rochester. Al's wife Clair and Don's first wife Rosemarie were also close.

It's not a complex or riveting story by any means, but it's always interesting to hear about the human connections between legends. Here is a compilation of the tweets.

1) Al "Radar" Arbour, Sudbury boy, and my Rochester American teammate died today. My condolences to Claire and the family.

— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerCBC) August 28, 2015

2) Claire was a good friend of Rose’s. Al won 4 Stanley Cups as a player with Detroit, Chicago and Toronto. Al and I played for 3 years

— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerCBC) August 28, 2015

3) together in the AHL where we won 2 Calder cups. Al left Rochester to go back to the glories of the NHL with the St. Louis Blues.

— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerCBC) August 28, 2015

4) He also won 4 Stanley Cups as coach of the NY Islanders. When you talk to his players, like Kelly Hrudey, they all say the same thing

— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerCBC) August 28, 2015

5) He was tough but he was fair. And everyone to a man say they loved him. I can honestly say, even though he won 8 Stanley Cups

— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerCBC) August 28, 2015

6) he never changed. Honest. He was always the same good guy I played with in the minors.

— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerCBC) August 28, 2015