from Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star,

The battle between Don Cherry and the Maple Leafs organization escalated Wednesday.

Marlies coach Dallas Eakins — whom Cherry chided for calling out Nazem Kadri’s eating habits — fired back at the host of CBC Coach’s Corner, first by saying he’s a big fan of Cherry.

But Eakins added he’d never seen Cherry at a Marlies game or practice. Then he took a shot at Cherry’s Twitter account, from which Cherry had lambasted the Leafs on their handling of Kadri.

“He’s a strong-willed guy; I’m sure he believes in everything that he had somebody type for him,” Eakins told TSN Radio at Marlies training camp.

“I invite Don to come on down, You’re more than welcome at any time. You’ve got a lot of fans here. We’d be honoured to have him,” Cherry “I’ve never ever seen him at one of our games and I’ve never ever seen him at a practice and he’s never come in and knocked on my door.”

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