The 1970 Boston Bruins: Big, Bad and Bobby (2020)

There's a story everyone tells us growing up here, it's about a team that played half a century ago, long before this city became the new title city, USA, these guys were old school, They were misfits and marauders who wreaked havoc on the ice. pyrotechnics and becoming gods wherever they went in the city they revolutionized the sport they defined this city if you can't beat them and in the middle of it all that kid in the number four parry sound jersey the difference this year is

bobby

orr on his way to making me the best player to ever play this game yes i said it and i meant it anyway we still tell this story here passing it down from generation to generation in my case from grandfather to his grandson whose first words were

bobby

orr and bobby and espo. and cheesy, the turkish boss and harry, they love to talk about it too.

You still love looking at that picture that shows it all in a frozen-in-time image on the ice, so now we'll tell you the story because, well, like I never said. It's getting old to tell, this is the story of the

1970

Boston Bruins, the big bads and Bobby, first and foremost, you can even put this in perspective of the last 20 years, so you have the Patriots winning all the Super Bowls, you have to the Red Sox finally winning championships. in the midst of that the celtics win a championship and the

bruins

win a stanley cup

boston

always remains a hockey tower the passion in that city for that team was omnipresent it was everywhere anyone who grew up in

boston

or outside of boston knows that 70 Well, how do you want to play? you want to play with skill and get skill you want to fight them they don't fight you oh here we go the only thing about this city is that it imagined itself as a blue collar city and this was the perfect team for that when bobby and that one showed up

bruins

team just galvanized the entire state a standing ovation from this capacity field in boston garden they were a bunch of personalities bobby orr the most talented star in hockey that team is still alive but it wasn't always that way in the early 60's, Yes, we had the beginning of the Celtics dynasty, but baseball and hockey were a completely different story.

Boston's sports layer was like an arid desert. The Red Sox were pathetic jokes we didn't think about. Most of us know it's hard to believe today because we know we have all these championships between the Red Sox and the Patriots, we had nothing then, but let's not confuse the lack of success with the lack of passion, because as much as any city. In America, Boston loved their hockey team, they had a very strong fan base. That's when I remember going to my first game, walking out to the outfield and seeing that white ice for the first time.

It was a dump but it felt like a palace for lack of a better word I would say there was a charm to them even though they lost memory of the story that's how bad they were it was a fantasy story but it was written as if it were true that the bruins They had discovered this lumberjack in northern Quebec and he was four feet tall and six feet wide, which are the dimensions of the net, so no one is going to score this guy, that's how bad they were, they were just dying for a savior and finally a kid from parry sound ontario starts playing junior hockey for the oshawa generals you read a lot about them if you haven't seen them bobby orr is now with oshawa why did you decide to choose boston?

Well, I think Boston is building their team now and I just like being a part of them. Bobby Orr was 14 when he signed with the Bruins organization in 1962 and shortly after news reached Boston about the kid defenseman taking over the youth league, I specifically remember becoming aware of the Bruins when my father and my guys we were talking about um he comes the savior comes when he was a kid you're taking this name bobby bobby bobby orr 1966 at the age of 18 he joined the Bruins and since his first game in the NHL he has been one of the most important players in the hockey league.

I talked about acting when Bobby arrived in 1966. There was a new sense of hope now with all the publicity you've had and the newspapers. Do you feel the question very much? Everything I think I could do without, but I think it's good. They can write all they want but all you can do is give it your best. I don't know if he felt pressure, but I love watching him, I mean, he could skate like the wind coming out, Bobby, or he was magical, he seemed like everyone else to me. he was skating and he was flying or gliding or something different for those end-to-end runs that let go and keep going.

I was only 9 or 10 years old, but I knew I had never seen him before. He would guide the brush down the ice, but he would be the first guy to come back to block a shot he takes his orange shot he stops it he didn't even wear shoulder pads has anyone told you that until now you know he didn't wear shoulder pads right, he didn't wear shoulder pads? he was the future, everyone knew he was the future, the writers, the coaches, he was going to be it in that first year, he won the Calder Trophy as the league's outstanding rookie, but even if Bobby immediately became a star , the team still finished in the basement the year before I showed up, you were in fifth place, yes, at the end of my first year, you were in sixth, so Bobby contributed a lot to the team, at the end of that season there was a feeling that they were going to go. in the right direction you could objectively say that the Bruins were not going to live in the cellar much longer and at the end of the 1966-67 season the Bruins made a move that ensured better times were ahead: a successful trade with Chicago for bring in Phil Esposito. ken hodge and fred stanfield to boston the important thing was that the exchange was espo when phil esposito came to town and stanfield and hodge and those guys and that's when the real transformation took place, we tried with you three guys from chicago, and then I want to say that.

That was it, everything is combined, but we have good goalkeepers here, our defense was solid once Bobby showed up and then Phil showed up. You knew it was going to happen soon, but now we have to do it. Milt, after last season, you took over as general. coach, the club had finished outside the playoffs for eight years, how did you evaluate the situation when he took over last year? Well, first of all, when they asked me to be the next general manager and I said what do I do because it was not a very pleasant situation to approach Harry Simdon, the coach of that team, he said that for years we were kind of the laughing stock of the NHL. .

There was a sort of decent loser mentality, which is no one's fault. In reality, it just crawls. Cindyn had a The team being pushed in Detroit had introduced forechecking into the league. They had that identity, of course, Montreal had speed and even the Rangers who struggled to make the playoffs like we did, became known as a pretty fluid passing team. We lacked identity, but we finished. up at 67 with some players giving us that idea the successful trade of milt schmidt to get esposito hodge in stanfield created a new kind of hope for the bruins due to a couple of moves i have about 10 new faces compared to the year past why this is a completely different hockey club, we got size and we got some teammates that played winning hockey and more or less brought that way of winning with them, we became a very good team because of that trade, I mean how three boys like it. that in your lineup, oh my gosh, he's really a coalescent and certainly esposito was a big part of them finally having this great center that could score with esposito Hearts and Stamford along with Barbies.

We now had a core of an excellent team when they got these. Chicago guys, you're here, and suddenly the Bruins also got a boost from the 21-year-old rookie they called Turk Derrick Sanderson, who had the perfect style and attitude for the team's new identity. The best word to describe it. It was a breath of fresh air I'll tell you here we go, Kurt returns to the Sanderson conference. I have always had a lot of confidence in myself many times I have fallen short, but I am going to keep working and if it comes, it comes, if not then I have to work a little harder, he was kind of a disruptor.

I know why guys fight like they do today, they grab both shoulders, they bring the number over their shoulder, that totally gets it. the right arm now hitting over the head of the matte tablet he could skate he could score I could see that he was kind of a multifaceted player his teammates immediately took him in and he was a really irreverent guy I sat next to him the whole time and he me It entertained a lot. I could tell you that we were usually up on Mondays, so Monday was boys' night. Well, they knew what they would bring Tuesday and Wednesday when they returned to the ice.

I remember Derek telling me a At the time when he was doing ruler training, he was that all you have is more than he was right, that's all I had left. They had more. The Bruins were all about having more than opponents could physically handle. They were great and they remembered. the big bad bruins big bad bruins you know, they call us the big bad bruins and that was the identity we established. We had been in Boston for so many years. I think our players, especially the players who have gone through those years, thought it was about Maybe it was the moment we made a little curve in our training field to get to know each other.

Bobby we walked out together after practice and he said, "Okay, no one, no bruin, is ever going to be alone in a fight again and here we go again, we both drop the gloves one by one." all for one, that was our motto, I mean, if someone gets in trouble, you know, jump right in, you don't always like the guy you're playing with, but when you're on the ice I don't give a shit . You have to like your teammate you have to defend him that's really what we were all about protecting each other oh they held up pretty well now that they took my points tonight so I guess I'll live you want to play with skill and get off the scale you want to fight them they won't fight you you're going to come out talented or they're going to beat you up and Cashman and Harper start to leave here's Cashman's left hand and here comes Bobby Orr esposito after spending almost the entire decade in last place , the new look of the big bad bruins surprised everyone in the middle of the 67-68 season fighting for first place in the nhl standings in the eastern division in boston and chicago tied for the lead with 45 points and harry sinden behind the bench did an incredible job with their Boston ruins this year, the team everyone picked for last place.

The reduction in goals, which had been a problem during the 60s, was resolved when we had the applause from Gary, who rhymed perfectly with the rest of the team. poem, I thought they would do well, but not as well as we have been doing, let's face it, I think that team embodied the city of Boston as much as any other team has embodied the city of Boston, that's right below. It wasn't easy, it wasn't pretty, that's how we love it in Boston. It seemed like Boston was preparing for a long-awaited return to the playoffs, but then came a nightmarish plot twist.

Bobby Orr fell when he got hurt. He was very upset because he knew that we had a team that could win and he knew that he was an important factor. He didn't want to miss any games. Bobby was the type of player whether he was injured or not. He wanted to play this. All you have to do. sit while your team is on the west coast, well, I'd like to be there once a month, right? The leg itself doesn't give you any pain at the moment, no, it's a kind of touch, but I put partial weight on it.

Now, do you hope to be skating in about four or five weeks? That helps the trains that pack the Boston Garden always end up in Everest and the Bruins that play hockey inside always end up in the basement this year. some tough guys fell off the train here now the bruins have jumped the track and are as dangerous as a diesel on the circuit in the winter of 1968 there was no doubt how different these bruins were from the teams that had preceded them doing it all -Out of the playoffs for the first time in almost a decade, they have really come together as a team and when there are problems in Isis, I think it is very indicative of how they feel about each other and everyone on the ice is getting. involved, fired Fabio had struggled to return to the lineup after missing 17 games due to knee surgery, although the absence would not hurt him when it came time for awards, as he won his first Norris Trophy as the best defenseman in the league, while turk won the calder trophy as Bobby, the best rookie, congratulations.

What's on your mind now is that maybe the MVP is what your next target is. No, no, I am very happy with the awards, it is really a nice trophy that I would like to use and be able to touch. the stanley cup bobby and his teammates would have their first chance to win the cupin the spring of '68 with the bruins finally back in the playoffs from the forum in montreal hockey night in canada presents the opening game of the eastern division stanley cup quarterfinals tonight the boston bruins face The Canadians were now becoming a pretty good hockey team, but even with Ore in their second season and the series underway, the fact is that the hams were still the haps Fergusons that went with the Canadians.

They quickly swept the upstart Bruins in four games, but alongside the frustration there was finally real hope for the future. I remember coming back from Montreal. I remember the airport and there was the fountain and I was having a drink and Harry was standing there and I. he told harry we are going to win the stanley cup in three years phil esposito's first year in boston had gone well but head coach harry sinden had the feeling that for the bruins to lift the cup their best scorer would still have to do more I think he scored 36 goals in his first year.

I said 36 goals aren't enough for you, Phil. I said you have to score a lot more goals than that because of the way you play, he says you guys, no matter how many you get, you just want more and I said, well, you can get more, a lot more. The driving force of that team is really Bobby, you're on defense and Phil Esposito. On offense, the pass goes to Esposito, he shoots and Phil always said just give me the ball, I'll score the goals and he did, you may be a lover and a fighter, but you love scoring goals, I'll tell you, huh?

It's best to believe that 68-69 would be the best season of Esposito's career up to that point, career-highs with 49 goals on a league-leading 77 assists, making Espo the first player in the history of the NHL to surpass 100 points in the season in which the Bruins have been on top. and then you catch it, it breaks the records like, forget it, it was incredible, incredible, and he and Bobby Orr were in tandem on a drive-by play that was incredible, circles behind a shot, espo would cap off his season with a red-hot trophy. He is the MVP of the league. and bobby would set the record for most points by a defenseman on his way to his second straight Norris Trophy this year, the whole team is playing as a team and for that reason I think that's why the Bruins are where they are today, Boston itself. in the area and this was at a time when there were only like three major networks, but my goodness, the ratings 25 of all the television viewers in the Boston area were tuned to those games.

The Bruins were must-watch television before such a phrase existed. Sunday nights were the real game because my parents were very strict. Normally I had to be in bed by nine o'clock on weekdays, but on Sunday nights my dad would tell me to do your homework, and we would have dinner and sit in our family room, which is not a very big room at all, but now we had color tv so we had uhf so we could watch the bruins. They had a little 10-inch TV with, you know, a coat rack on top, uh. and I had uhf, it was channel 38. wsbk is tv 38 and you know, we only had one TV in the house, so when you watch the Bruins game, everyone watches a Bruins game, but that didn't matter, my mom and my aunts.

They were all big Bruins fans, they were really Bobby Orr fans, they thought he was handsome and handsome and he was so kind. You know, I would see it. I would be a foot and a half away from the television, living and dying with each one. game it was like you were right in the building so I had to brush my teeth, I had to put on my pajamas and then I would sit on the couch with my dad and we would watch the game, Fred and I, that was ours Which was a good pass to Dallas Smith with mckenzie ian on the line Dallas Smith was coming on a pass that almost made it through, so hopes were high in Boston in the spring of '69 when the Bruins returned to the playoffs and faced the Maple. leafs in the quarterfinal round the bruins dominated the game one up six nothing in the second period when toronto's pat quinn set his sights on bobby across the blue line you could have heard a pin drop to see it drop it was very disturbing, I put my glove under his head because I knew he was out, I mean, I was going around the ice and I knew it was so cold, bobby, bobby, bobby, here's the franchise player and not only that, but he's the favorite of the city, it has been this wonder. kim since he appeared scared us all because we knew that when bobby stayed down he was hurt certainly the reaction in the house and the neighborhood immediately was that someone has to kill pat quinn quinn is going to the penalty area there are fans trying to get to him a fight broke out over emptying the bank i mean everyone was fighting everyone you've ever seen the lines have been absent forbes kennedy fans are getting identity a fan hits him in the head as he approaches the glass a day next in the hotel lobby. of a rough-looking gentleman, yes, you pass by and he says: would you like me to take care of it?

I told her no, no, no, no, no, no, we'll take care of herself. Surprisingly, Bobby would return for the second game and help the Bruins sweep. Toronto in four games, next up were the Eastern division semifinals and the defending Canadian champions and with the league's expansion teams in the Western division, everyone knew that whoever won this series was almost guaranteed to take home the cup in the first game. The series set the pattern for what was to follow, the determined Bruins went into a two-nil lane only to see it disappear late in the third period as Montreal scored twice to tie the game and again early in overtime to win it. , the series would be tight. with three games in overtime and in the end the Canadians' experience under pressure seems to make the difference, you are up by two or three goals and you relax a little and the next thing they don't know is that you tied a game and had the opportunities. but something was in the back of your head and it just couldn't do, the Bruins were down three games to two when the series returned to Boston for game six.

Millions of television viewers watched the action extend into a second overtime period in the dramatic sixth game. at boston bruins, clears the board along the left wing board, provo intercepts it there, the bravos won the game two to one and the series four games to two. It's a very emotional moment, especially when you think you have a good chance of winning, yes, that was it. I remember crying about it, you know, the worst thing after a series like that is shaking hands, going through that lineup and shaking someone's hand and congratulating them because you know you don't mean it, it's the worst feeling in the world, but prepares you for the year ahead In the late 1960s, the city of Boston was totally in love with its big, bad Bruins.

Suppose the Italian power this year is approaching when you went to bed and dreamed that everything was hockey. I dreamed about football I didn't know I had ever seen a patriots game they loved the bruins in the garden and they loved them on all the streets of new england there were many sports that could be played in new england but thanks to bobby orr because of the bruins everyone wanted to play hockey kids that were new to the game that didn't know how to skate we're starting to play street hockey because they were fans of Bobby or the Big Bad Bruins, it got to the point where they put boards around the basketball courts for basketball leagues. street hockey and they took down the tennis nets and the poles and turned them into street hockey courts, everyone played ball hockey, if you passed by the streets of boston, everyone played low and It's funny, today they equate me with the NBA and with the basketball.

I was playing street hockey all day, every day. I didn't want to play basketball. I wanted to play hockey. Because? Because I was watching the Bruins and I wanted to be like the winds. Hey five, you gotta admire that guy, Bobby Orr. Interest in hockey has always been high in this area, but when that team was formed it took off because they were kind of pop idols. Who is your favorite brewer? Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr Bobby Ward. She took people who weren't crazy about hockey, like my mom, she turned people like her into hockey fans.

The lobby was fantastic, what can I say? They had captivated the entire city. Well in Boston we couldn't go anywhere, we only had 30 seconds here, man we could. Basically, not going anywhere in New England after a game or whatever without fans coming to see us. Phyllis Posito was making a personal appearance in Worcester. My dad says we have to go to this, we have to go to this, so we're waiting in line. four hours and we're getting closer and closer and here we are now we're phil my dad and I took the polaroid photo my dad starts talking my dad talks the whole minute phil I love you you're the best plus we walked away I never told him a word to Phil Esposito if you were a Celtics fan, no you were following the Bruins, if you were a Patriots fan, good luck finding you because you're around 12, the whole city was rallying around the Bruins and the kids are still forward. six to one, yeah we were everywhere, even though we were there doing clinics, we're in the city, we fly a lot commercially, yeah, so we're at the airport with the fans, so the fans felt comfortable approaching us, They were a kind of cloak and dagger. team, I don't want to talk about their off-court issues, but they had a lot of fun, let's put it that way, a perfect example of how close we were was when I hurt my knee and I'm in a cast. my groin to my toes, suddenly the door opens on this lunatic here or the mass says that's what we're coming to get you tonight for the party, I said what party it says, my place for brandy and I heard where They can use the party I said what are you crazy?

I can't go, yeah, and I'll never forget it. At the bottom of the screen appeared Esposito kidnapped from Mass General Bobby. Oh, I better call Dr. Rowe right now. The Bruins were going to have a good time no matter what was going on and no one, and I mean no one had a better time in those years than Turk Derrick Sanderson, as you know, times have changed in professional sports, our heroes don't seem like it anymore. have jumped directly. from a box of wheat, not everyone anyway, the joe namath lifestyle has caught on and in hockey is typified by derek sanderson.

I remember telling him Turkish, you know, you should take it easy a little. He said Phil Bobby is the best player in the game. He gets all the publicity from him, you score goals, you get all the stuff, how the hell am I going to get publicity? And he did what he did well. I suppose that throughout the year the most requested player for an interview, especially by young people, is our next guest Derek Sanders. What's up with Derek's appearance? Derek's appearance. His long hair. The beard. Derek was trying to be Joe Namath. I think what do you like to be called little Joe?

I don't know if he was our Joe Namath, so to speak. about fashion and women and you know, cigarettes, alcohol, women, all those things that followed Derek everywhere. I let this image explode, oh my god, I couldn't keep up. Are you really that good of a walker? Press freedom. they can determine what they want to enjoy in life, he was really that reckless both on and off the ice, he was kind of a bad boy so to speak, he could have been a hockey raider at that time, until the late 60's, mainly a Canadian game. Derek Sanderson, much more conservative, took advantage of the counterculture of the time.

I think he is a great person. I really believe it. He is just what Boston needs. He is so colorful. He is a swinger. He is something we need. You know, he's young and he's just great. Him and Joe Namath. They Owned a Nightclub Together Tonight is pretty much an official shout-out to Derek Sanderson as part of the Bachelor's Three organization in Boston. It's a quiet little place and it wasn't quiet the other night, but I was there. I'll tell you right. Sometimes it gets lively, I don't know, so life was good for the Bruins and their fans when the 1960s came to an end and the '69-70 season would be the biggest and best, but you know, someone told me a Maybe if you play with fear. of disappointing your teammate you are going to be a successful team and that is what we did the mood was to try to win the Stanley Cup the motto of the three musketeers one fights for one not only on the ice but also off the ice ice and we would have family gatherings for their wives and our children, always kids in the dressing room, yes, always practicing, so that was important for us to be successful, we just felt that we had to be that way, yes, and we were and we we were having a great time and winning games again pasta phil esposito he leads the front is loose 1969 70 was barbie's fourth year or era in boston and after the bruins hearts were broken the year before expectations were higher than ever we are hungry enough and I think that This team has to be considered this year or it has crossed the targetby Esposito P Guns.

It's 2-1 at 6970. The idea if you're in the opposition is that I'm out of ways to stop this machine. What do I do now? The Bad Bruins were unstoppable when the first puck dropped and went undefeated through their first seven games and the best team in hockey was also the best ticket in town. Never get Johnny Mackenzie. He got hurt and they are taking him out on a stretcher, he is going to kill you. tickets for them there were no tickets there were no tickets you couldn't go to the garden and say I think I'm going to a game tonight this was the most popular ticket in the city and they were only sold at Boston Garden two or three three of my friends went down at three in the morning, well, at three in the morning the line was already going down Causeway Street and towards the north end and then they would open the garden doors and then we would sit in the section waiting eventually they would call me at the ticket office, you know that nine o'clock would come and they would say section 99 section 99 we would all file two to run away, I'm pretty sure my dad collected all the tickets he could get and I I don't think it was more than three times a year and you know what I'm glad because it was an event and it was very special and as the season progressed there was no doubt that these Bruins were the most special club in Boston. cocky, we were arrogant and we backed it up, Derek Sanderson in the faces, what a shot, great save by the savers, highway robbery at its finest, but you know, the guy who ran it all was Bobby Orr in every situation, offensively, Defensively, Bobby Orb had that. total package, he was an incredible player or he came in alone, no one predicted that a defenseman could dominate the way Bobby dominated the league, here's what it was like to be a defenseman, you know he would go straight to the offensive zone, teams didn't know . how to defend against this return to war, he suddenly has room to run, move around Harris' film and scores that's Bobby Orr's 100th point of the season.

No other defenseman in the history of the National Hockey League has accomplished this. It's Sunday night and your dad is leaving. to let you Stay up until 9:30 so you can watch the game and Bobby, he's behind the net and he comes over and you know, whoever the first guy is, he's toast, but now you're wondering if he can make it to the end, you already know. He can go all the way, but then the question is what is he going to do. You just know he was going to do something great, you just didn't know what a big deal it would be if you saw an incredible Bobby Orr goal. on TV we were out five minutes later reenacting the goal, there are all kinds of stories where Bobby's feats were just incredible, I mean we would sit on the bench and say what he did, what he did, he was killing a pedal, oh yeah, and his glove fell off, he spun around, I skated killing a penalty, oh, he's flicking the puck right in the park, Bobby is doing some fancy stickhandling between the two blue lines, he was on the ice with He and corny said, hello ass. boy, you want the run for him, look at him, see, what I remember, most of them were Bobby had come around the net, he stopped, picked up his glove, both benches were applauding, right, he had that was one of The best plays I have ever seen in my life. my life Bobby made too many of those plays to count and his 120 points during the 1969-70 season were surprisingly more than double what any other defenseman in hockey history had scored.

Bobby turned only 22 years old in March

1970

on his way. With his third consecutive Norris Trophy, he was already revolutionizing the idea of ​​what a hockey defenseman could do, but all he cared about was being on the ice when he lifted that other trophy. I never thought about changing the game. He was playing a game that I loved. realizing a dream I didn't think about scoring x number of goals my goal was to be on a stanley cup team and help a team become the best in the world bobby and the bruins tied the blackhawks for the most points of all team in the standings and I started the playoffs against a very familiar rival, the Rangers, basically there was a dislike between the two teams and that made the series have a little more energy for me, we played the Rangers, we beat them, yeah, Yes, I didn't.

I think the Rangers could beat us, the Rangers still put up a fight and here we go, Sanderson is at the bottom since the Rangers beat Derrick Sanderson, but the Bruins finished him off in six games, we were down two games, nothing. It took a lot of guts to come back, but we never lost our cool the whole time and we played together as a team and that's a big thrill, so next up were the Blackhawks and, for some Bruins, a series that offered the perfect opportunity to resolve some old problems. scores when you play against the blackhouses there's a little hate, they traded me, I wanted to show them and get a little more respect from the blackhawks and especially the same way, it's been three years since I left there and and boston is my home now and i like it here and i don't even consider chicago i already played there the blackhawks seemed like a pretty formidable group they had these great players like stan makita bobby hall and they had this new type of rookie of the year, the star goalie and tony esposito, the brother of phil esposito in chicago, i know i know tony very well, i mean we were brothers, we always played well against chicago, especially phil philly used to score a lot of goals for tony, he just had his number and he definitely had his number in game one , esposito, a man, here is more on the blue line and they put so much importance on this esposito against esposito, oh my god, and the bruins owned the blackhawks ii, sweeping chicago in four games with esposito scoring nine points in The series that brought the Bruins to the brink of everyone's dream in Boston, the game is over, but now the Bruins are running onto the ice.

Beating Chicago was emotional because you know the expansion division wasn't as strong as us and our chances of winning the next series. We were very high, we finished with Chicago and today there was a great effort from the team and I feel great, we only lost one game to the western division all year and I can't see us losing to them and I really feel great and happy. At this moment this is not a sit-in or a protest or a takeover. This town park with its instant homes was built with one thing in mind to keep you comfortable during the long wait for Bruins and Stanley Cup playoff tickets when the playoffs were sold out. there were a certain number of seats for sale, uh, that were limited like 2000 or 4000 seats, so you had to camp because my brother was three years older than me and he was one of the guys that was going to camp.

He brought cardboard boxes to sleep in overnight. I think they only allowed you to get two tickets per person, so if my brother got tickets, they were for him and his friends, so I never went to a playoff game, not until you knew I was an adult. The Bruins were facing the Saint Louis Blues, by far the best team of the expansion clubs. Are you afraid of a disappointment against the West? No, no, I'll tell you why, because we have enormous respect for St. Louis. We've only played one game in the three years of expansion where we've beaten St.

Louis and that was a 7-1 game here this year and every other game where they beat us tied us or our wins were terrible. Close to entering the series, my only thought from a goalie perspective was Jock Plant Glenn Hall. They had the two best goaltenders in the game in the series and I said they could probably beat us. They played well but we handled it easily. We were better. the series started in st louis and the bruins who led the league and the goals of the season showed no mercy in the middle the bruins totally dominated the first three games beating the blues 16-4 we knew it and we couldn't sit back we knew it in that moment.

We had to win them all in a row. Almost everyone in Boston Gardens is prepared to give their children the Stanley Cup this afternoon. However, there is a mere formality of a hockey game. It was Mother's Day. It was May. 10 uh and I remember I was watching it on TV on Mother's Day so it's funny because my mom hates hockey but I know I watch this game so thanks mom I was watching it at home with my uncle uh , Uncle Tony, up, oh boy, I think the fourth game. we're emotionally we're probably at our peak thinking you know we're up by three nothing we're at the Boston Garden we're going to win this in Boston Turk had a hidden side which means we were going to win I guess unless and those days were to talk about we were out of touch every day in those days and I said we are going to win, I want to be in costume for the final moment, you have pressure all the time, but people expected us to win and we were supposed to win that match because it was at home, then you start to think that you have to get that first goal.

Boston would get the first goal, but the Blues fought back and were up 3-2 at the end of the game. third period before boss johnny busick tied the score at 3-3 the siren's goals were in overtime the biggest surprise was that we were in the locker room and harry simon called the starting lineup for overtime sanderson wayne carlton and eddie westfall and I'm looking at phil and he's looking at me and what I remember saying to turkish let's start oh yeah and you're not even going to get to the limit he says you're not because we're going to We're going to start and we're going to score Guess what he Does anyone ask Harry why you started with Derrick?

I felt that overtime would end in the first five minutes and, thinking the same way I did about overtime ending early, I thought I'd better start a defensive line to go into the first turn, so the Sanderson line started, which normally wouldn't be the case, I mean, it was just a hunch, Sanderson starts for Boston with Carlton and Westfall on the wings or an Orion defense play going, first team to score wins the game in overtime you're always leaning you know four when any play at any time a bad bounce anything can happen here's picard to tim ecclestone back to his own line to zhonggi talbot talbot to Keenan he missed it and bobby orr threw it to him to center to sanderson it's crazy i think he was stopped because i'm like he was running in panic in his carlton for the bruins centered he was a foot and a half from the tv and every second looked like a shot oriented to an hour that's blocked by talbot now sanderson to drive and that one whistled wide oh wait go back and watch the video and count the shots he took before the puck went over the boards when i pinched at the net how many two at least two maybe three of These two, I hit the poster, although to go with Bobby or come on, you would have scored that Corey for the Bruins tied up by Ecclestone and Berenson Westball rolled forward Sanderson, only Bobby Orr could do this, it is blocked, the shot goes up the boards it keeps. he takes it to sanderson and sanderson makes the most perfect pass he's ever been able to make in his career, he scores the goal and he's flying and it's one of those moments in real time that feels like it's in slow motion, I specifically remember when Se scored the goal, everyone in our house went crazy and then when you calm down a little you realize that out the window there was applause nearby, there were two of them, it was like every house that was screaming, the roar was deafening here in Boston . as they bring the stanley cup to the ice when they won that championship i don't know what nirvana is like but that's it what a moment what a moment for boston we owe it all to them because they are huge fans and they supported us all year they are tremendous for the fans, yeah, it's cool, I don't know, I'm not saying esteem, amazing, we stayed inside to watch the postgame celebration a little bit in the locker room, I'd have to.

Let's say within an hour we were outside and essentially what we all did was create that goal over and over again so that everyone could have the opportunity to do it and we're talking cement, it's on the street so you're still doing it. the trip and the fall on the thing in the corner we did it over and over again once we did it for about three hours before anyone realized what a picture it was simply by seeing it on television the morning after my father I was having breakfast and I walked in and I guess it was an American record, so yeah, it was recommended and he opened it up to show me who took that photo.

Ray Lucia Ray Lucia tells me, come, come with me, come with me, I was in the dark room I hadn't seen this photo yet and he brought me a recorded photo and there was the photo of him. I just said wow, I was amazed, I wish I had taken it when I first saw the photo, I wanted one and I got it and I asked him to sign it for me. He is hanging in my house. I have many photographs on the walls of my office. The whole family. Bobby Orr is the only person besides my family who is on my wall.

I don't know what bar, a restaurant in Massachusetts. He doesn't have that photo. I think I have three in my house. My children have homes in New England. You know, frankly, you have a picture of Jesus, John F. Kennedy and Bobby Orr. From that photo, it was one of the best photos in sports. I would like to say that the guyperfect to get the perfect goal. I had a great year. It was the third year in a row that Bobby won the Norris Trophy. He also won the Hot The Con Smythe and, most surprisingly, became the first and still.

The only defenseman to win the Art Ross Trophy, making him the only player in history to sweep all four of hockey's biggest awards. Do you have anything else you want to achieve in this game? Let's keep winning. It's great to win. Be nice with another Stanley Cup. the bruins would win another cup two years and three later, but after that things started to split up sanderson and goalie jerry cheevers would move on to the upstart wha espo would reset their records for points and goals in a season and that's the record phil esposito scored 59 goals and then finishing his career in New York and Bobby, well, what else can you say about Bobby in a city that has a huge court of sports royalty?

Bobby's throne is still a little higher than everyone else's. I love you all so much. 10 years here in boston and they are the 10 best years of my life maybe because his peak was cut short by injuries his legacy feels even bigger surrounded by a sense of what could have been at that moment bobby orr was invincible and was Just a short time later he was no longer invincible, but nothing can match that Stanley Cup; there were still a lot of trophies, a lot of records and there was no discussion about how much a team that mattered and still matters half a century later, that team is just still alive, you know, I don't know if any team will ever become as iconic as it did. was.

I mean, it was a great hockey team with the greatest player that ever played and they galvanized the city and the way they did it, you know the cast. of characters were ours for me it was the perfect time the perfect place the perfect team it was truly a team full of larger than life characters who in that special year brought it all together and captured the imagination of an entire city