As a Die Hard Blackhawks fan and have been for 54 years now. I had the utmost respect for Bobby. To me he is the greatest 2 way player I’ve ever seen play.
I saw him play at MSG many times as a kid with my father who had Rangers season tickets. Orr was the only player in my sixty years of watching the NHL who put the fear of death in me when he had the puck behind his own net, surveying the lay of the land, 200 feet from Giacomin or Villemure. The greatest ever
Back in the days when the arena wasn't full of rich guys in suits padding their expense accounts but had actual fans in attendance who's potential for violence gave the home team its actual home ice advantage.
The world is auch a better place with Bobby Orr!! I dated Bobby's niece when I lived in Toronto years ago. I was fortunate enough to go to many Orr family get-togethers in Northern Ontario with the extended family, including a fishing trip where Bobby was my bunk mate. To this day I still a hand written Christmas card from Bobby even though his niece and I broke up over 30 years ago.
Yes, I do.... nobody cares about your personal life or who you dated, especially when the subject was about probably the greatest player to lace up skates was obviously tripped and had every reason to flip out. Now, if the subject was six degrees of separation with famous people.. sure.. why not? Maybe there was a reason they split... possible nut case?.. sounds plausible after 30 years.
@@RememberMe123-b4b i thought you would say yes. i guess the part about being included in their family outings is what you'd call an anecdote. i think you need to lighten up a little bit. the way i see it, sending cards is starting to feel like a lost art. i only get them from my parents, aunts, and grandparents. the older generations. if this guy is still on bobby orr's mailing list every christmas season, he can't be that deranged. it is possible to still enjoy the company of a person, regardless of if their relationship with someone in your family fizzled out. sounds like you're angry at the world about something in your personal life, to feel the need to come here and immaturely assume things about a person's mental health, all from them sharing fond memories with the player featured in this highlight.
@@mooncricket2311 hey thanks & much appreciated. I wasn't trying to "flex" my relationship with Bobby, I was just trying to express that as great of a player he is, Bobby is even a greater person .. and as I said in my original post, the world would be a whole better if there were more men with Bobby's character & qualities living in it. Cheers!!
I saw this game on channel 38 that night and I've always remembered Orr slamming his stick before leaving the ice. He didn't get mad often but this was an obvious trip by Bill White.
Ah, Channel 38, Fred Cusick, and Johnny Pierson brings back great memories. Those Bruins teams were great back then and the hockey was superb. It was a different style then. Anyway, I watched every game and played hockey my whole life. It was, literally, a life changing experience for me.
Tom Larson who did the in between periods studio broadcaster recently passed away. You may remember that Channel 38 also had a weekly Bruins wrap up program.
@@karlschneider9479 I do! I believe it was on Sunday mornings. And the Bruins’ original theme song was Nutsy, by the Ventures. I had it as my ringtone for a while.
when i hear Fred and John, I get absolute goosebumps and tears - all of it at once...Fred and John were the best, they are part of my childhood and the tapestry of my life...I was born in 71....did not see b's win a cup until 2011 yet my memories of the team these two guys (Fred and John) were the best....Jack Edwards....this is how it's done
I was born in 60, became a Bruins fan when we moved to the Boston area in 67. The Bobby Orr era was magical - EVERYONE was a bruins fan. Rinks sprung up all around Boston and the suburbs with all of the kids wanting to play hockey. I can remember watching the games on channel 38 on an old black and white TV with tinfoil on the antenna. We had to watch it in my little brother's room because we got the best reception there. I was 10, my little brother was 4 - my mom kept telling him to close his eyes and go to sleep - even with 5 other people in the room - hahahahahaha.
The older commentators were better because they were used to radio broadcasts where they had to be clear and precise and always deliver on time. It made the standards greater. Nowadays you can see a huge difference between tv and radio commentators, back then not so much!
the game official in the blue coat behind the glass was my pee wee hockey coach in melrose, sonny hunter. he coached the melrose pee wee raiders, a wildly successful team. i think sonny did my father a favor by picking me to be on the team, as i had zero experience and limited skills, but we played so many games that i had a great chance to improve. by the end of the season, i was on the first line and in the mix of the players that would go on to win 3 middlesex high school league championships and be ranked #2 in division I going into the tournament. i loved playing hockey and i owed a great debt to sonny hunter. he raised a real nice family and was a credit to our town, too.
Even though i am a flyers fan my favorite jersey is my #4 bobby is the MAN what a talent too bad he had to take so many cheap shots...a huge loss for all fans he had to retire so soon.
A different era. After Orr, the NHL joined the 20th century , realizing how they fed the most talented player ever, to a myriad of low talent goons, like the Philadelphia flyers etc. Imagine if they catered to Orr, like they did to Gretzky. He might have had a longer, less injury plagued career.
Another thing that made Orr's career short was that at 14 yrs old he was playing against men before he got to the NHL. And the way he always carried the puck and pushed the play... he was a target.
I met him at a nursing home in Jupiter Florida. His dad was a patient. He gave me autographed pic for my whole family and invited me out to dinner. I was star struck cause I told him how I had #4 Bobby Orr pjs when I was little.
@@Brian-xu9diThough fights were part of the game, there came a point where the fights were dominating the game. It became the WWF on ice. They had to put a stop to it, as it was rapidly becoming a blood sport.
@smokejblow66 I believe I pointed that out. But there was a period of time when the fights became the main attraction. The refs took their sweet time breaking the fights up. I grew up on hockey in the late 60s through the 70s. My grandfather was a huge Blackhawks fan.
@@1454LOU Wayne played in the west the majority of the time against garbage. He was protected by the league and a numerous goons. Edmonton had 3 out if 4 lines who were basically Allstars. ORR =GOAT
I had season tickets during all the "French Connection" years... When Wally Harris officiated in Buffalo the facility regularly rang with a loud chant over and over "HARRIS IS A BUM! HARRIS IS A BUM!" at the beginning of a next period in the game Harris was skating around the rink along the boards .. In those days the side glass on the boards in Memorial Auditorium was very low, only about 2 feet high..As Wally Harris skated but a Fan dumped a FULL cup of beer right on his head .... It was a glorious moment :) Harris was drenched, his hair soaked and he was actually sputtering like he almost drowned. Great Memory.
I remember when some kid from Cornell University with 6 games of NHL experience shut down the Big Bad Bruins in 1971 and sent them packing in the playoffs and the irony is that kid was drafted by the Bruins
I just recently purchased (Haven't received it yet) a 1969 OPC Bill White (Los Angeles Kings) card on eBay... it's in great shape! PS The first year I bought cards, it was magical!
"#4 Bobby Orr, what a future that kid has..." Robert Mitchum My brother was an extra in the movie. They shot some scenes at the Boston Bowl, 5 minutes from my house. My brother got to meet Mr. Mitchum.
Watching tonigh'ts game against the Rangers, it looks like the refs were no better then than today. They used to play 'Three Blind Mice' back in the day. Hard to believe the league can't do better.
Video would seem to show that White's move was aimed at the puck. While it is hard to tell if he made contact, this is a legitimate defensive tactic. Surely he didn't deliberately put his unprotected head in the path of Orr's skates ?
@@billpierce3841 those rules being 1. the ones the refs followed ? or 2. the ones that PRIMA DONNA ORR and Co. thought they should enforce. Many great stars were/are also amongst the top whiners. In this case, Orr put ME ahead of WE.
Imagine Orr and Bourque playing together, it would of happened if they didnt blow Orrs knees out !The only way to stop Orr was to hurt him ,he took alot hits from pucks also . I was forunate to watch him play !
@@rushrules81 Yes, first thing I think of . Orr and Park played only 10 games together. Ironically, the Bruins passed on Brad Park with the #1 pick of the 1970 draft by someone I can't remember. If the Bruins had Park for his whole Career, and Orr for more than the 9 years he was able to play it would've been a different hockey world.
What none of the great minds on the Boston broadcast thought to question was why the play was whistled dead if there was no penalty. Well, there WAS an infraction -- the Bruins were called for too many men on the ice. In Harris's eyes, I suspect, White's trip occurred after play was concluded -- even if the whistle wasn't heard until after, it was presumably in the process of being blown while Orr was carrying the puck -- so a penalty could not be called. As an aside, I don't think I ever saw a game officiated by Harris that failed to spiral out of control at some point.
@@billpierce3841 OK, then, why did the whistle blow if there was no penalty? Remember to frame your response with the knowledge that Hockey Reference confirms the too-many-men call against Boston. (Have to trust me on this, or look it up yourself. RU-vid won't let me post the link.)
The nhl changed to the lets look after gretzky league. Lots of crap happened to orr that never happened to others.when you play by different rules than everyone else,you can get all the records and glory .not deserved.
Kind of amazing there was only 1 death considering all the games that had been played. The game was a lot slower then though. Give those guys modern gear and guys would be getting killed every year.
Wally Harris was a good ref but didn’t have a good night that day. Still, he had to have balls to throw out Bobby Orr in Boston. He’s lucky he got out with his life!
See like I've always said the NHL has its own agenda ,it's not about what player or how great he thinks he is .oh boo hoo another non call Roger Doan , I mean it's only Boston and Chicago .
This is why I stopped watching NHL back in the '80s. It was the most pathetic excuse for officiating of any professional sport. The Refs even admitted that they hated the Bruins. And Sanderson even said, on numerous occasions, that the Refs put their whistles in their pockets during the last 2 minutes of the game because they didn't want to affect the outcome. He was talking figuratively but it was the stupidest thing any official could do, because by refusing to call penalties they were affecting the outcome of the game. Basically everyone knew that for the last 2 minutes of a close game, cheating was okay. It was awful.
I have always blamed the NHL for not protecting Bobby Orr from this type of unnecessary roughness in the League. Orr was the top draw of fans wherever he played and he would have had a longer career if the League at least would have tried to protect him.
It appears that white was making an attempt to clear the puck. The puck was touched by white in that attemp however he didn t make much contact with it. The risk with that play is if there is no contact with the puck and the opposing player trips then there is a penalty. Maybe Orr felt white didnt touch the puck ad it had nt moved very far from the play. That rule still stands today does it not? .
OK first of all I remember the Philadelphia Flyers winning a number of Stanley cups. Second Bobby Orr was no shrinking violet he like to check and fight as much as anybody has to your comment about protecting him like they protect their stars I don’t remember Gretzky ever getting a ton of calls I remember him staying out of trouble he didn’t go in the corners and he had McSorley watching his back but I don’t recall the refs ever calling anything when he got bumped or checked so I think that’s just a little fantasy you have because you don’t like Gretzky but Bobby Orr was something that’s for sure to me he actually looks like Gretzky before Gretzky and he was going to end the end so he’s the only person I think an argument could be made for that he’s the goat instead of gretzky these people that say Conor McGregor please
They should have cleared the stands and then finished the game. Fans shouldn't be rewarded for acting like idiots. That said, White clearly tripped Orr.
the good old days of hockey, you gotta love it. Orr was a great player but a bit of a cry baby along with espo. Bruin fans should be embarrassed by that show of poor sportsmanship. Didn't matter, Flyers took care of them in the finals.
Who else remembers this considered good as far as television reception. For a while this was as clear as it got as far as receptions. Ahhhh...the good ol days. Things sure were a lot simpler.
