I'm very happy that you agree Boston, Thank-you

Wow, how time "flies". Hehe.
I didn't realize until last night that it was exactly 40 years ago that the best hockey player who ever lived scored the goal that I was just mentioning recently.
I was sitting in a meeting last night and Cheryl sent me an e-mail of the anniversary. I think it came up on TV just before the Montreal/Pittsburgh playoff game.
When I arrived back home I happened to catch the segment on Don Cherry's Coach's Corner about it. I know that some people don't always agree with the things Don says but he and I share the opinion that Bobby Orr was the best hockey player to ever play the game.

I found this great cartoon by illustrator Jim Hunt of the goal. I love it.



40 years! I can't believe it.
I know that I had just recently blogged about it and rambled on about the famous goal but the time didn't hit me until last night.


You certainly wouldn't know it by looking at Bobby Orr.
Look at this guy. He's a grandfather and barely looks like he has aged a day since that game 40 years ago!
The best news I had yesterday was that the city of Boston unveiled a large bronze statue commemorating the moment with Bobby at the ceremony.







I'm seeing something when I watch the videos and read the news about the unveiling. It's exactly what I expect.
As always, every person who has ever known Bobby tells what an amazing guy he is and that their lives have been enriched by knowing him.
And as usual, Bobby is as humble as anyone could ever be and so gracious to be honoured in this way.

In some cases lives have been saved by knowing him.
His teammate Derek Sanderson sunk into alcoholism after his hockey career and it was Bobby who spent his own money to check him into rehab and help Derek get his life back in order.
Derek was on hand at the unveiling as were many of Bobby's past teammates and coaches.

By the way, I have started a group on Facebook named "Bobby Orr for Governor General". I hope that if you haven't yet, you will join it. We have 175 members already. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=114482145250401

I figure that Canada could use a break from the CBC bred mediocre foreign journalists and have a true Canadian hero as a representative. Please join and spread the word.


This was in the Boston Herald.
“When you start playing this game you hope and dream about playing in the NHL, and you hope and dream of playing on a Stanley Cup team,” Orr said. “But you never think about having a statue in front of the rink. For this to happen, I’m honored. Harry Weber (the artist) did a wonderful job.”





Whether he likes it or not, there’s never been an athlete more deserving of an honour than Bobby Orr.

Stay well,
Tim

The Greatest Number Twos of all Time

Okay, this is random and maybe a little odd.

This question popped into my head this morning as I was getting ready for work.

If we could go anywhere in history at any time and insert yourself into a famous scene or event what would it be?
It could be a good event or a tragic one.

There is a twist here.
You can't become the main character or hero but one of the secondary people (or animal if you prefer) in the scene.

I was imagining something like an event that has been immortalized in time by a photo or a painting but that doesn't have to be.

I know many of my friends and associates will be thinking of such things as being the police officer in the photo beside Lee Harvey Oswald when Jack Ruby shot him in the stomach, or one of the background guys at the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Personally, my choices would be much lighter.

My first choice would be to put myself in Boston Gardens on Mother's Day, Sunday May 10, 1970 in place of Derek Sanderson of the Boston Bruins. This was the Stanley Cup final game between Boston and the St. Louis Blues.

The score was tied. The moment was 40 seconds into overtime.
The puck was in the Blues zone. Bobby Orr blocked a clearing pass at the blue line, zipped the puck over to Derek Sanderson and raced toward the St. Louis net.
Derek Sanderson placed a perfect pass back onto Bobby's stick and Bobby popped it into the Blues net for the winning goal. The Bruins had their first Stanley Cup victory in 29 years.
An instant before Bobby made that shot he was sent airborne courtesy of St. Louis defenceman Noel Picard.
That moment is hockey history and the image of Bobby celebrating as he flies through the air is the stuff of legends. One of my favourite photos of all time.



I would like to be Derek Sanderson in that moment.


If I was to turn it around and be on the other side of that moment I would be Noel Picard at the center of the shot. It's not the glory aspect of the moment but is immortal regardless.


My second choice would be another legendary hockey moment.
It's September 28, 1972. Game 8. The final game in the "Series of the Century" between Canada and the Soviet Union.
The series was tied at 3 wins for each team and one tie. Game 8 was the deciding game.
In the final minute of play the score was tied 5-5 with Phil Esposito, Yvan Cournoyer and Peter Mahovlich on the ice.
Paul Henderson stood up at the bench and called Mahovlich off the ice as he was skating by.
Henderson then jumped onto the ice and rushed straight for the Soviet net.
Yvan Cournoyer sent Henderson a pass but it went behind him and he missed it.
Henderson was tripped up and crashed into the boards behind the net.
He leapt up and moved in front of the Soviet goal just in time to see Phil Esposito take a shot at Soviet goalie Vladislav Tretiak from inside the faceoff circle.
The rebound came to his stick and he tried to slide the puck past Tretiak without success.
But a second rebound came to Henderson who flipped the puck over Tretiak and into the net.
If you want to hear the way Foster Hewitt announced it go here;
www.hhof.com/media/foster8.wav.
I never get tired of hearing that.
I want to be Phil Esposito at that moment.
Now I know that the most famous image of the moment shows Mr. Esposito's back but any Canadian knows who that back belongs to.



To many this is the ultimate moment in sport's history. I agree.
I was only 9 years old at the time but I remember it clearly.
Every student and teacher at McNicoll Public School was gathered in the school gym to watch the game on one black and white television.

Every Canadian kid on skates that remembers that game has rushed into the other zone to the net and visualized himself as Paul Henderson at that moment.
But for this exercise I will be Phil Esposito.

In this unforgettable scene if I was to be on the other side of it I would either be Vladislav Tretiak sprawled helplessly on the ground or that Soviet guy skating away looking pretty ticked at the whole affair.

These are moments that come to my mind that would make me happy. I can think of a hundred others but these are my favourites at this moment.

I would be interested to know other people's choices.

Being number two isn't always glorious but it is often important and still unforgettable.

Stay well,
Tim

What would Bobby Orr do?

Something very sad happened this hockey season in the Fredericton Youth Hockey Association.

This is not what you think but a wonderful little sportsman was lost to us.
Last year this little guy and his brother scored 1 goal each but had the best time they had ever had.
They would leap out of bed on cold early mornings and rush to get onto the ice as soon as they were allowed.
Last year's team won almost every game but that didn't matter to the boys.
They just loved being there.
And we all loved watching them as they had so much fun.
There was a couple of guys who were a little intense sometimes but Coach Chad usually knew how to settle them down to get back to fun.
Overall, it was an amazing year. The team came in 4th overall but everybody became great friends, kids and parents.
And my boys only scored one goal each.

I don't want to say their names on here so I will call my sons T and B.
T is a solid little defenseman. He reminds me a lot of myself from my hockey days except that he is much quicker on skates than I ever was.
B is forward. He switches between left and right wings as well as Center.

The reason I mention Bobby Orr in the title is that he was arguably the best hockey player of all time and one of the most humble.
Over a year ago I found a DVD of Bobby Orr's greatest plays.
The boys and I have watched this so many times the disk will wear out before too long.
We are in total agreement with Don Cherry that Bobby was the best to ever strap on a pair of skates.
He would skate circles around everyone and punch the puck right past the goalie almost every time.
He was the first defenseman in the history of the National Hockey League to win the annual scoring title. Several times.
Other player that shared the ice with him found their statistics rise as well. Bobby made everyone shine. Derek Sanderson and Phil Esposito scored most of their career goals thanks to Bobby's assists.
He cared a great deal for his teammates.
One of the most dramatic videos I have seen is of Keith Magnusson of the Chicago Black Hawks taking a cheap shot at Derek Sanderson when he wasn't watching.
Like a bolt of lightning Bobby shot over and took Magnusson on and handily pounded him.
Whenever he scored a goal Bobby would briefly celebrate with his teammates and then skate away with his eyes down to the ice ready to continue the game. I could never imagine him with the stupid fist pumping and dramatic gloating we see from players today.
He was poetry in motion taking the puck from one end to the other.
Bobby just wanted to play the game and play it well to the best of his abilities.
Ever since I was 7 years old I was number 4 in every sport I played as tribute to Bobby Orr. I still do to this day.
I remember the day Bobby was forced to retire because of his failing knees. It was so sad.
My sons know all about Bobby and his grace and humility. We have talked about this extensively.
T has been number 4 last year and this year. The amazing thing is that their team became the Bruins which was where Bobby played most of his career.

This hockey season something changed dramatically.
It was most likely due to the fact that the boys were second year and now the senior members of the team.
T continued to be the spoiler of breakaways and defender of the blue line. But he was much better than last year.

B found his groove and became a goal scoring machine.
It was amazing to watch. He made it look so easy the way he stepped around the other players.
At the end of the season he was the second highest goal scorer in the Atom C level.

Along with the transformation to scorer something troubling happened.
I mentioned that we lost a great little sportsman. This was B.
Oh yes, we gained an amazing player but the sportsman sadly disappeared.
For the life of me I can't figure out why.
We continued to congratulate and encourage him for every play if he scored or not.
What started to happen is that if B went in to score and missed he would smack his stick on the ice and get so angry.
There were many times that he was so busy fuming that he didn't even see his own rebound and missed perfect scoring chances.
We tried explaining this to him.
It was embarrassing to watch. I had seen other kids doing this but never imagined that one of our guys could become like this. As it turns out, the top scorer in the league was a poor sport too. I'll get to the relevance of that in a moment.
A couple of times I had the coach bench B to show that I was not happy at his behaviour.
Sometimes it actually worked.

The kicker came at the very end of the year when the Allstar team was selected from every team.

B was not picked.
Neither was the top scorer in the division.

T was picked along with 2 other players on the team.
Not because they were the fastest players or were scoring machines but because they were good sports and enjoyed the game.

I was very pleased to see that. This is the way all selections should be done.
I was impressed that B did congratulate T and the others for the game.

I think he'll come around in time for next year. At least I hope he will.

I wish I could speak to Bobby Orr and ask him for advice on this.
What made him the way he was and the amazing sportsman he was?

What would Bobby Orr do if he was in my position?

Stay Well,
Tim


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