1-on-1 with #4
Jason Murdoch
CBC Sports Online
 When Bobby Orr - the greatest defenceman ever to lace
up the blades - drives around the countryside in the
winter he sees something terribly wrong.
Orr, who developed his quickness and soft hands playing shinny as a boy on the frozen Seguin River in Parry Sound, Ont., doesn't see kids outside playing hockey on their own anymore.
He can't remember the last time he's seen 20 kids out on a backyard rink just for the fun of it.
"When was the last time you saw a field with a bunch of kids all by themselves and no adults to mess up the kids' activity?" Orr asked. "The kids wait for it to be organized. They want to go play all of these tournaments, for a little practice time. I learned my skills by dropping the puck just with the kids. I think that's missing today.
Hear Bobby Orr's full interview on This Morning's web page
"You hear all the time about European players playing the game. These players that come over at 17, 18 and 19, they just don't all of a sudden become skilled. From the time they were little fellas, they learned the fundamentals of the game. Let them create."
Even 21 years after he announced that he was hanging up the blades in a tearful news conference on Nov. 8 1978, Orr's opinions on the game carry a lot of weight.
And rightfully so.
The history of Bobby Orr
Orr
jumped from the Oshawa Generals to the Boston Bruins at
the tender age of 18, and instantly made an impact
with his reckless skating style and confidence with the
puck.
Unlike the greats of the previous era - Doug
Harvey, Pierre Pilote and Tim Horton - Orr was a
defenceman who could score and it was this skill and
ability that helped revolutionize the game.
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H O C K E Y P O L L [an error occurred while processing this directive]
| He dazzled fans with end-to-end rushes that always seemed to finish with a spectacular goal. He would always sacrifice his body to a block shot. He was the perfect mix of toughness, skill and speed for the fickle Boston Gardens crowd.
Orr played just nine full seasons in the NHL before his knee gave out, but in that span of time he developed into a hockey legend.
The shy, humble boy from Parry
Sound revolutionized the sport and
gave a new definition to the role of a defenceman, capturing the Art Ross Trophy twice, winning the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player three straight times, the Conn Smythe award twice and the Norris Trophy an unprecedented eight times.
In what he would call his biggest accomplishment, Orr guided the Bruins to Stanley Cups in 1970 and 1972.
Orr surely would have broken more records if a weak left knee, one that underwent around 13 or 14 surgeries, hadn't forced him to retire at the tender age of 31.
But those days are now behind him now.
Orr now has a new career as a player agent for Woolf Associates. One of his clients is this year's projected No. 1 draft pick and Mississauga IceDog Jason Spezza. He still does the odd commercial for General Motors and Mastercard.
The future of Canadian hockey
While he's the first one to admit that the game has given him a lot, Orr is an outspoken critic on the future of Canadian hockey and the defensive approach to the game that now dominates the NHL.
When he was a defenceman in the NHL, Orr knew he was going to get hit and suffer the consequences when he was skating to the other end of the ice on one of his patented rushes. A bone-crushing bodycheck is sometimes a highlight of a game and Orr fears the physical element of hockey going to be slowly eliminated from the sport.
"Hockey is a tough game," said Orr, alluding to the Marty McSorley incident. "With all the talk and everything that's going on right now, it frightens me a little bit that we are giving our players an excuse not to hit.
"I just hope that we don't take that out of our game at the pro level."
Orr said that the physical elements are what make hockey so appealing and stated that when he was playing, the goal of every team was to neutralize a player with a good check, but not maim them.
While he won't admit that the NHL's "Golden Days" are now behind the league, Orr thinks that the future of the game in Canada is dependent on the young kids and coaches in the minor leagues.
"We have to keep our kids playing; the more they play the better chance we have of finding another Gretzky or Lemieux."
He sees a need for to redevelop Canadian hockey's minor-league system. Coaches are so intent on winning, that they teach defensive systems to young kids and foster a conservative approach to the game rather than letting kids have fun and experiment.
"I think that is what's happening a lot of times. Because of the pressures, we are humiliating the kids - we're taking them out of minor sports. We're driving them away from the game. If a child is enjoying himself or herself, they'll listen. While they're playing and listening, there's so much we can teach them.
"Developing better people should be the number one goal for any coach when dealing with kids. In trying to develop better people, we are going to develop more and better pros. We're going to have more kids playing, and we're going to have a better chance of finding those players Minor sports in a community is for fun and recreation. For everyone."
|
Career Stats
|
| Year
|
Team
|
GP |
G
|
A
|
PTS
|
PIM |
| 66-67
|
Bost.
|
61
|
13
|
28
|
41
|
102
|
| 67-68
|
Bost.
|
46
|
11
|
20
|
31
|
63
|
| 68-69
|
Bost.
|
67
|
21
|
43
|
64
|
133
|
| 69-70
|
Bost.
|
76
|
33
|
87
|
120
|
125
|
| 70-71
|
Bost.
|
78
|
37
|
102
|
139
|
91
|
| 71-72
|
Bost.
|
76
|
37
|
80
|
117
|
106
|
| 72-73
|
Bost.
|
63
|
29
|
72
|
101
|
99
|
| 73-74
|
Bost.
|
74
|
32
|
90
|
122
|
82
|
| 74-75
|
Bost.
|
80
|
46
|
89
|
135
|
101
|
| 75-76
|
Bost.
|
10
|
5
|
13
|
18
|
22
|
| 76-77
|
Chi. |
20
|
4
|
19
|
23
|
25
|
| 77-78
|
Chi.
|
Injured |
|
|
|
|
| 78-79
|
Chi. |
6
|
2
|
2
|
4
|
4
|
| Totals
|
|
657
|
270
|
645
|
915
|
953
|
|
Playoff Stats
|
| Year
|
Team
|
GP |
G
|
A
|
PTS
|
PIM |
| 66-67
|
Bost.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 67-68
|
Bost.
|
4
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
| 68-69
|
Bost.
|
10
|
1
|
7
|
8
|
10
|
| 69-70
|
Bost.
|
14
|
9
|
11
|
20
|
14
|
| 70-71
|
Bost.
|
7
|
5
|
7
|
12
|
25
|
| 71-72
|
Bost.
|
15
|
5
|
19
|
24
|
19
|
| 72-73
|
Bost.
|
5
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
7
|
| 73-74
|
Bost.
|
16
|
4
|
14
|
18
|
28
|
| 74-75
|
Bost.
|
3
|
1
|
5
|
6
|
2
|
| 75-76
|
Bost.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 76-77
|
Chi. |
|
|
|
|
|
| 77-78
|
Chi.
|
Injured |
|
|
|
|
| 78-79
|
Chi. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Totals
|
|
74
|
26
|
66
|
92
|
107
|
|
Bobby Orr and Shelagh Rogers
in the This Morning
studio. Listen to the interview.