May 10, 1970: The Flying Goal

May 10, 1970, 50 years ago: The Boston Garden experiences what eventually becomes known as "The Miracle of the Fours." It is Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Boston Bruins, who have not won the Cup in 29 years, and the St. Louis Blues, who have only been playing since 1967. The game went to overtime, thus to the 4th period. The game was tied 3-3, so whoever could score a 4th goal would win it.

It took only 40 seconds of overtime for the winning goal to be scored, by Bobby Orr, the 22-year-old Bruin defenseman who had become the most exciting player in the game. As he shot, he was tripped up by Blues defender Noel Picard, and the resulting photograph made it look as though Orr were flying. Both Orr and Picard wore Number 4.

In honor of this event, the best-known bar near the Garden and its 1995 replacement, the TD Garden, is known as The Fours, at 166 Canal Street. Also, a statue of Orr flying was commissioned. It says something about the event that professional sports have been played at the site for 92 years, and the only 2 statues there are of this Orr goal and of Celtics legend Bill Russell.

Orr in bronze, Orr in the flesh

Dan Kelly, the Blues' broadcaster from their inception until his death in 1989, called the game nationally for CBS. His call: "Bobby Orr, behind the net to Sanderson to -- Score! Bobby Orr scores! And the Boston Bruins have won the Stanley Cup!"

This goal, John Havlicek's steal to seal the 1965 NBA Eastern Conference Championship for the Celtics, and the final game of the Boston Red Sox' 1967 "Impossible Dream" Pennant, are New England's equivalent to the contemporary epic triumverate for the New York Tri-State Area of the Jets' upset in Super Bowl III, the Mets' upset in the 1969 World Series, and the Knicks taking an improbable NBA Championship 2 days before this goal.

Bruins owner Weston Adams, son of team founder Charles F. Adams, died in 1973, at age 68. Bill Speer was killed in a snowmobile accident in 1989, at 46. Broadcaster Don Earle died in 1993, at 64. Garnet "Ace" Bailey was a scout for the Los Angeles Kings when he was killed in the 9/11 attacks in 2001, at 53. Assistant coach and assistant general manager Tom Johnson, a Hall of Fame defenseman with the 1950s Montreal Canadiens, would coach the Bruins to the Cup in 1972, and died in 2007, at 79. Hall of Fame broadcaster Fred Cusick died in 2009, at 90.

Ron Murphy died in 2014, at 80. Gary Doak and Danny Schock died in 2017, the former at 71, the latter at 68. John McKenzie died in 2018, at 80. And Ted Green, injured in a nasty preseason fight and missing the entire preseason, but voted a full winner's share, died last year, at 79.

But, 50 years later, most of the 1970 Bruins are still alive. Team President Weston Adams Jr. is still alive, although I can find no record as to his age. Broadcaster Johnny Peirson is 94. Hall of Fame head coach and general manager Harry Sinden is 87. Bill Cleary, a member of the Gold Medal-winning U.S. team at the 1960 Olympics, who broadcast for the Bruins in addition to coaching at Harvard, is 85. Hall-of-Famer and team Captain Johnny Bucyk turns 85 in 2 days, and backup goalie Eddie Johnston is 84.

Hall of Fame goalie Gerry Cheevers and Ed Westfall, who became the 1st Captain of the New York Islanders, are 79, Hall-of-Famer Phil Esposito and Dallas Smith are 78. Don Awrey is 76, Fred Stanfield just turned 76, and Ken Hodge is about to turn 76.

Wayne Cashman, who retired in 1983 as the last remaining active player from the "Original Six Era," 1942 to 1967, is about to turn 75. Star-turned-broadcaster Derek Sanderson is about to turn 74. Bill Lesuk, Wayne Carleton, Don Marcotte and spare goalie John Adams are 73, and Jim Lorentz just turned 73. Orr is 72. Rick Smith is about to turn 72. And Ivan Boldirev, an immigrant from Yugoslavia as a child, is 70.