The flight of Bobby Orr lasted for only two seconds. In the 40th second of the overtime period played on Mother’s Day in 1970, a 22-year-old defenceman managed to score the winning goal which brought Boston its first Stanley Cup in 29 years, lost his skates and flew horizontally through the air with his hands raised up. The goal was great. The photo immortalized it. What gets omitted by most narrations is the fact that this photograph could not have been taken.
The Goal at a Glance:
Every key fact about the goal, the game and its legacy in one place.
| Commonly called | The Goal, The Flying Goal, The Leap, Flying Bobby |
|---|---|
| Date | Sunday 10 May 1970, Mother’s Day |
| Event | Game 4, Stanley Cup Final |
| Venue | Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts |
| Teams | Boston Bruins vs St. Louis Blues |
| Time of goal | 40 seconds into overtime |
| Final score | Bruins 4, Blues 3 |
| Series result | Boston swept the series 4-0 |
| Scorer | Bobby Orr, defenceman, aged 22 |
| Assist | Derek Sanderson |
| Goaltender beaten | Glenn Hall |
| Who tripped Orr | Noel Picard, St. Louis defenceman |
| Significance | Boston’s first Stanley Cup in 29 years, since 1941 |
| Photographer | Ray Lussier, Boston Record American |
| Photo status | Widely regarded as the most famous photograph in hockey history. Copyrighted, currently licensed through Getty Images |
| Orr’s 1969-70 awards | Art Ross, Hart, Norris and Conn Smythe. The only player ever to win all four in a single season |
| Orr’s 1970 playoff line | 9 goals and 11 assists for 20 points in 14 games |
| Bruins’ 1970 playoff run | Lost only two games all postseason, both to the New York Rangers, then won 10 straight |
| Statue | Bronze sculpture by Harry Weber, unveiled 10 May 2010 on the 40th anniversary |
| Statue location | Outside TD Garden, Boston. Moved several times, now near the main entrance |
| Statue weight | Reported as 600 pounds by contemporary coverage and 800 pounds by later sources |
What Happened on 10 May 1970:
The Boston Bruins were leading the Stanley Cup Final three-nothing against the Blues. This game would be held at Boston Garden during the hot Sunday afternoon without air conditioning and the Blues weren’t going to lie down. After the end of regulation time the game was even at 3-3; it is the only overtime game the Bruins played in the entire 1970 playoffs season.
Forty seconds into overtime the Orr played his best game. Pinched aggressively against St. Louis blue line for keeping the play alive, he passed the puck to Derek Sanderson behind the net and made an aggressive move towards the front. Sanderson passed the puck to him and Orr scored by shooting it past Glenn Hall.
Later Sanderson noticed one thing which nobody does. Orr had gambled a lot when he began this play. Defencemen pinching in sudden death overtime can give an opportunity for the opponents to have a two-on-one in reverse direction and no defenceman from those times would take such a risk.
Why Bobby Orr Was Flying:
This was not a celebration that involved jumping for joy. This was a trip. At the precise moment Orr took the shot, Noel Picard of the St. Louis Blues put his stick under Orr’s skates and raised them up into the air. As Orr had already scored by this time, he raised his hands up in celebration precisely when his legs gave way, producing a body parallel to the ice, arms raised and face lit up, several feet off the ground.
It is the physical reality of this scene which makes the photograph work. Deliberate jumps appear to be jumps, but this scene looks like flying, because it was out of his control.
Ray Lussier and the Photograph:
Ray Lussier was the photographer from the Boston Record American, one of many photographers photographing the game. But Lussier was not meant to be at that location. The location he used was the seat of another photographer who had gone away to get a beer. Lussier took over the seat and then he could not move back to his original location. Lussier was in his location, the seat with the best vantage point, when Orr scored the goal.
Instantly, Lussier knew what he was doing. As he mentioned afterward, Lussier believed right away he got the shot, and it was like he could have burst out of control. He also beat the competitor Boston Globe to the picture, and this was hugely important for a newspaper photographer in 1970.
The Photo That Almost Did Not Run:
This is the information that rarely makes it into articles on this objective. The Record American newspaper did not start its story with this information. In the Monday edition there was another photograph on the front page: the picture by Mike Anderson of Orr holding the Stanley Cup and celebrating with champagne. The picture of Orr flying high in the air, which has become the most well-known picture in the entire history of the sport, was not the top choice of the newspaper when the picture was taken. This picture still made it big.
Very soon after it was used for making posters hanging on bedroom walls all around New England and even further away, becoming one of the most reproduced photographs of the North American sports world.
Why This Photograph Endures:
Stephen Brunt, the author who has written a book on Orr, has made the most astute comment on the matter. Nobody ever speaks of the game. If we take into account that this was Stanley Cup clincher, then game number 4 of the 1970 Finals can be classified as the one of the most forgettable games with its 4-3 win in a complete sweep of the expansion team.
The photograph is memorable not for the game but for its composition. The hockey player has to be connected with the ice; however, in this photograph, the player is detached from it during his highest moment of glory. This is a really elegant work of sports photography.
The 1970 Bruins and Orr’s Historic Season:
The goal wasn’t an arbitrary one; 1969-70 was the most complete individual season any player ever played. Orr took home the Art Ross Trophy as leading scorer in the league with 120 points, thus becoming the first defenseman in history to claim that honor. He claimed the Hart Trophy as most valuable player, the Norris Trophy as best defenseman, and then the Conn Smythe Trophy as best player in the playoffs. No player before him, nor after, has won all four in a season.
The playoff performance by the Boston team was as much one-sided. Boston only lost two games in the whole playoffs, both against the New York Rangers in the first round, before winning ten straight games. Boston beat Chicago clean, and then dominated St. Louis in the first three games of the Finals before finally meeting resistance in game four. Orr scored nine goals and had eleven assists in the fourteen games of the playoffs. For Boston, the Cup ended a 29 year-long drought dating back to 1941 and their first Finals appearance since 1958.
The Bobby Orr Statue:
On May 10, 2010, the Bruins installed a bronze sculpture commemorating the play exactly 40 years after the event. The statue was created by Harry Weber, an artist who has also made sculptures honoring Stan Musial, Ozzie Smith, Doug Flutie and Tony DeMarco. He would go on to make the Boston Bruins centennial bear monument at the same arena.
Weber described the statue as the hardest work he ever made. Weber used the Lussier photo to construct his prototype, studied footage of the game many times and consulted Orr throughout the process with updates. The sculpture has been moved several times inside the arena since it was first installed, and currently stands near the main entrance, where it is photographed by fans prior to games. Sources differ in their estimates of the statue’s weight, stating either 600 or 800 pounds. The cost of the statue was covered by the Bruins organization.
Bobby Orr’s Career After the Goal:
He captured a second Stanley Cup and his second Conn Smythe with Boston in 1972. However, knee injuries ended his hockey career and he could have had another decade ahead of him in the game. He went to the Chicago Blackhawks after leaving Boston and played parts of two seasons with them before retiring in 1978, at 30.
Even though Orr was done playing, he still had an impact on the game. He showed what was expected of the game and set a new standard of what a defence man could be able to accomplish with the puck. All the players that came after Orr, like Paul Coffey up until Cale Makar, are operating in a place that Orr has opened up for them.
Final Take:
The Bobby Orr goal in flight is more an image than a goal. And this is the accurate retelling of events. The game ended 4-3. The play consisted of two passes and a shot. It was immortalized by a player tripping over, by a photographer in a seat not belonging to him, and by the right shutter press at the precise moment. Half a century later, this image is still hockey’s tool in explaining its game to those who are not into hockey.
Frequently Asked Questions:
When was Bobby Orr’s flying goal?
Sunday 10 May 1970, which was Mother’s Day, in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final at Boston Garden. It came 40 seconds into overtime.
Who did Bobby Orr score the flying goal against?
The St. Louis Blues. He beat goaltender Glenn Hall, with the assist going to Derek Sanderson.
Why was Bobby Orr flying through the air?
He was tripped. Blues defenceman Noel Picard lifted Orr’s skates with his stick just as the shot went in, so Orr’s arms were already raised in celebration when his legs were taken out.
Who took the famous Bobby Orr photo?
Ray Lussier of the Boston Record American. He got the angle only because he had moved into another photographer’s empty seat and could not return to his own.
How old was Bobby Orr when he scored the goal?
He was 22.
What did the goal win?
The 1970 Stanley Cup. It completed a four-game sweep of the Blues and gave Boston its first championship since 1941.
Where is the Bobby Orr statue?
Outside TD Garden in Boston. It was unveiled on 10 May 2010, the fortieth anniversary of the goal, and was sculpted by Harry Weber.
What awards did Bobby Orr win in 1970?
The Art Ross, Hart, Norris and Conn Smythe trophies, all in the same season. No other player has ever done that.
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