1970 Stanley Cup Final

The 1970 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 1969–70 season, and the culmination of the 1970 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was a contest between the Boston Bruins and the St. Louis Blues, who appeared in their third consecutive finals series. The Bruins were making their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Final since 1958. The Bruins swept the Blues to win their first Stanley Cup title since 1941. The Blues, who had gone to the Finals their first three years in the league, would eventually lose each of the three series in four-game sweeps. St. Louis would not appear in a Stanley Cup Final again until 2019, where they also faced (and defeated) the Bruins in seven games, ending the second-longest Finals drought in league history. == Paths to the Finals == Boston defeated the New York Rangers 4–2 and the Chicago Black Hawks 4–0 to advance to the Finals. St. Louis defeated the Minnesota North Stars 4–2 and the Pittsburgh Penguins 4–2. This was the seventh meeting between teams from Boston and St. Louis for a major professional sports championship. This previously happened in two World Series (1946, 1967), and four NBA Finals (1957, 1958, 1960, 1961). == Game summaries == The Boston Bruins tied for first in the East Division with the Chicago Black Hawks with 99 points. The Bruins lost the tiebreaker of wins with 40 to Chicago's 45. The St. Louis Blues finished first in the West Division with 86 points. This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams. In this year's regular-season series, there were three wins for Boston, one for St. Louis and two ties. === Game one === Three minutes and fifty-seven seconds into the second period of game one, a hard shot from Boston forward Fred Stanfield was deflected and struck St. Louis goaltender Jacques Plante in the forehead of his face mask, splitting the mask in half and knocking Plante unconscious. The first thing Plante said after he regained consciousness at the hospital was that the mask saved his life. Plante would not return for remainder of the series. Doctors later said if Plante hadn't been wearing a mask, he surely would have been killed. Ernie Wakely took over in goal but only held off the Bruins for a few minutes before becoming a rather easy mark for Bruins sharpshooters, with Johnny Bucyk recording a hat trick, and the Bruins winning the game by a score of 6–1. === Game two === In game two, Ed Westfall and Derek Sanderson each scored twice for the Bruins in a 6–2 victory for Boston. === Game three === In game three, Wayne Cashman scored twice, Phil Esposito recorded three assists, and Boston defeated St. Louis 4–1 to take a 3–0 lead in the series. === Game four === Bobby Orr scored the game-winning goal on Mother's Day in game four against goaltender Glenn Hall, with an assist from close friend and teammate Derek Sanderson, just forty seconds into overtime. The subsequent image of Orr flying through the air, his arms stretched out in victory — (he had been tripped by Blues' defenseman Noel Picard immediately after scoring the goal) — is considered the most famous and recognized hockey image of all time. With the win, the Bruins completed the sweep and became the first American team to win the Stanley Cup since the Chicago Black Hawks in 1961, and Orr was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoffs MVP. == Quotes == Bobby Orr… behind the net to Sanderson to ORR! BOBBY ORR!… scores and the Boston Bruins have won the Stanley Cup! == "The Flight" == The most commonly seen video clip of Bobby Orr's famous overtime goal ("The Flight") in game four is the American version broadcast on CBS as called by Dan Kelly. This archival clip can be considered a rarity, since surviving kinescopes or videotapes of the telecasts of hockey games from this era usually emanate from CBC's coverage. According to Dick Irvin Jr.'s book My 26 Stanley Cups (Irvin was in the CBC booth with Danny Gallivan during the 1970 Stanley Cup Final), he was always curious why even the CBC typically uses the CBS replay of the Bobby Orr goal (with Dan Kelly's commentary) instead of Gallivan's call. The explanation that Irvin received was that the CBC's master tape of the game (along with others) was thrown away in order to clear shelf space at the network. The New England Sports Network has played the CBS video of the goal but has used the original WBZ-FM radio call with Fred Cusick and Johnny Peirson. == Stanley Cup engraving == The 1970 Stanley Cup was presented to Bruins alternate captain Johnny Bucyk by NHL President Clarence Campbell following the Bruins 4–3 overtime win over the Blues in game four. The following Bruins players and staff had their names engraved on the Stanley Cup 1969–70 Boston Bruins === Players === * Did not play, missed the whole season due to an injury. † Spare who did not play for the team.[A] === Engraving notes === Tom Johnson's name was engraved T. Johnson TR by mistake. Johnson was the assistant manager, not the trainer. The mistake was not corrected on the Replica Stanley Cup created in 1992–93. Coach, Manager, Asst. Manager and both trainers were listed after the players. Traditional Coach, Manager and Asst. Manager are listed before the players with the rest of the team executives. ^A #6 Ted Green (D) received a head injury in a pre-season game. He missed the entire season, but his name was still engraved on the Stanley Cup. #31 John Adams (G) and #22 Ivan Boldirev (C) had their names engraved on the Cup before they played their first NHL game. Boldirev played his first NHL game for Boston during the 1970–71 season, Adams played his first NHL game for Boston during the 1972–73 season. Dan Schock played in the minors but was called up to play one playoff game, earning a spot on the Stanley Cup. Ron Murphy played only 20 regular-season games and had officially retired in March, but his name was engraved on the Cup. Boston Bruins did not have an official Captain – John Bucyk, Phil Esposito, Ed Westfall were Alternate Captains. Bucyk was presented with the Cup because he was the most senior letter-wearer (a scenario that would repeat in 1972). After Boston included 3 players who did not play for the team that season, the NHL only allowed players who dressed in the playoffs to be included on the Stanley Cup. The NHL feared that the Original Stanley Cup bowl was becoming too brittle. So a new Presentation Stanley Cup was made and first awarded in 1970. It was identical to the original bowl. The Original bowl was retired and put on permanent display at the Hockey Hall Fame. == See also == 1969–70 NHL season == References == Diamond, Dan, ed. (2000). Total Stanley Cup. NHL. Podnieks, Andrew; Hockey Hall of Fame (2004). Lord Stanley's Cup. Triumph Books. ISBN 978-1-55168-261-7. == Further reading == Dupont, Kevin Paul (May 25, 2019). "'It was just an explosion of emotion': NBC announcers recall where they were for Bobby Orr's goal". The Boston Globe. Retrieved May 26, 2019.