The 1970 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

's (NHL) 1969–70 season, and the culmination of the 1970 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was a contest between the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

and the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

, who appeared in their third consecutive finals series. The Bruins were making their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals since . The Bruins won the series, four games to none. It was Boston's first Stanley Cup victory in 29 years.

Bobby Orr Robert Gordon Orr (born March 20, 1948) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest of all time. Orr used his ice skating speed, scoring, and play-making abilities to revolutionize the pos ...

scored the Cup-winning goal on Mother's Day against St. Louis' veteran Hall of Fame goalie Glenn Hall, with an assist from close friend and teammate "The Turk" Derek Sanderson, at forty seconds of 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 became the first American team to win the Stanley Cup since the Chicago Black Hawks in . 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 Finals again until

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, where they also faced the Bruins, ending the second-longest Finals drought in league history.

Paths to the Finals

Boston defeated the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

4–2 and the Chicago Black Hawks 4–0 to advance to the Finals. St. Louis defeated the

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

4–2 and the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

4–2.

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. At 3:57 of the second period of game one, a hard shot from

Fred Stanfield Frederic William Stanfield (May 4, 1944 – September 13, 2021) was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre who played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League from 1964 until 1978. He won two Stanley Cups with the Boston Bruins, in 1970 and ...

was deflected and struck

Jacques Plante Joseph Jacques Omer Plante (; January 17, 1929 – February 27, 1986) was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender. During a career lasting from 1947 to 1975, he was considered to be one of the most important innovators in hockey. He played ...

in the forehead of his face mask, splitting the mask in half and injuring Plante. Plante was finished for the series. Doctors later said if he hadn't been wearing the 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.

Quotes

"The Flight"

The most commonly seen video clip of

's famous overtime goal ("The Flight") in game four is the American version broadcast on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

as called by Dan Kelly. This archival clip can be considered a rarity, since surviving

kinescope Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film, directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 194 ...

s 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 Finals), 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 John Frederick Peirson (July 21, 1925April 16, 2021) was a Canadian professional ice hockey winger who played 11 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins from 1946 to 1958. After retiring he became a commentator for t ...

Stanley Cup engraving

The 1970 Stanley Cup was presented to Bruins alternate captain Johnny Bucyk by NHL President

Clarence Campbell Clarence Sutherland Campbell, (July 9, 1905 – June 24, 1984) was a Canadian ice hockey executive, referee, and soldier. He refereed in the National Hockey League (NHL) during the 1930s, served in the Canadian Army during World War II, th ...

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

Stanley Cup engravings

* Tom Johnson's name was engraved ''T. Johnson TR'' by mistake. Johnson was actually the assistant manager, not the trainer. The mistake was not corrected on the Replica Stanley Cup created in 1992–93. * Ted Green received a head injury in a pre-season game. He missed the entire season, but his name was still engraved on the Stanley Cup. John Adams (goal) and Ivan Boldirev (forward) had their names engraved on the Cup before they played their first NHL game. Boldirev played his first NHL game for Boston during 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.

References

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