While much of the sports world hunkers down for another pair of episodes of ESPN’s Michael Jordan docuseries The Last Dance, the hockey world gets its own deep dive into one of its all-time great teams on Sunday night.
NHL Network will air The 1970 Bruins: Big, Bad & Bobby as part of its Originals documentary series on Sunday night. The project celebrates the 50th anniversary of the infamous Cup-winning goal from Orr that clinched the title for the Bruins long before Boston became a modern-day title town.
The film airs 50 years to the day that Orr soared through the air after clinching the 1970 Stanley Cup with a dive across the crease in overtime against the St. Louis Blues in overtime of Game 4 in the Boston Garden.
“I don’t know what nirvana looks like,” said former NFL great Howie Long of the lasting image of Orr celebrating in midair, “But that’s it. That’s nirvana.”
A statue of Orr with his skates up now stands where the old Garden once did in Boston, just the start of the team’s legacy in the city. Narrated by Ken Casey of The Dropkick Murphys, the documentary covers the rough and tumble 1970 Bruins team and how their rise to greatness changed both the city of Boston and the NHL as a whole. The team, known as the Big Bad Bruins, was powered by Orr’s legendary defensive play as much as the team’s reputation for toughness and willingness to scrap.
Featuring interviews with members of the team, including Orr and many others as well as notable fans of the Bruins, the film puts into perspective a four-year run that took the Bruins from NHL bottom dwellers to the toast of the league. Any film that tries to capture how magical Orr was in his prime is a worthy endeavor, but in a largely sports-less landscape the opportunity to celebrate on of the league’s great teams is as welcome as ever.
50 years ago today, the greatest goal in @NHL history was scored. Tonight we celebrate the 1970 @NHLBruins with an incredible @NHLNetwork documentary “The 1970 Boston Bruins: Big, Bad and Bobby” at 8pm ET. Join us at 7pm ET for a special edition of #NHLTonight as we get you ready pic.twitter.com/0SSlFrJuNn
— Jamison Coyle (@JamisonCoyle) May 10, 2020
It’s also a fascinating look at how much the Bruins meant to the city of Boston, which was captured by this particular team in a way that changed the city and its sports fans. Long before the Patriots were perennial winners and the Red Sox broke the crease, the Bobby Orr Bruins were treated like rock stars in a city largely known in the sports world for the dynasties of the Celtics.
The event comes with an hour pregame show starting at 7 p.m. ET, with the documentary to follow at 8 p.m. Any night that gives us the opportunity to revel in the greatness of both Jordan and Orr is a blissful one given the rest of the current sports calendar.
