LARS ELLER; THE LATEST VICTIM OF "THE BIG HIT".
The playoffs are a different animal. What might be a clean, open-ice check in the regular season calls for a 5 minute major and a game misconduct in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Just ask Eric Gryba of the Ottawa Senators. His nose-crushing hit on Montreal's Lars Eller was perfectly legal, yet the severity of the injury and the crimson blood that spilled onto the white ice turned it into a shocking, horrifying crime. Sorry folks, it's the playoffs. Sometimes these things happen. Eller shouldn't have had his head down, but then again, you can blame Diaz, the Montreal defenseman who made the "suicide" pass. Sometimes, a hit like that can help your team, as it did the Senators last night. Sometimes, it can backfire on you. Ask Pat Quinn.
It was April 2, 1969. Quinn was a 26 year old rookie defenseman, playing in his first playoff game. The Maple Leafs were at the Boston Garden for game one of their quarterfinal series. The Leafs were pretty much over the hill back then. The stars of the Stanley Cup teams of the 60s were getting long in the tooth, and the Bruins were an up-and-coming team featuring scoring leader Phil Esposito, goalie Gerry Cheevers and a young Bobby Orr, only in his third NHL season, but already a superstar in the making. He was revered in Boston. The second coming of Eddie Shore for long suffering Bruin supporters. And so, it was against this backdrop that Quinn made a name for himself, and almost got killed doing it. If you never saw Pat Quinn's hit on Bobby Orr, here's your chance. Click here and go in about 18 seconds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKRnbQNSGEs
When I asked Quinn about the hit several years ago, he told me a great story about what happened AFTER he knocked Orr out cold.
QUINN: "I was in the penalty box with a 5 minute major for elbowing and Orr was being placed on a stretcher. The place was eerily quiet. When they finally wheeled him out at the end of the rink and they closed the door, the place went crazy, yelling 'Kill Quinn, Kill Quinn'. I was attacked in the penalty box by a bunch of fans and had to take refuge at center ice while debris rained down from the seats. Eventually, they escorted me off the ice and when I got back to the hotel there were death threats. Oh yeah, we lost that first game 10-0. My first playoff game ever! We played game two the next night and lost 7-0, and after the game, the rookies had to go and get the beer and get it on the team bus before Punch (Imlach) found out. It was my turn so I had to go to Jack Sharkey's Bar, named after the famous boxer, which was right across the street from the Garden. Now, here I go walking in, and the entire place just stopped cold. Here was the guy who almost killed Bobby Orr. I thought 'Oh boy, I'm going to die right here in this bar', but as it happened, the bartender was a big Irish guy like me, and he calmed everybody down, saying that he never met a guy named Quinn that he didn't like. Lucky, I got out of there alive."
Yes, but as Quinn soon found out, not everybody was willing to forgive and forget. Orr wanted his pound of flesh, and had to wait until the following season. Go in ten seconds for this great scrap!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA89fuARoiI
Of course, some might say that Quinn's hit on Orr woke the Bruins up. After clobbering the Leafs in the first two games, they took the next two one-goal affairs at Maple Leaf Gardens en route to a four game sweep. For the Leafs to avoid a repeat performance this year, somebody has to go after Zdeno Chara and knock him out. With a clean check, of course. Just like the one Gryba laid on Lars Eller and left him bloody mess. If that's what it takes to win in the playoffs, then somebody needs to step up and make it happen. If you're going to go down, at least go down fighting. Any volunteers? Anybody?
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