Glory Days In the early 1920s the National Hockey League NHL was only national in Canada No NHL team was located in the United States That changed in 1924 when the Boston Bruins joined the league The NHL soon had an entire American Division which also included teams in Chicago Pittsburgh Detroit and New York Boston won only six games in its first season However by the end of the decade the Bruins were one of the top NHL teams They reached the Stanley Cup Finals three times in four years and won the championship once Boston’s stars included Cooney Weiland Dit Clapper Harry Oliver Lionel Hitchman and Cecil Tiny Thompson The player who made the Bruins roar was Eddie Shore Boston fans loved him Shore was a violent and aggressive defensive player who loved to ambush opponents by charging toward the net from his 6
position on defense Most defensemen at this time preferred to conserve their energy and stay back to protect their own goal How popular was Shore After warm ups in Boston Garden he would remain on the ice wait for the lights to go dark and then skate into the spotlight The organist would play Hail to the Chief the same song played for the President of the United States Shore led the Bruins to their second Stanley Cup in 1939 The team continued to win after he retired the following year Boston captured its third Stanley Cup in 1941 That club was led by Milt Schmidt Woody Dumart and Bobby Bauer Other stars included goalie Frank Brimsek playmaker Bill Cowley and Roy Conacher who topped the NHL in scoring as a rookie During the 1950s and 1960s the Bruins put more fine players on the ice One of their best was a rugged defenseman named Fern Flaman Three others Johnny Bucyk Vic Stasiuk and Rudy Bronco Horvath formed the high-scoring Uke Line The trio earned that nickname because all were from Ukraine They helped the Bruins reach the Stanley Cup Finals in 1958 LEFT Cecil Tiny Thompson always stood tall in goal for the Bruins ABOVE No player was more popular with Boston fans than Eddie Shore 7
In 1966 a young defenseman named Bobby Orr joined the team Orr was a superstar from the moment he began his NHL career He was a lightning fast skater who seemed to know what teammates and opponents would do before they did it No one had seen a player like Orr before Not long after he arrived the Bruins made a great trade for Phil Esposito Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield They turned a good team into a great one Starting in 1967 68 Boston reached the playoffs each season for 29 years in a row Orr became the first defenseman to top 100 points goals plus assists in a season Esposito set an NHL record with 76 goals in 1970 71 They teamed up with Wayne Cashman Ed Westfall Derek Sanderson Dallas Smith and goalie Gerry Cheevers to give the Bruins great balance on offense and defense Boston reached the Stanley Cup Finals five times during the 1970s and won the championship twice In the 1980s the Bruins welcomed a new group of leaders Terry O’Reilly Rick Middleton Barry Pederson Pete Peeters LEFT Bobby Orr skates across center ice with the puck ABOVE Phil Esposito was known to Boston fans as Espo 9
