Bobby Orr | Dreams of the NHL

Excerpt from “Dreams of the NHL | I Remember,” Yankee Magazine, April 1988. My parents never pushed me to play; I guess they just wanted me to enjoy myself. But just like every other boy who’s ever strapped on skates, I dreamed of playing in the National Hockey League. Unfortunately, the scouts never came to the games my team played; my hometown was off the beaten path. The first time I saw any NHL scouts was during the summer. They used to come to watch us play baseball — to size us up. But it seemed I always heard the same thing. “Kid, you just might be too small to play hockey…what position do you play?” When I told them I played defense, they sort of chuckled. I didn’t fit their mold. I wasn’t a big lumbering sort. I was lucky, though; a couple of scouts from the Boston Bruins attended a game I played in — only they were there to scout a couple of guys on the other team. After that game, Wren Blair, a scout for the Bruins, started talking to me about signing on with the Bruins organization. Wren even showed up at my after-school job to see if I wanted to go to a hockey game. I remember how embarrassed I was; my after-school job consisted mostly of sweeping the floors at my school. There I was face to face with an NHL scout, and all I had was a broom in my hand. Not long after that, I was signed by the Bruins. Fourteen years old and I was the property of an NHL team. In those days there wasn’t any draft — I think my parents got some new siding on the house, a used car, and some cash to be put away for me for compensation. My hockey career is one I look back on with a lot of great memories — I can still recall my first game as a Bruin; I made a pass out from behind the net, watching the puck and not paying much attention to anything else — something you shouldn’t do in hockey too much — well, I was watching my beautiful pass when Gordie Howe decked all 165 pounds of me. I guess if you’re going to get decked, it might as well be by the best. And through the years I played, I’ve held fast to one belief…Hockey is a game a small man can play, too. Editor’s Note: Bobby Orr is regarded by many as the greatest defenseman ever to play hockey.