Pat Quinn check on Bobby Orr 1969 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs Boston Garden Bruins Toronto Maple Leafs

Account with photos of the April 2, 1969 NHL playoff game when Pat Quinn checked Bobby Orr and the aftermath.

[@edandkarendamadio4108]

No one could legitimately compete with Orr, he was so good, the only way he could be stopped was to ambush him. That hit was meant to put him out of the game and maybe out of the playoffs all together. It seemed to possibly end his career, but thankfully he survived it. Quinn was nothing more than a journeyman hockey player and he never developed into a meaningful competitor.

[@Exotic3000]

Very detailed! Thanks! ❤

[@RemiKJV1611]

I still remember my friend, Roger Lemelin, God rest his soul, who played on the Colorado Rockies in the late 70's telling me about a player from the Chicago Black Hawks chasing him down sticking him and grabbing him from behind...Roger told me he grabbed the player and flipped him over his shoulder onto the ice in front of him and lifted up his fist to let him have it - turned out to be Bobby Orr. Roger said, as his childhood idol, he immediately backed off from punching Orr. Roger was a great man and a tough hockey defenseman! R.I.P. in heaven.

[@davidjohnson-fw5co]

I remember that game. Quinn was pelted with garbage from the crowd while in the penalty box

[@semperidem7679]

And all this chaos was because of a legitimate hit with a shoulder, not an elbow. But the main thing was how the Leafs (only two years past being Stanley Cup champions) collapsed so badly against Boston. Punch Imlach was fired after losing that series 4-0.

[@christrudell7966]

A fairly big man? Quinn was HUGE

[@Chiefsfansince-qb1kt]

Pat Quinn was a marked man after that incident, and not only by the Bruins but by every other NHL team. He was a big, strong, tough man who played the game hard and honest. He stood up for himself and never backed down from a fight. Later, after his playing career Quinn was a tremendous coach in the NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers, Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers. If you got to know Pat Quinn, you knew him as a kind-hearted, caring, intelligent man who cared deeply about his family and the game of hockey. If you crossed him, you usually paid. He respected his teammates and his opponents. He was true "old school." RIP Pat.

[@pvb876287]

When Crosby goes into the Hall. It will be for his talent and ability, not for being a goon. The only goon in the hall I know of might be Henry Richard, and only because he was gloned by everyone in the league.

[@JustWinBabee]

Henri wasn’t a goon because he was so highly skilled. He was an exceptional skater and stick handler.

[@russelljdj]

Bobby Was tough and could take it, unlike the cry babies of today.

[@pvb876287]

One of the worst cheap shots still to this day. Ask ,Quinn, hes even admitted it. Thats why his career was over and he had to beg for a coaching job, where he finished in the cellar.

[@edwardlnorton1025]

Pat Quinn went to a Boston bar after knocking out Bobby Orr in a game… For a moment, Quinn had forgotten where he was and what he had done the night before, and he thought it might be his final mistake. Quinn was a rookie with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and death threats or no death threats, was expected to fetch the beer for the bus ride. He did what was expected. Down the street from the Garden, a sportsbar was overflowing with Bruin fans, hard-nosed Bostonians who had been at the game and been angry the great Orr had not played. And the man responsible stepped through the front door - through their front door and into their bar. Quinn edged through the crowd toward the bartender when a shout came from behind him. “Hey, it’s Quinn! It’s Quinn!” The big rookie froze. How could he have been so stupid, so careless? He looked for an escape route. No chance. People were wedged six deep around him. In the tense silence, he waited for the first fist, or bottle or worse. A hand came at him, but instead of going for Quinn’s granite jaw, landed squarely on his back. Then another. “Nice hit, Patty boy. Nice hit.” The men around him smiled, and Quinn felt blessed to be Irish-Catholic in an Irish-Catholic town. “On the house,” the bartender said. Source: Vancouver Sun.