Cheevers talks Bruins' Stanley Cup win in 1970, featured in documentary

For a half-century, it seems that Boston Bruins icon Bobby Orr hasn't been sharing full credit for his historic, Stanley Cup-winning overtime goal against the St. Louis Blues on May 10, 1970.

"If I don't allow two of the worst goals in hockey history in that game, if I make two routine saves, there is no overtime," Bruins goalie Gerry Cheevers said with a laugh this week from his home in Boca Raton, Florida. "I allowed two terrible goals and I kid Bobby about this all the time."
A joyful Orr in flight, seemingly weightless in front of Blues goalie Glenn Hall an instant after having scored 40 seconds into overtime of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final to give the Bruins a 4-3 victory, is one of hockey's most magical moments, one that
spawned a statue of Orr
outside Boston's TD Garden.

That championship and the one Cheevers anchored in 1972 were celebrated the day after the Stanley Cup was presented, with a parade in 1970 and a rally in City Hall Square two years later.
"We were in better shape for the civic celebrations the day after the Cup wins than we were the day after that," he said. "They were very memorable. I remember both of those days, though maybe not those nights."
The 79-year-old would be enjoying every second of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs had the NHL not paused the season March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. That's not to say he's not busy with hockey these days; he's scheduled on Thursday to take part in a virtual town hall meeting with Bruins fans, three days before the 50th anniversary of Orr's historic goal that yielded Boston's first Stanley Cup championship in 29 years.
Cheevers is one of the Bruins legends featured in the NHL Network Originals documentary "Big, Bad & Bobby," an hourlong celebration of the 1970 team that premieres on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; NHLN, SNE, SNO, SNW, SNP).

The man known as Cheesy was a key member of that 1970s team, a goalie who performed his best when the stakes were highest.
"Cheesy was a big-money player, one of the greatest," Milt Schmidt, the Bruins' Hall of Fame player, coach and general manager, said in the 2002 book "Without Fear." "When the need was there to make one big save to save a game, Cheesy was there."
In 10 Stanley Cup Playoff seasons between 1968-80, all for the freewheeling, offense-minded Bruins, Cheevers won 53 games and lost 34 with a goals-against average of 2.70, save percentage of .902 and eight shutouts. He was 227-104 with 76 ties in the regular season with a 2.89 GAA, a .901 save percentage and 26 shutouts. In 1971-72, Cheevers went undefeated in a stunning 32 consecutive games, establishing an NHL record that stands to this day.
Cheevers carved out a Hall of Fame career with Boston, detouring for three-plus seasons from 1972-76 to the WHA's Cleveland Crusaders before returning to the Bruins to finish out his career, retiring after the 1979-80 season. He was the Bruins coach from 1980 through 1985, going 204-126 with 46 ties.

Cheevers never won the Vezina Trophy voting as the NHL's best goalie; his only individual accolade was being selected to the 1969 NHL All-Star Game. Other goalies of his day had better statistics, but to Cheevers then and still today, individual recognition meant nothing. A goalie's work, in his opinion, is best gauged simply by whether he stops one more puck than the man 180 feet away in the other net.
He has an encyclopedia of memories that he's archived in two autobiographies: "Goaltender," a mostly daily journal of the Bruins' 1971 season that ended with a stunning first-round upset loss to the Montreal Canadiens, and "Unmasked," a broader look at his career that was published in 2011.
Cheevers' iconic mask with stitches inked onto it with felt pen by Bruins trainer Frosty Forrestal is the property of grandson Jon, a priceless gift to the son of his daughter, Sherril. He chuckled when he said he doesn't even have visitation rights to what is arguably the most famous mask before the introduction of the helmet cage.
"Because I might rifle it," Cheevers joked in conversation a year ago, saying that giving the mask to Jon eliminated any temptation for him to sell it. "I've been offered a lot of money for it. A very significant amount."

Though he pokes fun at himself for his porous role in making Orr a hero 50 years ago, it's worth noting that Cheevers helped push that game beyond 60 minutes, having stopped Blues forward Larry Keenan from point-blank range in the dying seconds to preserve the 3-3 tie against the third-year expansion team.
The goalie still recalls a lack of crisis in the Bruins dressing room heading into overtime.
"What wasn't said was, 'It's just a matter of time before we win this thing, even though it might take us two or four more days,'" he said. "Turns out it took 40 seconds."
Today, enjoying the buzz around the 50th anniversary of the Bruins' 1970 title, Cheevers said that it's now, what should be playoff time, that his competitive blood flows hottest, even 40 years after his final NHL game.
"It will always be in the arteries," he said.
Then, with a laugh: "Even if most of the arteries are blocked."