by Bob Morello
Bruins Brad Park legacy honoree
The Sports Museum recently held The Tradition, their annual event that features Legacy Awards to honorees in several sports. The Hockey Legacy Award for 2024 was presented to Bruins legend, and member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Brad Park. Presenting him his Award was another Bruins legend, Gerry Cheevers and also a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. It was a perfect opportunity for an interview with both these legends that I had the chance to cover during their Boston playing days. Park spoke openly about his seven plus years in Boston. “When I was traded to Boston in 1975, I was public enemy #1. When we got here we started to play games with Bobby (Orr) and it was great. I never thought I would retire in New York, I thought I’d go back to Canada. But when I got traded to Boston and we moved to Lynnfield and the neighborhood, I thought this is great, is family-oriented and it’s easy to get around.“ Park admitted that he had some qualms about how the Boston fan base would react to him as a member of the Bruins, following the dislike they had for him when he was a New York Ranger. He explained, “The teams we had back then, some buildings you’d walk into, whether you’re a home team player or a visitor, there is electricity in the air, and Boston was one of those buildings. When I came in as a player, I knew it was going to be a humdinger.” Asked about his legacy, and being named to the NHL’s Top 100, Brad modestly explained, “ I didn’t even know if I was going to be good enough to play in the NHL. Playing in New York and playing on the All-Star team, I was more interested in winning hockey games and trying to win a championship, and never thinking about my legacy. I always thought that would take care of itself.”
On his feelings as to which modern era player in the NHL best symbolizes him, his response was quick – “Cale Makar in Colorado (Avalanche). I like defensemen who hold onto the puck. When you come around the net with the puck, you have to remember that the first thing you see is the first thing they (the opponent) see. So it might not be the right play, but guys who hold onto the puck and wait until things open up and later make a good pass, that excites me. Shots that are always on the net, and get through the holes – that’s impressive.”
Asked to discuss some memorable moments and highlights in his career, Park offered up the following. “Scoring the game winning goal with Bruins overtime game versus Buffalo in the 1983 playoffs to advance to the conference finals. It kind of happened in slow motion, so vivid, all I saw was an open net, and I said to myself, get it up and don’t shoot it over the net. I got it up and it ended up under the crossbar and hitting the center of the net, it was very exciting. Along with the 1972 series I played for the Rangers and Bobby Orr was the difference in that series, I think. With the Bruins, it was the three times we lost to Montreal, two times in the finals, and of course, the “too many men on the ice“ in 1979. Those were such great series, Montreal had like ten or eleven Hall of Famers, we had three, with Cheesy (Gerry Cheevers), myself and Jean Ratelle to take them that far. According to Cheesy, that was the most physical series he had ever played in, never did we get banged up like we did in that series. Cheesy played the first two games, Grapes (Bruins coach Don Cherry) decided to put Gilly (the late Gilles Gilbert) in the net, and Gilly stood on his head, and he too was the reason we went that far. Gilly was a great kid, and on the overtime game-winning goal, there was kind of a miscommunication, that Gilly and I had really never clarified with each other. When Mario Tremblay made the pass to Yvon Lambert for the game-winning goal in overtime, it was going through the top of the crease, and in my mind, anything going through the top of the crease was a small thing, and it was the goaltender’s play – so I kind of pulled up a little bit, and Gilly didn’t put his stick out. If we had previously discussed this between us, he would have known that he had to play it, or if he said no I can’t play it, then I would’ve known…just some communication we never thought we would need.”
Park was asked his thoughts on the current Bruins coaching situation, Park smiled and responded with, “He (Jim Montgomery), lasted longer than I did, I only got three months coaching. The good news is the off-ice pension plan is really good. I don’t deal with management decision or anything like that, I don’t have a pulse on the team or the dressing room, or anything like that, so it would not be a good thing for me to make any comments.
Gerry Cheevers was asked to share his thoughts on Park and commented, “I always thought that Brad had two things going for him…he was the best passer coming out of his end, and I could always count on him getting out of my way of high shots on net. My best highlight with Brad was when we beat Philly in double overtime four straight games. He and I were then featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Also, it was great when I was coaching the Bruins and I put Brad on the ice in overtime and he got the game-winner against Buffalo in game seven (1983) to clinch the Adams Division Final.” Cheevers talked about personal highlights in his career, responding with: “My highlights included winning the first Stanley Cup (1970) with Bobby’s (Orr) famous goal. I left Boston to play in the World Hockey Association (Cleveland Crusaders 1973), and was selected to the WHA All-Star teams three consecutive seasons (1973/74/75) and then returned to Boston (1975/76). That always reminded me that I’d always be a Bruin. There were a couple of reasons that I left Boston to join the WHA: the Bruins then had a negotiator who didn’t know what he was talking about, didn’t respect what I meant to the team. Plus the WHA was offering me four times the money I was making, guaranteed, I couldn’t pass that up.” Park and Cheevers, two Bruins that provided the city of Boston with memories that will last forever.