Finally!
The ever humble Bobby Orr finally gave in to requests to come and have his number officially retired in the town where it all started - Oshawa..right here in my corner of southrn ontario..:
(whitby NHL players-Joe Nieuwendyk, wayne and keith primeau, adam foote) eric lindros lived here when he played for the Oshawa Generals like Bobby Orr did..
Whitby's most famous sporting team are the Whitby Dunlops, a celebrated ice hockey squad that captured the world championship in 1958 at Oslo, Norway. This team featured long-time president of the Boston Bruins, Harry Sinden and former mayor of Whitby, Robert Attersley. The Dunlops were revived in 2004 as part of the Eastern Ontario Senior Hockey League.
Lacrosse is also a prominent sport in Whitby. The Brooklin Redmen Senior A lacrosse club is one of the most successful in Canadian sporting history, while the Junior A Whitby Warriors have been awarded the Minto Cup four times since 1984.
Nieuwendyck won a Minto Cup playing lacrosse.
http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/545157 - pi8c and comments to article.
'Very humble' Orr finally takes a bow in Oshawa
RENE JOHNSTON/TORONTO STAR
Bobby Orr, the former great defenceman of the Boston Bruins, watches the banner head to the rafters with Don Cherry to the left. Orr had his number retired by his junior team, the Oshawa Generals, on Thursday (Nov. 27, 2008) at the GM Centre in Oshawa.
WITH OSHAWA
1962-66
193 games
107 goals
173 assists
280 points
NHL records
Plus-minus in 1970-71 +124
Assists defenceman (1970-71) 102
Points defenceman (1970-71) 139
Assists in game, defenceman, tied with 5 others (1973) 6
Nov 28, 2008 04:30 AM
Comments on this story (16)
Dave Feschuk
It's been nearly half a century since Bobby Orr, 14 years old and 125 pounds, arrived in Oshawa and began to bloom into hockey's greatest genius.
But for all Orr's accolades – a nearly 30-year residency in the Hockey Hall of Fame, two Stanley Cup rings and a boatload of Norris and Hart and Art Ross Trophies – one honour had gone un-given. Though his famous No. 4 has been hanging in various Boston rafters for most of a few decades, the No. 2 he wore during his four storied junior seasons with the Oshawa Generals, out of circulation since he left for the NHL, had yet to be retired.
That changed last night, when Orr, once a high-scoring defenceman who electrified crowds as he reimagined his sport, was feted with an emotional number-raising at General Motors Centre.
Orr was joined by no end of well-wishers, from siblings to ex-teammates to 83-year-old Wren Blair, the scout who convinced Doug and Arva Orr, the legend's late parents, to ship their scrawny boy from Parry Sound to begin his journey to the heights. And he was joined, too, by Don Cherry, the former Bruins coach and national blow- horn, who jokingly took a little credit for Orr's gifts.
"He was a good player," said Cherry, "but he had a great coach."
In between a stirring video tribute to Orr's highlight-reel rushes and a series of standing ovations from the franchise-record crowd of 6,253, somebody might have been excused for wondering: Why did it take so long for his number to find its way to the local ceiling, this when Eric Lindros's No. 88 rose last year?
"That's my fault. It wasn't the Generals, I can assure you," said Orr, 60. "It just wasn't something I wanted to do. It just wasn't my thing ... I guess I'm a little strange."
Orr, now a player agent and a corporate spokesman, credited Colleen Corner, the Generals' office manager of more than 40 years, with turning him.
"She threatened me," said Orr.
"I did threaten him," said Corner. "I told him, `I'm very upset, because you should have been the first one up there.' And that was the first time he didn't say no to me, a year ago November ... He'd been asked many, many times. This has been ongoing for 20-something years. He's just a very humble man. He does not like the pomp and the attention at all."
Last night's pomp was appropriate. The Bobby Orr Public School choir laid into a rousing version of "O Canada." The Generals took their pre-game warm-up before a 5-1 win over the Peterborough Petes wearing throwback jerseys, black with yellow shoulders, all of them with Orr's No. 2 on the back.
And another player who arrived as a 14-year-old, John Tavares, the high-scoring Oshawa captain expected to be a top pick in next year's NHL entry draft, presented Orr with a custom watch. "From Tiffany's," said Tavares.
The Generals don't play in their Orr-era haunts any more, old Bowmanville Arena with its chicken-wire cage, and the Oshawa Civic Centre. And their namesake automotive giant, General Motors, is troubled. But Orr was driven on to the ice last night in a Chevy.
And 30 years on from his injury-induced retirement at age 30, perhaps Orr's accomplishments inspire more awe than they ever did. Generations have come and gone, after all, without a reasonable facsimile.
And maybe Orr, strange though he says he is, has even warmed a little to the pomp and attention.
"It's been a fun night," he admitted after it was over and his eyes were red from a few tears. "This is where my career started. To be honoured in this fashion is something I'll never forget."
and:
OSHAWA -- He will forever be synonymous with wearing No. 4, but when he played for the Oshawa Generals, the great Bobby Orr wore No. 2.
Last night, Oshawa Generals fans reminded Orr that in their hearts, he always will be No. 1.
The Generals officially retired Orr's No. 2 Oshawa jersey in a stirring 50-minute ceremony before they beat the Peterborough Petes 5-1 in front of 6,253 fans that crammed into the General Motors Centre to salute quite simply the greatest General of them all.
From the moment he entered the arena in a 2009 GM hybrid car, until Hockey Night in Canada icon Don Cherry and other guests saluted him with speeches and gifts, Orr smiled and choked back tears before he addressed the crowd moments before a banner bearing his face and number was hoisted to the rafters.
"I'm thrilled to be back, I have a lot of friends here in Oshawa," Orr said.
"This is where my career started and to be honoured like this here, well I'm thrilled to be a part of it.
"I came here at 14 and I was well looked after. Anytime you are honoured in this manner it's a thrill, it really is, and something I'll always remember."
Cherry was a surprise guest, unbeknownst to Orr until he walked on to the ice to an enthusiastic reception from the delighted crowd.
"He's the greatest player in hockey history, period," Cherry said.
"A great hockey player has to be able to score, to pass, to skate, to hit, to fight ... Bobby Orr could do everything.
"You really had to have seen him play to understand just how great he was. He changed the game with the way he played. Boy, he was really something special."
Orr came to Oshawa and made an immediate impact, being selected to the league's second all-star team in his rookie season despite playing against players four and five years older.
In the final of his four seasons with the Generals, he led the team to the league title and a berth in the Memorial Cup before starting his illustrious NHL career.
TOP DEFENCEMAN
Despite being hobbled by knee injuries and numerous surgeries, Orr was the greatest defenceman of his generation.
He captured the Norris Trophy eight consecutive seasons and was a nine-time NHL all-star.
The only defenceman to win the Art Ross Trophy as scoring champion -- he did it twice -- Orr also won the Hart Trophy three consecutive times and compiled a remarkable 915 points in just 657 regular-season games.
He led the Bruins to two Stanley Cups and was the tournament MVP at the 1976 Canada Cup, in what would turn out to be his swan song. Immediately upon his retirement he became the youngest player to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame at the age of 31.
and
Generals retire Orr's No. 2
'This is where my career started... and this is something I'll never forget,' legendary defenceman says
Article Comments (9) Canadian Press
November 27, 2008 at 9:26 PM EST
OSHAWA, Ont. — The jersey Oshawa hockey fans have been waiting to see raised to rafters finally took its rightful place Thursday night.
The Oshawa Generals retired the No. 2 jersey worn by the legendary Bobby Orr from 1962 to 1966 in a ceremony prior to their Ontario Hockey League game against the Peterborough Petes at the General Motors Centre.
Orr's legendary hockey career, one that saw him revolutionize the way defencemen played the game, started in Oshawa as a 14-year-old. During his four-year Generals career, Orr posted eye-popping totals of 116 goals, 205 assists and 321 points, including 38 goals and 94 points in his final season in 1965-66.
"I did a lot of growing up in Oshawa from ages 14 to 18 and I'll be forever grateful for those people who helped me in that time of my life," Orr said from ice level during his thank-you speech Thursday night.
Hockey Night in Canada personality Don Cherry, who coached Orr with the Boston Bruins, was among those in attendance. Ian Young, a former teammate of Orr's in Oshawa and Wren Blair, the man who was largely responsible for getting Orr into the Bruins organization, were also there along with several of Orr's family members.
While Orr makes it back to Oshawa quite frequently, this trip was most certainly a special one.
"It's pretty nice," he said of seeing his jersey retired. "This is where my career started... and this is something I'll never forget."
His jersey became the third one to be retired by the Generals, along with the No. 9 of the late Red Tilson and the No. 88 of Eric Lindros.
Bobby Orr night!
