WATCH: Former Canucks owner Arthur Griffiths shares his memories of Pat Quinn
As friends and family mourn the loss of Pat Quinn, they are also sharing countless anecdotes about the larger-than-life hockey legend.
On Monday, former Vancouver Canucks owner Arthur Griffiths recalled an oft-told story about Quinn and his infamous hit on Boston Bruins legend Bobby Orr.
During a 1969 playoff game in the Boston Garden, Quinn–then a rookie defenceman with the Leafs–laid a crushing hit on Orr, knocking out the game’s biggest star.
The hit made Quinn Public Enemy #1 in Boston, but, as Griffiths remembers, that didn’t prevent him from stopping by a Beantown pub after the game to pick up some beers for his teammates.
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“As was customary in those days, the players jump on the bus, they decided they needed to stop for some beer,” recalls Griffiths.
“They nominated Pat to get off the bus to walk into an Irish pub, as it turns out, luckily for him.”
“He walks up to the bar and the bartender says to him, ‘Hey, are you Quinn?'”
Quinn, worried that he may have walked into a bar full of angry Bruins fans, didn’t know what to say.
According to Griffiths, the bartender handed him some free beers and said, “these are for you, Big Irish.”
Other Bruins fans were not so forgiving. Orr wrote in his book, “Bobby Orr: My Story,” that a mysterious man was so upset about the hit that he offered to “take care” of Quinn.
Orr, as you would expect, declined.
— With files from Canadian Press
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