Product Description

The book every hockey fan has been waiting for; the story of the elusive Bobby Orr, one of the legends from the glory days of the NHL. Searching for bobby Orr chronicles Orr's life from his humble beginnings, skating along a frozen river in Parry Sound, Ontario, to the height of his career as the league's top-scoring defenseman, who shot the goal that won the Boston Bruins the Stanley Cup. Orr also had his lows-he will forever be known as a key figure in the Alan Eagleson scandal and for the injuries that forced him into early retirement. In Searching for Bobby Orr, Stephen Brunt gives us insight into life and times of bobby Orr and in doing so reveals game and a country in transition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50296 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Review
Praise for Facing Ali: The Opposition Weighs In:

• National Bestseller
• A Globe and mail Best Book
• A Sports Illustrated Book of the Year

“These are men of substance, worth getting to know. Brunt does them justice, but the author has done something even more impressive: He has found something new to report about Muhammad Ali.”
–Sports Illustrated

“Stephen Brunt takes us for a rare and sometimes painful sit in the loser’s corner, where, as all observers of tragedy know, the most revealing stories take place.”
–Ottawa Citizen

“Facing Ali is a work of wit and insight. It goes the distance.”
–The Vancouver Sun

From the Publisher
"(Stephen Brunt) delivers an exceptional piece of work...Those of us who missed out watching Orr in his prime can't help but feel we were cheated, and the precision of Brunt's portrait of the player only makes the sting sharper." -The Globe and Mail

"Even if you're not a die hard hockey fan, even if you know nada about hockey, this one will pull you in."-Winnipeg Free Press

"An impressive look into the life of a legend...Enough to satisfy any hockey fan." - Calgary Herald

"A classic of hockey literature....If you read one book about hockey this year, make it Searching for Bobby Orr."-The Sun Times(Owen Sound)

From the Inside Flap
Just how good was Bobby Orr? Who saw the spark of genius first? Who first suggested - in spite of his small stature, his almost fragile appearance - that he play defence? From Canada's foremost sports-writer comes an unprecedented exploration of the life of one of the game's greatest and most enigmatic competitors.

During the early day of Bobby Orr's career - when the NHL was a six-team league - there were people around him who watched him play, amazed, and who first told the stories of his meteoric rise to superstardom. These are the "characters" Stephen Brunt meets in his quest to give us a picture of this famous yet very private man.

Bobby Orr was an astonishing, effortless skater. He rewrote the book on the position of defence. He was the first defenceman ever to lead the league in scoring; the first to score twenty or more goals in a single season; and the first player ever to win three straight MVP awards. His most famous goal won the Boston Bruins the Stanley Cup in 1970 - for the first time in twenty-nine years - against the St. Louis Blues in overtime. But the story of Bobby Orr is one of despair as well as triumph. History will remember him as a key figure in the Alan Eagleson scandal and also as the unfortunate player forced into early retirement in 1978 because of grave knee injuries.

Searching for Bobby Orr gives us a compelling and graceful look at the life and times of one of our greatest hockey players, as well as a revealing portrait of a game and a country in transition.

Customer Reviews

Keep looking. Brunt didn't find him.
This is a reasonably well-written book by somebody who is supposed to be an expert on sports, though some of his hyperbole makes me wonder about that. (He describes a game where Orr got three goals and two assists as the most amazing, incredible, unbelievable performance by a defenceman in the history of the sport, when half a dozen defencemen had had 4 goal games, others had 6+ point games, and Orr himself would do better in subsequent years.)

There's nothing new here. Neither Orr nor his family nor his close friends provided any information -- apparently Bobby is planning his own book in the next five years or so. However, it provides an eminently readable distillation of all the previous sources of material to paint a good portrait of Orr during his early playing years and most of his NHL career. (There is precious little from 1973 on, and nothing about his post-hockey career.)

The book comes across a little like hero-worship, and doesn't do much to give Orr any perspective -- how he stacks up against the other greats, how he changed the game. I'm not entirely sure that's a weakness, though: the Holy Trinity of Hockey don't really compare well to eachother. Orr was probably the best ever, but cut short by injuries. Gretzky a sliver below who lasted much longer. Howe may never have been the best player in the league at any one time, but was in the top five for, like, a million years.

And as for hero-worship, hell, let's face it: Orr deserves it.

Wait for the paperback, then add it to your collection.

"Searching" is a very worthwhile read
This book looks not only at the brilliant but tragically short career of Bobby Orr, but also at the historical development of Canadian hockey and the NHL, and the significant changes at the time of Orr's career. I consider it mandatory reading for any passionate hockey fan.

The great fire that burned too bright for too short a time...
Just how good was Bobby Orr? Harry Howell said it best during the National Hockey League awards ceremony, where he was presented with the Norris Trophy as the League's top defenseman: "I've been around for fifteen years, and thank God I finally won the trophy. I've got the feeling that for the next twenty years it will be known as the Bobby Orr Trophy." High praise indeed, but consider this: Orr had just completed his rookie season, earning respect almost unheard of at that stage of a career, and he wasn't even the runner-up for the award.

Bobby Orr was regarded as a savior for the Boston Bruins from the very moment he was first seen on the ice by members of the Bruins management, playing in a junior game with children three and four years older than him, dominating the game and controlling the puck better than anyone. He was just an average kid from an average town --- not well off financially and not the greatest of students, though he tried hard --- but on the ice he became a legend.

Stephen Brunt likens Orr to the Greek hero Achilles. The National Hockey League was Troy, and Orr was the most powerful and dynamic hero of the game. And yet, like Achilles, Orr had a flaw. While he had the heart, the determination and the will, it was his knees that ultimately would cut short an exciting and record-setting career. He was the flash of light, the great fire that burned too bright for too short a time. He would win the Norris Trophy the next eight consecutive seasons and lead the League in scoring twice.

As popular and as masterful as he was on the ice, Orr was savagely private about his personal life. He was quiet and reserved, and Brunt shows us that even though he would join his teammates at a party, he often was the first to quietly slip away unnoticed. In putting together this book, Brunt approached Orr about being involved, but he declined and also made a stipulation: Brunt would not be allowed to approach his family.

In some ways that is a loss. Hearing about the storied career from the man who wrote it with his play would have been enlightening and lent a sense of charm and closeness, a way for those who worshiped him to get closer to their hero. Perhaps, however, it was more of a boon that Orr did not wish to be involved. It freed Brunt to seek his own answers and create his own path. The story he chose to pursue could not be shaped and molded, and things he discovered may never have come to light in speaking with the man himself.

One of the fabulous aspects of this book is that Brunt seems to know that a hero, no matter how grand or powerful, is not self-made. Along the way Orr has people who shape his world-view and his life. Those figures are given definition here, particularly Wren Blair, who saw the young boy play in Canada and tried to secure a contract for Boston. "Bucko" McDonald, his junior coach, recognized that Orr was exceptional: a rushing defenseman who was small. McDonald let Orr be who he was and didn't attempt to turn him into something he wasn't. Alan Eagleson was the lawyer who worked with Orr in drafting up a healthy contract in his first season and paved the way for the creation of player agents and sports management groups. However, Eagleson, who would also be the ruin of many a good man by pilfering their retirement funds, ultimately was brought down by Orr and fellow player Carl Brewer. And then there were Orr's parents, who were both encouraging and very protective.

As quickly and beautifully as he came, Orr would be gone. Brunt does an excellent job at revealing him, yet, when all is said and done, there is still so much unknown. The title, SEARCHING FOR BOBBY ORR, is very accurate. Brunt had to search, and could probably keep searching for years. What the author has done, however, is give us an exceptional biography of the greatest hockey player ever to lace up a pair of skates.

--- Reviewed by Stephen Hubbard