Bobby Orr cemented himself in Bruins history 49 years ago with his famous Mother’s Day goal to seal the Stanley Cup win over the St. Louis Blue, this we know.
But the moment in history has become so iconic that Orr was honored with a statue of him leaping outside TD Garden in Boston. What’s even greater is that the statue was constructed in the city he helped send home from the 1970 Cup Final.
It also just so happens to be the same city the Bruins are preparing to do battle with when the 2019 Stanley Cup Final begins Monday night.
The artist who crafted the statue, Harry Weber, is a St. Louis native, also crafted a statue of a Blues Hall of Fame player.
“I was asked back then whether it wasn’t kind of unusual to have a St. Louis sculptor do a Boston Bruin, particularly since this celebrates Boston beating the Blues,” Weber said, via NHL.com. “Well, Bobby is really kind of a bookend, because I’ve done one of Blues (Hall of Famer) Bernie Federko in front of their arena. So I’ve got statues in both cities.”
Weber said despite Orr being the enemy, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
“But it was such an opportunity that my team and I worked 16-hour days to get it done,” he said. “We were putting the patina on it the day before we packed it in the truck to move it to Boston. It was a lot of fun, though. This was a challenging one.
“It was a pretty remarkably quick piece of work, but I think it turned out beautifully. I’m very proud of it.”
The statue certainly is a thing of beauty, and one Weber absolutely should be proud of.
Who knows, maybe he’ll be sculpting another one down the road.
