Former NHLer Derek Sanderson has written a very interesting and entertaining autobiography entitled “Crossing The Line” with help from author Kevin Shea, who wrote the great biography “Barilko: Without A Trace” about Leafs defenseman Bill Barilko.
Sanderson won two Stanley Cups with the Boston Bruins in the early 1970’s, playing with legendary Hall Of Famers Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito and for a time was the highest-paid athlete in professional sports before losing it all.
In the book, Sanderson relates his rise in the hockey world, his flamboyant lifestyle off the ice, his departure from the Bruins to the WHA and his bouts with alcoholism and drug addiction.
In an excerpt from the book, "Turk" talks about the 1969 Stanley Cup Quarter Final match between Boston and the Maple Leafs, which included the infamous incident involving Orr and Toronto defenseman Pat Quinn.
I was back in the lineup in mid-March, and we had back-to-back games against the Leafs. On the 15th, in Toronto, the Leafs beat us 7-4, but that was the least of our worries. Bobby(Orr) was trying to dig the puck out from Bruce Gamble’s pads when Pat Quinn cross-checked him into the crossbar and, when he fell to the ice, kicked him. “I gave him a kind of half-hearted kick, but it was in the seat of the pants,” Quinn told The Globe and Mail. The next night, we played them in Boston. We wanted Quinn’s head. Nobody touched our guys without repercussion, but Quinn didn’t dress because of an injury. Believe me, Quinn was a big, tough guy afraid of no one, and if he could have played he would have.
The game ended with us on top, 11-3. We set an NHL record with eight goals in the second period. We drove Bruce Gamble out of their net in that period, and they put in Al Smith. I tied a club record with six points, including my second NHL hat trick. Harry(Sinden) had me centering Wayne Cashman and Ace Bailey, who was brought up to fill in for (former Leaf Eddie) Shack. Ace got five points that night. That set the stage for the first-round playoff matchup between the two of us.
Boston finished second in the East Division – and the league – with 100 points, trailing only Montreal, who had 103. We scored an NHL record 303 goals, 23 more than the Black Hawks. Esposito set a record by collecting 126 points to take the Art Ross Trophy. He later was awarded the Hart Trophy as the regular season MVP. Bobby Orr won the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman, combining his great defensive play with an unbelievable 120 points from the blue line.
I hit my target, scoring exactly the 26 goals I predicted, to go with 46 total points and 146 penalty minutes.
On April 2, the Bruins met the Leafs in the first game of the quarter-finals. We wanted to hurt them in every way a team could be hurt. We kicked their asses 10-0, but the game included the infamous Quinn-Orr incident. In the second period, Bobby was coming up the boards, trying to fend off a forward, when Pat Quinn stepped into him and sent him into the middle of next week. They took Bobby out on a stretcher while the crowd chanted, “Get Quinn!,Get Quinn!” From there, it was a continuous brawl. You don’t hit Bobby like that.
I fought Tim Horton. Forbes Kennedy of the Leafs went crazy, fighting Cheevers and getting a minor, two majors and a game misconduct. He was later suspended for four games. There were 132 minutes in penalties called in that game. Harry told his players “I wouldn’t say our team is the best to play style against. The Leafs have two or three people who want to playthat way. We have 18. The toughest job I’ve had all year was trying to hold our team back,”
Bobby told The New York Times, “We’re just like a bunch of animals. When we see blood or one of our guys getting hurt digging out the puck, we’re in that corner like a bunch of animals.”
We walked all over the Leafs the rest of the way. They were a broken team and we had something to prove. The next night, we blanked them 7-0. Bobby was really sick, but played and set up the first goal. There was only one fight, a tilt between Don Awrey and Larry Mickey. We beat the Leafs 4-3 in game three, and I was lucky enough to get the winning goal. Quinn took a poke at me, but I just skated away. That was too big a game and I wasn’t going to take a penalty and cost us anything. We finished off Toronto with a 3-2 win in the fourth game. I got two goals, including the winner. The story in the Boston Globe ran under the headline, “Sanderson’s Play Draws Raves.”
Immediately after the game, Leaf owner Stafford Smythe fired Punch Imlach. I went on record as saying it was a huge mistake and that Toronto would suffer because of it. Imlach might have been a tyrant, but he delivered them from obscurity to four Stanley Cup championships. They haven’t won since.
“Crossing The Line”, with the foreword written by Bobby Orr is available at book stores in the GTA and on Amazon.ca.
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Injured winger Matt Frattin is inching ever closer to making his return to the ice.
The 24 year old winger, who scored eight goals in 56 games for the Leafs last season, was the scoring star for the Marlies during the Calder Cup Playoffs, with 10 goals in 13 postseason games, but he suffered a season-ending knee injury on the series clinching empty netter against Oklahoma City in the Western Conference Final last May and has spent most of the summer recovering and rehabilitating.
Frattin has been skating with the Marlies the last few weeks, wearing a non-contact jersey, but was cleared for full contact at practice the last few days and will likely see action at some point during the club’s eight game road swing that begins in Abbotsford this weekend.
The Edmonton, Alberta native signed a two year, $1.85 Million deal with the Leafs over the summer and has been drawing a full salary up to this point, as injured players cannot be denied full pay, lockout or not.
Like teammate Korbinian Holzer, Frattin was signed to a one way deal by Toronto, but can play in the AHL. It is unclear whether his eligibility will derive from an AHL-only contract that players like Ben Scrivens signed or if it will be on a temporary basis relating to injury rehabilitation stints.
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