By Mike Hall
There was no Paul Revere galloping through Boston warning the local townsfolk that “the Rockies are Coming; the Rockies are Coming” on the frigid night of February 29, 1979. And why should there be?
The Big Bad Bruins were hosting the upstart Colorado Rockies and the art of intimidation weighed heavily in the Bruins’ favour. But Ron Delorme, in his third season in the NHL and a member of the Rockies, chose to change that narrative.
The two teams would exchange goals in the first period. In the second, in a bid to fire up their benches, Boston tough guy Stan Jonathan and Delorme squared off in a spirited tilt, though it was rare for Indigenous players to fight each other, and on this night, they were of the same mindset.
Early in the third period, Colorado and Boston would exchange goals. The Rockies scored two more in 11 seconds, the second unassisted by Delorme. The Bruins’ bench went from shock to outrage when Delorme, encouraged by a teammate, celebrated his goal by pretending to take an arrow out of his quiver and shoot Bruins’ goaltender Gilles Gilbert.
Boston’s volatile coach Don Cherry threw his jacket off and tried to scale the glass to get at Delorme to send a message. It was 30 seconds later when John Wensink and Terry O’Reilly charged Delorme. O’Reilly arrived first, and Delorme answered the bell as he always did, and the mystique of the Boston Bruins took a sizable hit as the Rockies walked out of the Boston Garden with a 4-2 victory.
The next season Cherry would be Delorme’s coach in Colorado and wouldn’t you know it: Delorme quickly became one of ‘Grapes’ favourites because “he played like a Bruin”.
On Hockey Night in Canada’s ‘Coaches Corner’ as well as the speaking circuit, Cherry loved to tell the tale of the night Ron Delorme scored an insurance goal, taunted the Bruins bench in Boston and took on two of the toughest ‘Big Bad Bruins’. Cherry would always conclude with: “And he lived!”
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Editor’s Note: Mike Hall has been named recipient of the prestigious 2016 Jake Milford Award for service and dedication to hockey in British Columbia dating back 40 years. He is a long-time associate member of the Canucks Alumni, having joined the Canucks as a Game Day Entertainment consultant in 1996 following award-winning production careers at CKVU-TV and BCTV.