Orr’s coach in squirt changed the game
Decision to make brilliant skater a defenceman revolutionized hockey
Ten years before an 18-year-old Bobby Orr first laced up his skates — barefoot, of course — with the Boston Bruins, a man in Parry Sound, decided he was better off playing defence than on the wing.
That man, 82-year-old Royce Tennant, has been living in Nanaimo for 20 years, and had a part in changing the way hockey is played for generations of Canadian defencemen.
And after two seasons together as coach and player with the Parry Sound Shamrocks squirt all-star team, they lost contact for more than half a century.
But in 2013, Orr called his old coach to ask him to write the foreword in his recent autobiography, Orr: My Story.
Tennant remembers the phone call from Orr, believed by many to be the best player in hockey history.
“He said, ‘as you know, I could have asked anybody in Canada to write it,’” Tennant recalled.
In 1956, Orr was eight, Tennant was 23.
Tennant had grown up playing hockey with Doug Orr, Bobby’s father. He was a junior A centreman, his left- and right-wingers earning hockey scholarships to Clarkson University.
“Even though I was the top scorer, I didn’t have what it took,” Tennant said, “I was too skinny.”
In Parry Sound, hockey was everything. There were 10 squirt teams, with an all-star group of them to play against the peewees and to tour outside of town.
The all-star Shamrocks, coached by Tennant, were in need of players, so he went out to watch the young Orr, who was playing on a squirt house team.
Tennant, like many, figured Orr lacked bulk.
“Bobby was too skinny, but he could skate,” Tennant said. “I started him on right wing, but as soon as I knew he could carry the puck the full length of the ice, going between everybody, I moved him back on the ice and he stayed on defence.”
It was a decision that eventually changed the way the defence position is played.
It paved the way for later smoothskating, offensive defencemen like Paul Coffey, Nicklas Lidstrom and Ray Bourque to carry the puck from their own goal-line, making swift decisions while the entire play unfolded in front of them.
“I just knew that as soon as I got my first taste of the game playing defence, I liked it,” Orr, now 67, wrote in his autobiography.
“I was too young to realize that from back of the blue-line you could see the play develop in front of you better than if you played as a forward.
“I got all the freedom from Coach Tennant I needed to rush the puck. He never asked me to stay back — he just let me play to my strengths.
“I’ve been given a lot of credit over the years for being one of the first true rushing defencemen.
“But the truth is that the credit should be given to the man who coached me when I was in the squirt division, and to the coaches in my life who would follow.”
It was a decision Royce never made again. In fact, he never coached again after his two years with Orr as his star player, instead electing to run boys’ camps.
Local Parry Sound hockey and lacrosse star “Bucko” McDonald was brought in to run the all-star teams. Tennant lost touch with Orr as he went on to become a surefire superstar as a 14-year-old with the Oshawa Generals, then the Bruins.
Tennant never wanted to bother Orr for tickets, or for a favour, but he still went to watch him play dozens of times at Maple Leaf Gardens.
One memory stands out more than most.
“When Bobby was 15 years old, the Toronto Marlboros were going to play the top team from Russia and asked Bobby, at 15, if he would come and help their defence,” Tennant said.
“So I went to Maple Leaf Gardens and this game was just incredible. The Russians were showing off their passing, they beat the Marlboros something like 7-1, and the only Canadian player that could skate with the Russians was Bobby.”
Tennant grew up in Parry Sound, later spending 20 years in Fergus, Ont., when his summer camps folded up.
He made his money in picture framing, retiring at age 55 when he decided he wanted to move to the West Coast.
He arrived in Nanaimo, settling down in the Dover Bay area. He now publishes history books and sells antique prints.
It was a surprise when Orr phoned Tennant two years ago to write the foreword for his autobiography.
“I said ‘Bob who?’ He said ‘Bob. Bob Orr.’ He said, ‘Royce, nobody else calls me Bobby anymore, it’s Bob.’ He said, ‘You can call me Bobby, but you’re the only one.’”