Hockey legend Bobby Orr visits Bradenton

The line snaked around the room with fans waiting for their turn to grab an autographed copy of “Orr: My Story.”

After everyone had a chance to get their copy and an autograph, Hall of Fame hockey player Bobby Orr held court for more than an hour with former teammate Derek Sanderson and friend Vern Stenlund at Bradenton Country Club on Wednesday night.

Orr, who won several individual awards and two Stanley Cups during nine full seasons in an injury-shortened career, is often listed with Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe as the best players in history.

So Orr’s debut book became a New York Times best-seller after it was published in 2013. Stenlund helped Orr write the book, which detailed Orr’s youth and playing days with the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks. The book also examined Orr’s take on the game today.

The defenseman joined Sanderson on stage Wednesday night with Stenlund emceeing the event.

Some of the highlights, along with a few questions the Herald had for Orr.

Orr on Don Cherry not being in the Hall of Fame

“I think it’s a disgrace that Don isn’t in the Hall of Fame for this reason: If you read the criteria for entry, contribution to the game. Nobody, nobody in the game, player, broadcaster, I mean you can hate him ... but nobody does for our game, nobody, what he does. Nobody. And it’s a disgrace.”

Orr on not feeling pushed by his parents

“When I was a kid, people would come up to my father and say, ‘You’ve got a kid that’s going to be in the NHL.’ My dad would come to me and he’d say, ‘Look, just go out and have fun and just see what happens.’ I wish more parents and grandparents would look at it that way.”

What rule would Orr change?

“Why aren’t we making our kids handle the puck? And the coaches in minor hockey are coaching the same way (as the NHL): shoot the puck up the glass, chip it in, chip it out, chip it in, chip it out, chip it in, chip it out. ... They don’t have to handle the puck coming out of their end; they don’t have to make a pass. Shoot it up the glass. Then in the summer time, we all pay hundreds of dollars to send your kids to skills camp. Wow! Think about it. Think about how silly it is. Why don’t we put that center line back in? Make it a safer game for our kids. ... Make them handle the puck in their end, make them make passes coming out of their end. Those are the skills that we have to learn. But what do we do? Chip it out, chip it in, chip it out, chip it in.”

BH: Why did you write the book?

ORR: “I resisted it for a long, long time and then I thought maybe it’d be fun. Put it on paper and in doing it, thank people, bring back some old memories, thank people that helped out along the way, what I went through as a kid, what my family went through. ... And I’ve known Vern for a long, long time. We were playing golf one day. I said, ‘What do you think? Well, let’s put some thought into it.’”

BH: What’s the state of the NHL today compared to your playing days?

ORR: “I think the NHL is in great shape. ... The one thing is these guys are so big and so fast and they’re so strong. It’s dangerous. You look at the Tampa team with the injuries. ... We have to somehow slow them down. Give me a way to do it, except put the center line back in.”

This story was originally published March 30, 2017 at 7:18 PM with the headline "Hockey legend Bobby Orr visits Bradenton."