1979-80 O-Pee-Chee 375 Dennis O’Brien Hockey Card (Front)
1979-80 O-Pee-Chee 375 Dennis O’Brien Hockey Card (Back)
1979-80 O-Pee-Chee NHL Checklist
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Card Notes
Dennis fills void in Bruins’ defensive corps & bolsters blueliners. Dennis played with 4 NHL teams during the 1977-78 season.
En Français
Dennis est un élément important de l’escouade défensive des Bruins. Dennis joua pour 4 équipes de la LNH durant la saison 1977-78.
Details
Dennis O’Brien would play just three games with the Boston Bruins in 1979-80, his last three games in the NHL. He also played six games in the NHL with the Broome Dusters before calling it a career.
In 1977-78, O’Brien put on the miles. He started the year with the Minnesota North Stars, the team that drafted him in the second round of the 1969 NHL Amateur Draft. After 13 games, Dennis was on the move to Denver where he played 16 games for the Colorado Rockies.
A move east came next, playing 23 games for the Cleveland Barons. O’Brien finally landed with the Bruins, playing 16 games to end the regular season and 14 more in the playoffs, helping Boston reach the Stanley Cup final.
O’Brien was the first to play for four different NHL teams in a single season. Since, three players have tied the record but no one had played for five. The other three include Dave McLlwain, Mark Arcobello and Jussi Jokinen.
A stay-at-home defenseman that scored just 31 regular season goals over his career, O’Brien was a clutch player with five of those being game winners. He had one shorthanded goal over his career, scored on November 6, 1974 at Maple Leaf Gardens. Dennis put one past Toronto goalie Doug Favell, assisted by J.P. Parise, while Dennis Hextall was in the box. Unfortunately, this was the last goal of the game in a 7-4 loss.
Ironically, it was Favell that gave up O’Brien’s only career post season goal. In game one of the 1972-73 Stanley Cup quarter-final between the North Stars and Philadelphia Flyers, Dennis scored on Favell at 19:45 of the second period, assisted by Murray Oliver and Lou Nanne. The goal made the score 2-0 and the Stars would take the game 3-0. Dennis also had a scrap with Dave Schultz with 13 seconds left in the match.
Between 1970-71 and 1979-80, Dennis O’Brien played 592 regular season and 34 playoff games in the National Hockey League with the North Stars, Rockies, Barons and Bruins.