from Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe,

“Inside the blue line in the Bruins’ offensive zone,” Dotson recalled. “He was trying to keep the puck in the zone. He goes at it. The North Stars player goes at it. Their two sticks collided. The puck goes over the glass. I’m sitting in Row 8. It came right to me and I caught it. I’m superstitious to begin with. To me, a puck off Bobby Orr’s stick three days before I’m shipping off to Vietnam is a good omen.”...

As platoon leader, part of Dotson’s duties was to track enemy installations and call in air strikes. His 14-man platoon would usually go out in two helicopters. Dotson was the last one to board and the first man off.

One day, as he prepared to board, Dotson noticed he had left his puck behind. He would not leave without his talisman. Dotson had a radio operator get off the helicopter to retrieve the puck. This delayed the helicopters’ departure.

“The squad leader wants to know why we’re not going,” Dotson said. “I say, ‘I had to pick up my puck.’ He says OK, walks back to the helicopter, and tells the pilot. This time, the pilot says, ‘What goddamn hockey puck?’ He was from California. In ’69, there’s hardly any teams out there.”

read on with Orr getting involved and more topics too...