Riley puck drop highlights Capitals Black History Night

WASHINGTON -- Two generations of Black hockey history from one family dropped the ceremonial puck before the Washington Capitals hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs Monday night.

Bill Riley, who became the NHL's third Black player when he joined the Capitals in 1974, and his granddaughter Kryshanda Green, a record-setting former Canadian college hockey forward, headlined Washington's Black History Night at Capital One Arena.

"I get lost for words, a little bit choked up on how I've been treated this weekend," Riley said of the honor. "My mother is over 90 years old. I think she's going to have tears in her eyes."

Riley joined forward Mike Marson, who became the NHL's second Black player 16 years after Willie O'Ree joined the Boston Bruins on Jan. 18, 1958, for one game in Washington's inaugural team in 1974-75. It marked the first time that an NHL team had more than one Black player.

Riley played 124 more games with the Capitals from 1976-79 and scored 56 points (28 goals, 28 assists). He scored five points (three goals, two assists) in 14 games with the Winnipeg Jets in 1979-80.

Riley wore No. 8 with Washington. The one of things asked for -- and got -- during his visit was an autographed Alex Ovechkin stick.

"I'm the late eight, he's the Great Eight," he said. "I left a lot of goals in that jersey."

Riley's hockey career inspired his granddaughter to wear No. 8 when she played for Ryerson University in Toronto, where she was a record-setting forward from 2016-20 and a captain in her final season.

She's Ryerson's all-time points (83) and assists (47) leader and is second in goals (45) in 121 U Sports regular season games. Green is a member of the NHL's Youth Hockey Inclusion Council.

"I'm proud for what my grandad did, his accomplishments and how he empowered me get to the place I wanted to get to," she said. "To see him receive some praise and some pride from Washington, I'm just floored by it."

The Capitals also paid tribute to Washington's Fort Dupont Cannons and coach Neal Henderson, the founder of North America's oldest minority-oriented youth hockey program.

Capitals players wore special black warmup jerseys with a Fort Dupont Cannons patch on one shoulder. They also wore a decal on the back of their helmets honoring the 2019 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame coach.

A video honoring Henderson was shown on the giant center-ice scoreboard. Riley said he was thrilled to meet Henderson when he helped run a Cannons practice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex, the team's practice facility on Friday.

"I don't know of anybody who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame more than Coach Neal," he said. "I've lived in Nova Scotia all my life and I've had Black teammates but never before in my life have I seen so many kids of color holding hockey sticks in their hands and it did my heart good. And this is the man responsible for that."