Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his humor and insight with readers each Wednesday.
This week goes back 64 years to describe a special event in the life of Hockey Hall of Famer Willie O'Ree.
It started in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and Willie O'Ree never forgot it. He learned his hockey on the ponds of Canada's Maritime province, always dreaming of the day he'd play in the NHL but knowing that it might never happen.
After all, never -- until Jan. 18, 1958 -- did a Black man skate in the NHL. As it happened, Willie O'Ree from Fredericton was that memorable personality and an inspiration to endless young stickhandlers right into another century. His dream was realized when he had a two-game cup of coffee with the Boston Bruins, but that wasn't enough.
"I knew I had more to give," O'Ree told me, "I just hoped that I wouldn't run out of time and that I'd get another shot at 'The Show.'"
Three years passed and O'Ree was playing for the 1960-61 Hull-Ottawa Canadiens, a Montreal Canadiens farm team in the Eastern Professional Hockey League. Averaging a point a game, he finally got the call he prayed for, from Bruins general manager Lynn Patrick.
"Willie, you're a Bruin again," Patrick said. "Report to the big club."
On New Year's Day 1961, O'Ree again donned the Bruins' brown and white, only this time he would experience a more positive thrill. While the Boston Garden crowd cheered, their last-place Bruins nursed a 2-1 lead over the League-leading Canadiens well into the third period.
It was then that O'Ree beat Montreal goalie Charlie Hodge for his first NHL goal, the first ever scored in the League by a Black player. O'Ree made sure to remember his roots by shouting: "This one's for Fredericton" while the red light flashed.
O'Ree's milestone goal represented only half of his major accomplishments. The other was no less amazing, at least in a physical sense. He had scored, although nobody knew it at the time, while half-blind.
"I'd been playing with only one good eye," O'Ree said. "I'd lost sight in my right eye during a Junior game after I was hit with a puck. The doctors told me that I'd be blind in that eye and could never play hockey again.
"I wouldn't accept that. The medic didn't know of my burning desire not only to play pro hockey but to eventually make it to the NHL, but I also knew that the League had a rule against anyone like me playing with limited eyesight.
"I decided to keep my half-blindness to myself. And I was able to adjust while playing left wing. I compensated by turning my head far over my right shoulder and it worked."
O'Ree signed with the Quebec Aces. When the Bruins needed help in the 1957-58 season, he was promoted to Boston for the first time.
"That was small potatoes compared to what happened after that," said former Associated Press lead hockey writer Ben Olan. "In the end, O'Ree's landmark first NHL goal in 1961 was a far bigger thing."
Said O'Ree: "We were playing against the Canadiens that night. They were at the top and we were on the bottom. Surprisingly, we were ahead, 2-1 into the second period and now skating 4-on-4. I was on left wing. broke free from my check and put the afterburners on when my defenseman, Leo Boivin, hit me with a perfect pass."
He then had to split the Canadiens defense: Jean-Guy Talbot and future Hall of Famer Tom Johnson were waiting for him.
"I sped past them, giving me a clear path to the net," O'Ree said. "It was me against Hodge, who was a darn good goalie, Suddenly, I recalled advice I got from teammate Bronco Horvath. He told me to shoot low. As i moved in, all I could hear was Bronco: 'Shoot the puck low, Willie!'
"My shot was an inch high and hit the inside of the post before going in. I dove into the net and grabbed the rubber while the fans gave me a standing ovation."
The Boston Globe would describe it as "a consummately skillful effort." The time of O'Ree's goal was 10:07 of the third period, but the game wasn't over. Trailing 3-1, Montreal's Henri Richard beat Bruce Gamble at 13:06, making it a 3-2 thriller.
"It got scary, but we held them off the rest of the way," O'Ree said, "and my goal turned out to be the winner. Quite a feather in my hat."
O'Ree would play 43 games for Boston, score three more goals and finish the season with four goals, 10 assists, 14 points and 26 penalty minutes. He scored his last NHL goal against the Chicago Black Hawks on March 19, 1961, and on Nov. 10 was traded to the Canadiens, a powerful, first-place team with no room for him. O'Ree returned to Hull-Ottawa and then played six Western Hockey League seasons in Los Angeles before moving to San Diego under hockey executive Max McNab, who considered him his rock star.
"He was a huge hero in California," McNab said. "The pity was that he didn't have more time to show his skills in the NHL, but he was quite a pioneer for our sport."
Then, a pause: "We loved Willie dearly!"
And so has the rest of the hockey world to this day. For many years, O'Ree has captivated fans as an NHL goodwill ambassador, preaching diversity, teaching skills to kids while never forgetting his youthful roots. Not to mention the exclamation after his first NHL goal on New Year's Day, 1961:
"THIS ONE'S FOR FREDERICTON!"
