O’Ree, Jackson Dorrington take part in ‘Pass the Torch Jamboree’ in Boston

BOSTON -- A hockey legend and a hockey legacy shared a moment at Northeastern University’s Matthews Arena on Saturday.

Willie O'Ree and Jackson Dorrington performed a ceremonial face-off at the “Pass the Torch Jamboree,” a youth hockey event to celebrate the Boston Bruins’ 100th anniversary and to highlight diversity and inclusivity in the sport in the Boston area.

It was the first meeting between O’Ree, who became the NHL’s first Black player when he debuted with the Boston Bruins on Jan. 18, 1958, and Dorrington, captain of Northeastern’ s NCAA Division I men’s hockey team.

The 20-year-old junior defenseman is also a cousin of the late Art Dorrington, who became the first Black player to sign an NHL contract when he did so with the New York Rangers in 1950, but never played in the NHL.

Jackson Dorrington hopes that he can honor his cousin and O’Ree and reach the NHL. He was selected by the Vancouver Canucks in the sixth round (No. 176) of the 2022 NHL Draft.

“If I can make the NHL and carry on their legacies, that would mean the world to me,” Dorrington said. “He kind of diversified the game, showed that anyone can play hockey.”

O’Ree said he was impressed by Dorrington wearing an alternate captain’s “A” and for taking the time with his Huskies teammates to help out at the “Pass the Torch Jamboree,” which featured about 50 players from SCORE Boston Hockey, an NHL Hockey Is For Everyone affiliate, and adaptive players and other youth hockey players from the Boston area and Montreal.

The NHL, the Bruins, Massachusetts Hockey, an affiliate of USA Hockey, and Hockey East helped support the event.

The showcase had a double meaning for Dorrington. It was a chance to celebrate his family’s hockey legacy -- his older brother Max Dorrington is a graduate student forward for NCAA Division I Sacred Heart University -- and highlight a growing legacy of Black players at Northeastern.

Dorrington said he was drawn to Northeastern because Montreal Canadiens defenseman Jayden Struble and Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Jordan Harris played there.

Dorrington and freshman forward Ethan Fredericks are on this season’s Northeastern roster, and forward Grayson Badger, a forward for Alberni Valley of the British Columbia Hockey League, has committed to play for the Huskies next season.

They stand on the shoulders of players like forward Wayne Turner, who co-captained the Huskies in 1979-80 and scored in overtime to power Northeastern to a 5-4 win against Boston College on Feb. 11, 1980, for its first Beanpot tournament championship.

“Definitely seeing like, players like Jordan Harris and Jayden Struble come through here kind of made me think, ‘Oh, this is a place that is accepting, and they definitely encourage this.’ They had a lot of success, and now they're in the NHL. I just want to fall on their footsteps.”

It's a legacy that Harris said he’s pleased to see building.

“What’s really cool is it’s a lot of local kids like Jackson Dorrington (North Reading, Massachusetts), ‘Stubs’ (Cumberland, Rhode Island) and me (Haverhill, Massachusetts),” said Harris, who is a member of the NHL Player Inclusion Coalition. “My dad hosted summer scrimmages and just seeing five, six players of color just buzzing around, having fun and seeing three-quarters of them with Northeastern logos on their stuff makes you feel like a proud alum.”

The jamboree was part of a busy Saturday for O’Ree. He attended the unveiling of a statue at Portal Park outside TD Garden commemorating the Bruins’ 100th anniversary.

O’Ree began the day at Phil & Cory Castinetti’s Sportsworld memorabilia shop in Saugus, Massachusetts, where a long line of fans waited to have photos, hockey cards, wooden seats from the old Boston Garden, and almost anything else, autographed.

“At 8 a.m., people were already waiting outside,” Phil Castinetti said. “He’s a legend and people wanted to see him, and they got here to make sure they wouldn’t miss him.”

O’Ree played 45 games for the Bruins over two seasons (1957-58, 1960-61) and had 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) despite being legally blind in his right eye, the result of an injury sustained playing junior hockey.

He had a lengthy pro career, mostly in the WHL, where he had 639 points (328 goals, 311 assists) in 785 games for Los Angeles and San Diego.

He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Builders category in 2018, largely for his off-ice contributions, including helping to establish 39 grassroots hockey programs in North America as part of the NHL's Hockey is for Everyone initiative, which has introduced the sport to more than 130,000 boys and girls.

The Bruins retired O'Ree's No. 22 on Jan. 18, 2022, during a ceremony at TD Garden. President Joe Biden signed a bill into law on Jan. 31, 2022, to award O'Ree the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. Congress.