O'Ree returns to Boston, excited to host Skills Weekend

BOSTON --
Willie O'Ree
returned to Boston for the first time in a year to preside over a youth skills weekend that bears his name and to see his Boston Bruins jersey banner hang in the TD Garden rafters in person.

O'Ree, who became the first Black NHL player when he joined the Bruins for a game against the Montreal Canadiens in Montreal on Jan. 18, 1958, was in town for the 2022 Willie O'Ree Skills Weekend.
"It's really good to be back here," O'Ree said. "Boston is like a second home to me."
The event, a gathering of more the 57 boys and girls representing 17 Hockey Is For Everyone programs from across the United States and Canada, was postponed in 2021 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.
It's being hosted by the Bruins, the NHL and SCORE Boston, a Hockey Is For Everyone affiliate.
"We wanted to get the kids to return to normalcy, give them a chance to realize that things were going to get back to normal and how close we are to that," SCORE Boston president Wendell Taylor said. "In light of Willie's [jersey] retirement ceremony, we wanted to make sure that we recognize who he is, what he's given back to the community, what he's given back to this sport, what he's given back to these programs."

The young players attended a banquet Friday and listened to O'Ree discuss his historic hockey journey, from his boyhood in Fredericton, New Brunswick, to his NHL debut at Montreal Forum.
"I just want to tell you that you can do anything you set your minds to," he said. "You need to set goals for yourself and believe in yourself and don't let anyone tell you that you can't achieve your goals."
O'Ree and the skills weekend participants were thrilled for the event's return.
"It's an honor to be here, really," said Alyia Bennett, a 14-year-old player for the Detroit Ice Dreams Youth Hockey Association who had attended the 2020 skills weekend. "I missed interacting with other players from other states."
O'Ree will give the skills participants a pep talk Saturday before they compete in games at Warrior Arena, the Bruins practice facility. They will spend Saturday night at TD Garden to watch the Bruins host the Columbus Blue Jackets (7 p.m. ET; NESN, BSOH, ESPN+, NHL LIVE).
O'Ree also will attend the game and see the banner with his name and No. 22 that hangs in the arena rafters with 11 other Bruins greats.
The Bruins retired O'Ree's number during a pregame ceremony Jan. 18
, but he was unable to attend due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. He watched the ceremony from his daughter's home in San Diego, holding back tears as the banner rose to the Garden roof.
O'Ree played 45 NHL games during two seasons (1957-58, 1960-61) with the Bruins and scored 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) despite being legally blind in his right eye, the result of an injury sustained while playing junior hockey.
But he had a lengthy pro career, mostly in the Western Hockey League, where he scored 639 points (328 goals, 311 assists) in 785 games with Los Angeles and San Diego.
O'Ree was named NHL diversity ambassador in 1998. He has helped establish 39 grassroots hockey programs and inspired more than 120,000 boys and girls to play the sport.
The bill to present O'Ree the Congressional Gold Medal was signed into law by President Joe Biden on Feb. 1. It is awarded to individuals or groups for distinguished achievements and contributions. Recipients include George Washington, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Jackie Robinson, Thomas Edison, Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King.
O'Ree was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018 as a Builder. His life story was chronicled in "Willie," an award-winning documentary released in 2019.
A life-sized bronze statue of O'Ree highlights a Black hockey exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.
In March, O'Ree joined the ownership group of the Boston Pride of the Premier Hockey Federation, a North American women's professional league.
Photos:Benjamin Connolly