O'Ree finalist spotlight: Derek Klein

The Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award is given to an individual who, through hockey, has positively impacted his or her community culture or society. The award honors O'Ree, the former NHL forward who became the first Black player to play in the NHL on Jan. 18, 1958, and has spent more than two decades as the NHL's diversity ambassador. The winner is determined by a fan vote, which is from April 3-16, as well as a judging panel with weighted votes from Willie O'Ree, the NHL and, for the award in Canada, representatives from Hyundai. New this year, there will be a winner from the United States and one from Canada. Today, a look at one of three Canada finalists, Derek Klein.

Derek Klein remembers the crumbling arena of some three decades ago, in his earliest days as chief executive officer of the Big River First Nation in central Saskatchewan.
"We had a condemned rink with chicken wire (as the glass). You could see through the walls," Klein said. "And I look at what we have today -- a high school and an attached arena built with First Nation money and an amazing partnership with the federal and provincial government, New York Rangers and with the Western Hockey League's Saskatoon Blades and Prince Albert Raiders. We're a lot stronger together."
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Klein played an influential role in a $47 million project that is a focal point of the Big River First Nation reservation, about 135 miles north of Saskatoon in Saskatchewan's hinterlands.
The facility, which opened last September and is named for late NHL defenseman Jim Neilson, firmly ties education to sports and recreation, things that are dear to Klein's heart.
"There are many struggles on a reservation," Klein said. "We wanted a safe haven for children, and as we spoke with Jim and his three children as the project was taking shape, we agreed on the importance of education. We wanted something that brought education and sports together. For a child here now, if he or she comes to school, there's an opportunity to play hockey and to enjoy sports.
"We wanted to do something for our children -- to build a new school for grades 7-12 with an arena that's attached, giving them the opportunity to skate every day and to improve our minor hockey system. We can start our programs at 8 o'clock in the morning and go through 3:30 in the afternoon, then give it over to minor hockey."
The Jim Neilson Sports Complex honors the First Nation defenseman, who played 1,024 NHL games from 1962-78 for the Rangers, California Golden Seals and Cleveland Barons, finishing his career in 1978-79 alongside rookie Wayne Gretzky in the World Hockey Association with the Edmonton Oilers.

Neilson, who died Nov. 5, 2020, at age 79, was a First Nation band member from the Big River community. He was a preschooler when he and two sisters were moved 75 miles northwest to an orphanage in Prince Albert, where he learned to skate and play hockey until age 16, when he was scouted by the Rangers to play junior.
He saw his first live regular-season NHL game when he played in one at age 21, at Madison Square Garden in New York on Oct. 11, 1962, against the Detroit Red Wings.
Klein got to know Neilson in the later years of the latter's life, digging into his history to learn how important ancestry was to the defenseman and to his First Nation community.
"Unfortunately, Jimmy didn't make it to the arena opening, but we think it reflects what he would have wanted, and what his children were eager to have," Klein said.
Where First Nation youth often had to go elsewhere for education and sports opportunities, now many in Saskatchewan are coming to Big River, its population of about 3,000 including nearly 800 school-age children.
The Neilson complex opened Sept. 5, 2022, with a WHL preseason game between Saskatoon and Prince Albert that was attended by the Neilson family, government officials and proud members of the community, and Rangers alumnus Adam Graves, who was representing the team that is an important partner.
The multisport facility is the envy of much of a province that has sent 527 players to the NHL -- 486 skaters and 41 goalies. Planned for more than 10 years with Klein at the head of the project, it features an arena that seats about 1,000 spectators and sports facilities indoors, with an outdoor artificial-turf soccer field, a large pow-wow arbor for song and dance, a running track and fields for lacrosse and baseball.

This season, 12 minor hockey teams -- seven for boys, five for girls -- have been part of a 400-skater Big River program.
"A lot of kids didn't know Jim's story," Klein said. "But they see now that if Jim can make it, so can they. In another 10 or 15 years, we might have another Jim Neilson in the NHL. Before that, we're going to have many more teachers, lawyers, police, doctors and engineers because of the Neilson facility.
"Some of these children come from one-parent families, broken homes, but now they have something to get up for every day -- to come to school and play hockey, or soccer, or lacrosse. When a child comes to the school today, it's a safe place for them where we feed them breakfast and lunch.
"I'm in charge of the whole operation of the reservation but my passion is about educating children and giving them an opportunity in sports and recreation. I want them to have a level playing field with everybody else in the world."
The winner from Canada will receive the Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award presented by Hyundai in Canada. The Canada winner will be announced on Sportsnet during the 2023 Stanley Cup Final and the U.S. winner will be announced at the NHL Awards on June 26 in Nashville. Each winner will receive a $25,000 USD prize, and the four remaining finalists will receive $5,000, to be donated to a charity of their choice.