O'Ree's playing ability recalled by teammates ahead of number retirement

Willie O'Ree
said he got curious reactions from some New Haven Nighthawks players when he walked into their locker room for the first time in 1972.

"There were three of four players there who I played with or against," O'Ree said of the now defunct American Hockey League team. "The rest of them were kids. I'm walking down and I can hear some of these kids say, 'Who is that old guy?'"
They soon found out.
At 37, O'Ree was New Haven's fifth-leading scorer with 45 points (21 goals, 24 assists) in 50 games. He scored one goal and four points fewer than
Garry Howatt
(22 goals, 49 points in 65 games) and nine goals and 23 points more than
Bobby Nystrom
(12 goals, 22 points in 60 games), rookie professionals who would become cornerstones of the New York Islanders' four Stanley Cup championships from 1979-83.
RELATED: [Learn more about Willie O'Ree]
"He was definitely a good player," Nystrom said. "He was very good with the puck, had tremendous speed. He was built like a racer. He looked like he could run the 100-yard dash."

When the Boston Bruins retire O'Ree's No. 22 before their game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; SNE, SNO, TVAS, NESN, BSSO, ESPN+, NHL LIVE), fans will applaud him for becoming the first Black player in the NHL when he debuted against the Montreal Canadiens on Jan. 18, 1958, at Montreal Forum.
Or they will recognize O'Ree for his post-playing work as NHL diversity ambassador, helping to inspire more than 120,000 kids to take up hockey as part of the NHL Hockey Is For Everyone initiative, a role that led to his induction in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018 in the Builders category.
But few may realize just how good a player O'Ree was. His NHL career was brief, 45 games in two seasons with the Bruins (two games in 1957-58, 43 in 1960-61), during which he scored 14 points (four goals, 10 assists).
But O'Ree had a lengthy and prolific minor league career despite being legally blind in his right eye, the result of an injury he sustained while playing junior hockey Nov. 22, 1955.
O'Ree scored 639 points (328 goals, 311 assists) in 785 games with the Los Angeles Blades and San Diego Gulls of the Western Hockey League from 1961-74.
He led the WHL with 38 goals in 1964-65, one of five 30-goal seasons in the league (1964-65, 1965-66, 1966-67, 1968-69, 1973-74).
"He could score from outside, he could score from inside," said goalie
Jack McCartan
, a teammate of O'Ree's in Los Angeles and San Diego and a member of the first United States hockey team to win an Olympic gold medal, in 1960. "His speed got him places where other guys couldn't get to."

O'Ree's speed was the first thing Nystrom, Howatt and goalie
Glenn "Chico" Resch
noticed when he joined New Haven on loan from San Diego in 1972.
He hesitantly agreed to trade sunny San Diego and flights for WHL road trips for chilly New Haven and long AHL bus rides largely because he wasn't getting much playing time with the Gulls early that season, and because New Haven coach Parker MacDonald told O'Ree that there were some promising young players who could use veteran guidance.
"I was very nervous and not very confident, and Willie was all of that," said Resch, who won the Stanley Cup with the Islanders in 1980 and played 571 NHL games with New York, the Colorado Rockies/New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia Flyers.
"When he got on the ice he could dance around on his skates," Resch said. "I can still see Willie coming down that left wing in practice. He could cut laterally so sharp. When he cut sharp left, [Wayne] Gretzky did this too, that defenseman continued going back and Willie created space."
Nystrom said O'Ree's skating ability was reminiscent of Montreal Canadiens right wing Yvan Cournoyer, the Hockey Hall of Famer whose blazing speed earned him the nickname "Roadrunner," and helped him score 863 points (428 goals, 435 assists) in 968 games.
"He's kind of leaning over, really fast and good with the puck," said Nystrom, who scored 513 points (235 goals, 278 assists) in 900 games for the Islanders from 1972-86. "Once he got the puck, he could really fly."

Nystrom said O'Ree also reminded him of Islanders teammate
Butch Goring
, who provided a steady veteran presence after the center was acquired in a trade with the Los Angeles Kings on March 10, 1980. Goring was voted the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 1981.
"There were a lot of young guys on that New Haven team, myself, Garry Howatt and Chico Resch," Nystrom said. "Willie was kind of the old man who calmed us down. He'd just talk to us, the same thing that Butch Goring did when he came in. He'd be rubbing your back on the bench if you were frustrated. He'd say, 'Everything will work out fine.'"
Resch said it was O'Ree's actions on the ice that spoke loudest to New Haven's young players.
"Willie scored 21 goals, he was having success," said Resch, a radio analyst for the Devils. "I think what players saw was his determination and not getting intimidated, because if you succumbed to intimidation you wouldn't last.
"And Willie brought an intentional attitude that practice has more of a meaning than getting your heart rate up. I think that's what most people admired about Willie, showing that this is the way you're meant to be a pro, this is the way you stay in the game."
Photos:John Musco