O'Ree enjoys taking part in Bruins number retirement ceremony virtually

SAN DIEGO --
Willie O'Ree
stood in front of a large TV monitor in a first-floor room that had been converted into a makeshift studio in the home of his daughter, Chandra.

O'Ree, his wife, Deljeet, and Chandra linked arms as they watched a banner with O'Ree's No. 22 Boston Bruins jersey rise to the rafters of TD Garden in Boston on Tuesday, with a production crew capturing the moment and other family members and friends huddling around a TV in an adjoining room.
Tears streamed down O'Ree's face, and the first Black player in NHL history took a deep breath as the banner slowly went up, making him the 12th player in Bruins history to have his number retired.
"I tried to hold it back," the 86-year-old Hockey Hall of Famer said later. "But I just couldn't hold it in."
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O'Ree, who lives in San Diego, participated in the ceremony virtually due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. But being 3,000 miles from Boston didn't diminish the joy for the O'Rees.
"This is a special moment for me and my family," O'Ree said as family and friends gave him a champagne and apple cider toast following the ceremony. "Thank you so much for being here."
The ceremony, held before the
Bruins lost 7-1
to the Carolina Hurricanes, capped a day full of media interviews and a few surprises for O'Ree, the NHL diversity ambassador, on the 64th anniversary of his NHL debut for Boston at the Montreal Canadiens.
O'Ree was eating breakfast at a hotel here when longtime friends Kevin Hodgson, Norm Flynn and Paul Jackman suddenly walked into the restaurant.
Hodgson, the recipient of the 2021 Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award and executive director of HEROS (Hockey Education Reaching Out Society); Flynn, founder of the program; and Jackman, president of the Westchester Hockey Organization; flew in from western Canada and New York to be with O'Ree. They hadn't seen him in person in two years because of the pandemic.
The three were planning to go to Boston for the event but changed plans when they heard that O'Ree wouldn't be there.
"It was a no-brainer," Hodgson said of going to San Diego. "We had to be with him. He's the whole reason we do what we do."
They even brought the Community Hero Award with them so O'Ree could formally present it to Hodgson.

A crew from the San Diego Gulls of the American Hockey League dropped by the hotel about an hour later under the pretense of doing a retirement ceremony interview. But the crew was there to record O'Ree receiving a blue Gulls No. 20 road jersey that the forward wore when he played for the Western Hockey League version of the team. The jersey was recently secured by the NHL at an auction.
O'Ree played seven seasons with San Diego (1967-74) and scored 30 or more goals twice in that span (1968-69, 1973-74).
"Oh my God," O'Ree said. "Oh, my God look at that. This is unbelievable. This is so great."

O'Ree got a surprise FaceTime call about an hour before the Carolina-Boston game from former NHL players Joel Ward and Fred Brathwaite, who are coaches for Henderson, the AHL affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights.
"Congratulations, we're very excited for you, long overdue," said Brathwaite, a goalie who played 254 NHL games with the Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis Blues, Calgary Flames and Columbus Blue Jackets.
"I just want to say that we're thinking of you and just thank you for everything you've done," said Ward, a forward who played 726 NHL games for the Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, Washington Capitals and San Jose Sharks. "It's long overdue, as Fred said. We're just excited here."

Since becoming the diversity ambassador in 1998, O'Ree has helped establish 39 grassroots hockey programs in North America as part of the Hockey is for Everyone initiative, inspiring more than 130,000 boys and girls to play the sport. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in November 2018 in the Builders category.
The other Boston players to have their numbers retired are: Lionel Hitchman (No. 3, 1934); Dit Clapper (No. 5, 1947); Eddie Shore (No. 2, 1949); Milt Schmidt (No. 15, 1957); Bobby Orr (No. 4, 1979); Johnny Bucyk, (No. 9, 1980); Phil Esposito (No. 7, 1987); Ray Bourque (No. 77, 2001); Terry O'Reilly (No. 24, 2002); Cam Neely (No. 8, 2004); and Rick Middleton (No. 16, 2018).