SCORE Boston could see another growth spurt with help of IGF grant

BOSTON -- Willie O'Ree has witnessed firsthand the progress of SCORE Boston Hockey over the years during his visits to the youth hockey program as the NHL’s diversity ambassador.

“A lot of young hockey players have come up through the years, and I'm just happy that I had the opportunity to work with some of these boys and girls at the beginning,” said O’Ree, who became the NHL’s first Black player when he debuted with the Boston Bruins against the Montreal Canadiens at the Montreal Forum on Jan. 18, 1958. “They’ve grown over the years.”

SCORE Boston looks to continue its growth spurt with the help of the NHL and NHL Players’ Association Industry Growth Fund and the Boston Bruins Foundation.

SCORE Boston, an affiliate of the NHL’s Hockey Is For Everyone initiative, is awaiting final approval on an IGF grant that will provide the resources for the program and its players to compete in Boston area leagues for the first time.

Launched in 1995, SCORE Boston has primarily been a hockey starter program that focused on Learn to Skate and Learn to Play programs for boys and girls ages 5 through 14 and occasionally played against other teams.

“The grant will allow us to help kids develop to be not just a bystander, but truly a player,” SCORE Boston president Wendell Taylor said. “But most importantly, it makes us part of the Boston hockey community. We’ve been on the side, almost a novelty, who meets once a week. Now we’re going to be part of this Boston community, and it's been awesome to watch the Boston community embrace us.”

Robert Knesaurek, the NHL’s senior vice president, community development & industry growth, said the pending grant is a prime example of the IGF’s commitment to grow hockey across communities.

“By celebrating inclusion, this exemplifies the core values of the NHL/NHLPA Industry Growth Fund, which has championed investments in community programs that increase access,” participation, and connection to the game since 2013,” Knesaurek said.

Established as part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2013, and supported by every NHL team, the IGF was created to accelerate the development and support League and club business initiatives and projects that promote long-term fan development and increase participation at all levels of hockey with an emphasis on youth.

The pending grant would be the IGF’s latest commitment to Boston area hockey. Through the IGF and the Bruins, the area has benefitted from $3.5 million in club grants since the 2016-17 season.

That includes $1,960,000 from fiscal year 2017 to fiscal year 2020 (from July 1 to June 30) in Youth Hockey Grants to support school assembly programs, Bruins Academy, Massachusetts Hockey support, SCORE Boston support, Learn to Play and the Mayors Cup Street Hockey Tournament.

Since the 2020-2021 season, the Bruins have reached 12,927 total registered Learn to Play participants, averaging more than 3,200 participants per year. About 33 percent have been girls.

IGF has invested $925,532 in the Boston area for Future Goals, an education program that uses the game of hockey as a prism to teach critical science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills to students grades 4-7.

The IGF/Bruins partnership has reached more than 190,000 students from 963 local schools. Each school year, the Bruins host a STEM Day at Warrior Ice Arena, their practice facility, to a deserving local school.

The Bruins incorporated Future Goals™ into their “100 Days of Hockey” leading into the start the start of the team’s Centennial celebration this season.

They kicked off the celebration in September with a trip to Susan B. Anthony School to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, a school with a large population of Spanish-speaking students.