O'Ree finalist spotlight: Toni Gillen

The Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award presented by Discover 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. After a public voting period and votes from O'Ree, NHL executives and Discover executives, the winner will be announced in June. There will be a winner from the United States and one from Canada.

Today, a look at one of three United States finalists, Toni Gillen:

Toni Gillen has one mission in her life: making hockey accessible to everyone.

As the director of five different diversified hockey groups in Minnesota (special hockey, sled hockey, deaf and hard of hearing, blind and Warrior), she has done that, having helped hundreds, if not thousands, of people achieve this goal.

"I get excited every time I walk into an ice arena," Gillen said. "And I am trained to always think about, 'What can we do next? How can we make this even more special?' What other barrier can we get rid of? What other hockey program can we start?' If it has to do with hockey, I love every minute of it."

Gillen has been in her role for almost 20 years. When she began, only sled and special hockey teams were available and there were a little more than 50 total players. Now, there are five programs with more than 500 participants.

"The [Minnesota] Wild have been probably our greatest supporters from the start," Gillen said. "Those very first years they gave foundation grants to all of the programs that I had in existence at the time that purchased ice time and jerseys and helmets and all of the things ... sleds. They kind of got rid of a lot of those barriers and I think we got more kids on the ice as a result of it faster."

With the Wild's help, Gillen has been able to expand and grow the outreach of the programs.

"Toni has supported all these diversified hockey programs for many years," said Jane Cashin, whose 32-year-old son, Sam, plays in the special hockey program. "She is all-in to support these programs and whatever they need."

Gillen was named one of three finalists for the Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award in the United States. Public voting is now underway, and the winner, who will be named in June, will receive a $25,000 prize to be donated to the charity of their choice, with the other two finalists each receiving a $5,000 prize donated to a charity of their choice.

"Being a finalist for the Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award presented by Discover means that this is another opportunity for me to share more about all of the programs that we have going on here," Gillen said. "To be able to maybe get this information to another kid who is sitting there thinking that they can't play hockey. Giving another family an opportunity to say my kid can belong. At the very least, it's going to give a lot more exposure to these programs, and if at the end of the day, if it gets another kid on the ice, this has been the greatest blessing I could have asked for."

Nick Hadfield, whose son, Brady, plays blind hockey, said Gillen was and is the driving force behind diversity hockey in Minnesota.

"Toni has been doing this for almost 18 years, and the fact that Minnesota has kind of morphed into not just the state of hockey for hockey, but the state of hockey for diversified hockey. And it absolutely is attributed to her passion to push for equality amongst our players."

That sentiment was echoed by many others.

"What Toni has done for kids of all ages and all different abilities is huge," said Nikki Gullingsrud, whose son, Alex, plays sled hockey. "It's every parent's dream to see your kid be able to do something that they love and be a part of something and be a part of a team. It's priceless."

Wild manager of community relations Bella Iversen nominated Gillen for the award, which she was told about at the Wild's Diversified Hockey Night on Feb. 6.

"It's just really awesome to be able to honor her and celebrate her because she deserves all the recognition," Iverson said. "I think it's completely changed so many lives ... countless lives. This is a full-time job running five programs for the state of Minnesota."

Iversen also said that Gillen is a night nurse. Not surprisingly, few people know that, and not surprisingly, Gillen has another job in which helps people.

"Toni was one of the first people on the board for the Warriors," Tim Loney of the Minnesota Warriors said. "She's enabled us to do a lot of great things. She's gotten us different grants, she's opened doors to people. She knows what needs to be done, how to get it done, knows the people to get it done and she puts in the time."

Learning she was nominated was a surreal experience, and of course Gillen wasn't thinking about herself in the moment.

"It was in that moment, every single emotion, every single thing that I had in my body just bawled up and I just started to cry," she said. "What this means to a lot of these kids is that they belong. They get to say, 'I'm a teammate. I'm a hockey player.' They have friends. It's not just about playing hockey, it's about the social aspects of it. Everything that they have been a spectator of their entire life, they are now a participant."

She has met O'Ree several times and admires what he has done and continues to do.

"I've been fortunate enough to meet Willie on two occasions at a meet and greet," she said. "His story and what he had to overcome to get on the ice and play this game, to be a true hero, really does embody what I see a lot of our kids doing."

Gillen grew up in Minnesota and had brothers who played hockey, but she wasn't allowed since teams did not allow girls on them. Times have changed, and she's doing all she can to make sure everyone, no matter the challenges, can play if they would like to.

"To recognize me is something that, first of all, I never expected but it is such an honor because this isn't about me," she said. "This is about all of them and what everybody does and being on the ice. Fifty years from now, I would like for somebody to see a blind hockey game or a deaf hockey game or a special hockey game and not think twice about it and just think of, 'Yep, it's Minnesota Special Hockey this weekend.' And that's just what we do."