Sabres to join NHL in wearing 'Celebrating Equality' helmet decals

The Buffalo Sabres are proud to join the NHL by paying tribute to Willie O'Ree, who broke the color barrier in hockey. All players throughout the League will wear "Celebrating Equality" helmet stickers through the end of February.
The decals feature an image of O'Ree wearing his trademark fedora and the words "Celebrating Equality." The players will wear the stickers from Jan. 16 until the end of February, which is Black History Month.
O'Ree played his first NHL game on January 18, 1958 and this year, the anniversary coincides with the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States.

O'Ree, born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, played 45 NHL games over two seasons (1957-58 and 1960-61) with the Boston Bruins, despite being blind in his right eye. He also played in over 1,100 games over 23 seasons in other professional leagues, mostly in the old Western Hockey League.
He will have his No. 12 retired by the Bruins on February 18.

"When I reminisce back, I say, 'Oh my goodness, 1958. Time flies,'" O'Ree, 85, said. "I'm thrilled, overwhelmed about the stickers."
He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018 for his off-ice accomplishments that helped cultivate a new generation of players and fans as the NHL's Diversity Ambassador. He has also helped establish 39 grassroots hockey programs in North America as part of the NHL's Hockey is for Everyone initiative and has inspired more than 120,000 boys and girls to play the sport.
O'Ree opened the door for other Black players to play in the NHL, including Sabres alumni Val James and Tony McKegney.

James became the NHL's first Black player born in the United States when he made his debut with the Sabres on November 1, 1981. Born in Florida and raised on Long Island, where he learned to skate as a teenager, James developed a reputation as one of the toughest fighters in professional hockey.
"When you're persevering through uncharted territory, there are going to be a lot of people that are going to come out to your aid to help you, and in my case that's exactly what happened," James told NHL.com. "I appreciate all the help these people gave me because they took a hell of a chance coming out to help a Black person at that point in time."
James skated in 10 NHL games, including three in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with Buffalo in 1981-82, and another four regular-season games with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1986-87.
In 1983, he scored the goal that clinched the Calder Cup Trophy for the Rochester Americans.
"Val James advanced the sport of hockey in a very important way," Sabres president Kim Pegula said on the anniversary of James' achievement last year. "As we work to create greater opportunities for people of all backgrounds across all walks of life, we continue to be influenced by Val's accomplishments. We are proud to have him as a member of the Buffalo Sabres family."
The organization is working with the club's S.C.O.R.E. ball hockey program to award 10 scholarships to the Sabres' Learn to Play program in James' honor to give kids their first opportunity to play hockey.
"Val James once said that he never thought of himself as a trailblazer - but the entire hockey world should recognize that he is one," Kim Davis, NHL senior executive vice president, social impact, growth initiatives and legislative affairs, said. "As the first Black American player to make the NHL, Val has inspired Black boys and girls across the United States to play hockey and to follow their dreams."
He detailed his experiences in his memoir *Black Ice* with John Gallagher.

In an episode of "Sabres Memories" that debuted last season, McKegney explained that his path to the NHL was influenced by racism.
He said he was originally going to sign with the Birmingham Bulls of the World Hockey Association, but complaints from season-ticket holders about a Black hockey player coming to town combined with rumors that the WHA would soon be folding led him to Buffalo after he was drafted by the Sabres in the second round of the 1978 NHL Draft.
McKegney scored in his NHL debut on October 12, 1978.
"I felt so lucky to come to a team where it was established and I got to play with some great hockey players," he said. "I was very much accepted here in Buffalo, not only by the fans, but the teammates and the management. It felt like a family."
McKegney, who grew up in Sarnia, Ontario, also noted, however, that in all the games he played to that point, he was the only Black player on the ice.
McKegney scored 37 goals in 1980-81, his third season with the Sabres, and became the first Black player to score 40 when he was with the Blues in 1987-88. He finished his career with 320 goals and 639 points in 912 games. All the while, he had to deal with racist taunts hurled his way.
"I was out there in some situations in Philadelphia and people were] screaming at me, [in] Pittsburgh, Atlanta," he recalled. "But at the same time, it drove me to be better, to be consistent."
McKegney and James were both featured in *Soul On Ice: Past, Present and Future*, a 2015 documentary **[in which they described the challenges** they faced as Black players in a predominantly white sport in the '70s and '80s.
Buffalo will wear the special "Celebrating Equality" stickers starting tonight when they take on the Philadelphia Flyers at 7:30 p.m. at Wells Fargo Center. The game can be seen nationally on NBCSN and heard locally on WGR 550.