This Day in Hockey History – January 1, 1961 – Oh G, O’Ree

Whenever Willie O’Ree made history, it seemed that it was when the Boston Bruins faced the Montreal Canadiens in back-to-back games. He became the first black player in the NHL when he joined the Bruins for a bout in Montreal on January 18, 1958 and the rematch in Boston the following day. Nearly three years later, O’Ree again participated in a Montreal-Boston series. After playing in Montreal on Saturday night, back in Boston on Sunday, January 1, 1961, O’Ree became the first black player to score an NHL goal.

The two Bruins-Canadiens matchups marked the only NHL games for O’Ree during the 1957-58 season. Unsurprisingly, considering his rookie status and blindness in one eye, he did not earn any points in those debuts. Afterwards, he returned to the Quebec Aces to continue developing. In time for the game on November 19, 1960, 25-year-old O’Ree received his second call-up to the Boston Bruins. A month later, on December 22, he scored his first two NHL assists.

For O’Ree’s ninth and tenth appearance during the 1960-61 season, the Bruins played the Canadiens in Montreal on New Year’s Eve and in Boston the following day. The Forum held a crowd of 13,391, and then Boston Garden welcomed a capacity crowd of 13,909. O’Ree’s mother and two sisters joined the audience in Montreal but were unable to attend in Boston.

Referee Dalton McArthur was not too busy the first night as he only called nine minor penalties (with the majority called on the Bruins). However, he had his work cut out for him the next night as he doled out 32 penalties for a total of 92 minutes, just four penalties shy of the record set in 1953. Although the majority of the penalties were called on the Canadiens, Bruins left wing Jimmy Bartlett racked up the most with 23 minutes (including three minors, a major, and a misconduct). The Boston Globe considered the game an example of the “violent demonstrations that are almost a Boston hockey tradition on New Year’s Night.”

In each case, the home team won with three goals. On Saturday, the Canadiens scored three goals while the Bruins only managed a power play goal by Bronco Horvath at 4:40 of the third period. On Sunday, the cellar-dwelling Bruins scored once per period while only allowing the first-place Canadiens to find the back of the net twice.

O’Ree potted the game-winner at 10:07 of the third period during Sunday’s rematch. According to the Boston Globe, the goal was not just significant for racial reasons. “It was a consummately skillful effort, too. Taking a Boivin pass, while both sides were short a man, O’Ree first eluded Tom Johnson, then faked the other defenseman, Jean-Guy Talbot. Talbot broke his stick in frustration as Willie swooped in front to beat goalie Charley Hodge. Then he dove right in to retrieve the puck as a souvenir.” Ever proud of his origins, O’Ree commented, “I scored that one for the whole town of Fredricton.”

The success of the shot O’Ree attributed to advice from teammate Bronco Horvath. “I shoot with my wrists way out here. It gives me a tendency to shoot high. Saturday night in Montreal I had a great scoring chance on a pass from Horvath. But I hit Charlie Hodge in the stomach. In the pre-game warm-up tonight, I shot one high, and Bronco called me on it. He told me I’d never score that way. Shoot along the ice, he told me. He told me to shoot with my arms in closer to my body, and it would enable me to keep the puck on the ice.”

With his first NHL goal out of the way, O’Ree would go on to earn assists on January 12 and 15 and his next goal on January 19. He played in a total of 43 games that season, accumulating a total of four goals and ten assists. Although he hadn’t been penalized in the “violent demonstration” on January 1, he did sit 26 penalty minutes throughout the season.

That offseason, the Bruins actually traded O’Ree to the Canadiens, but he played for the Hull-Ottawa Canadiens of the Eastern Professional Hockey League. He spent the rest of his skating career with the Western Hockey League, retiring in 1979. As of 1998, O’Ree began his off-ice NHL career as a diversity ambassador, and 20 years later he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Additional Sources:

• Mike Commito, Hockey 365: Daily Stories from the Ice (Toronto: Dundurn, 2018), kindle edition.
• “Bruins Tip Habs, 3-2, as 92 Penalty Minutes Called,” Boston Globe, 2 Jan. 1961, pp. 85 and 90.
• Dink Carroll, “Bruins Bow to Habs Here 3-1,” and Canadian Press article, Montreal Gazette, 3 Jan. 1961, p. 22.
• https://theundefeated.com/features/nhl-first-black-player-willie-oree/