The Bruins were sharing memories of street hockey Thursday in advance of the opening of the Willie O’Ree Community Rink, a paved, painted surface at Smith Playground on Western Avenue in Allston. The facility, decked out with nets and boards, is part of a pledge from the Bruins to donate at least $250,000 to refurbish street rinks in the city. The club is also sponsoring a street league named after O’Ree, who broke the NHL’s color barrier in 1958.
“Any time you can erect a facility where you can bring boys and girls and get them together, with different races and creeds,” O’Ree said, “they can come out and enjoy the game, what more can you ask?”
The aim is to get kids outdoors, Bruins president Cam Neely said, “as opposed to bending down looking at their phones playing games.”
Neely, after presenting a check and hailing O’Ree — who joins him in the Hockey Hall of Fame on Nov. 12 — recalled moving the nets for cars in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. He was not alone.
Coach Bruce Cassidy, the same age as Neely (53), was doing the same on Coldrey Avenue in Ottawa. The Cassidy brothers had a deal with each other: Stephen, older by a year and a half, would play goalie if Bruce lugged his gear.
“Every day of my life I was on the street,” Cassidy said, recalling neighborhood-vs.-neighborhood battles after he finished his newspaper-route deliveries. “I loved it. I think most kids in Canada that are my age, I would guess 8 out of 10 did it all the time.”
Bruins help pave the way for more children to discover hockey - The Boston Globe
Willie O'Ree Community Rink Dedicated in Allston
