The San Diego Gulls faced off their latest American Hockey League season on Oct. 18 with a game against the Coachella Valley Firebirds at Pechanga Arena.
On Oct. 16, Gulls players and coaches gathered at practice at the arena to celebrate Hockey Hall of Famer Willie O’Ree’s 89th birthday. The festive event took place one day after O’Ree actually reached yet another milestone in his long and eventful life.
O’Ree, who was born on Oct. 15, 1935, became the first black hockey player to play in the NHL when he broke the black color barrier with the Boston Bruins on Jan. 18, 1958.
A longtime La Mesa resident, O’Ree subsequently played for the Gulls in the Western Hockey League from 1967-1974 and an additional season with the San Diego Hawks in the Pacific Hockey League in 1978-79 before finally hanging up his skates as a professional.
The Gulls sang happy birthday and gifted O’Ree a fedora, a signature look of the hockey pioneer. A small reception followed the locker room visit that was attended by O’Ree’s friends and family as well as representatives of the NHL.
A short happy birthday video of current and former NHL players was played for O’Ree, who was in attendance for the home opener.
O’Ree said he was “so overwhelmed” by the surprise party. Originally, he had gone to Pachanga Arena to watch the Gulls’ morning practice.
O’Ree was the celebrated guest in the locker room, telling hockey stories to all those who would listen. Applause broke out several times.
O’Ree was presented with a replica recognition plaque that will be placed in Pechanga Arena honoring him as the NHL’s first Black player and his time with the WHL Gulls.
O’Ree played 45 games for the Bruins over two seasons (1957-58 and 1960-61), collecting 14 NHL points (four goals, 10 assists) despite being legally blind in one eye from a hockey injury sustained while playing junior hockey.
Prior to playing for the original Gulls, he started his long WHL career with the Los Angeles Blades. In 785 games for the two Southern California teams, he logged 639 points (328 goals, 311 assists).
He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Builders category in 2018 and remains active in the NHL’s Hockey is for Everyone initiative that has introduced the sport to more than 130,000 youths though 39 grassroots hockey programs he helped establish.
O’Ree was featured on the arena video board during the home opener and received a standing ovation from the 9,267 in attendance.
He is a regular attendee at Gulls home games despite his many on-going duties with the NHL diversity programs.
Taking flight
Jansen Harkins tops the Gulls in the early going with 13 points in nine games.
The Gulls — off to a 2-7 start following Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the visiting Abbotsford Canucks, had to give everyone in the arena a big emotional lift following Sunday’s come-from-behind 6-4 win over the same Canucks team.
The Gulls trailed twice by three goals — 3-0 and 4-1 — before erupting for the game’s finals five goals in a span of 9:20 to lay claim to their first home ice win of the season.
Five different players got in on the torrid comeback: Rodwin Dionicio made it 4-2 at 10:08, team captain Ryan Carpenter inched the score closer to 4-3 with a power play goal at 12:32, Roland McKeown tied the game 4-4 at 13:45, Sam Colangelo put the hosts ahead 5-4 at 16:30 and Nikita Nesterenko finished the scoring with an empty net goal at 19:28.
Colangelo (game-winner) earned first star of the game honors while Jansen Harkins was the second star with five assists and Dionicio was the third star with a goal and assist.
The Gulls scored on five of their 11 shots in the third period to finish with a 33-27 edge in the game.
Coulson Pitre and Tristan Luneau both collected two assists while goaltender Calle Clang stopped all five shots he faced in relief duty to backstop the Gulls to the win.
Dionicio, Carpenter and McKeown are all newcomers to San Diego this season while Colangelo and Nesterenko are both in their second seasons. Nesterenko led Gulls rookies in scoring last season with 37 points in 70 games.
Harkins, a second-round draft pick (47th overall) by the NHL Winnipeg Jets in 2015, tops the Gulls in scoring with 13 points (three goals, 10 assists).
Colangelo, a second-round draft pick (36th overall) by the NHL parent Anaheim Ducks in 2020, ranks second with nine points (six goals, three assists).
Ten games into the season, 3-7 sounds much better than 2-8.
