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USA Hockey - NHL Ice Hockey Clinic Comes to Taos

Taos Youth & Family Center Skating Rink
November 20 - 21 2004

USA Hockey and the NHL in conjunction with the Taos Youth Hockey Association are hosting a free ice hockey clinic for all Taos Youth Hockey players on Saturday Nov.20 and Sunday Nov. 21st.

This will be the first time an event of this type will be held in Taos, and we are thrilled to have the NHL and USA Hockey send such incredibly high level coaches to teach our youngsters.

The NHL will be represented by Willie O'Ree, who is the Director of the NHL's Diversity Program. Taos has wide ethnic and economic diversity, and the Taos youth hockey teams are a reflection of that diversity. Taos has gained a very solid reputation for the outstanding development of their players, and has had tremendous success in their youth hockey program. Players that make up the current Taos Ice Tigers High School team, winners of four HS State Championships in a row, have actually won 8 State Championships in a row dating back to 1997 when many of them were in the third grade.

Other Taos players have achieved USA Hockey National level recognition in their age groups as well. This past season both Kenny Greer (16 years old) and Peter Cardasis (15 years old), former Taos Coyotes hockey players, were chosen to go to the USA Hockey National Team Player Development camps, the only two players from NM to achieve this high honor last year. Kenny Greer currently plays for the Tier I Pikes Peak Miners in Colorado Springs, CO. Peter Cardasis currently plays for the Tier I Energy in Omaha Nebraska. Shana Natelson is currently playing for the Tier I North American Hockey Academy in Stowe, Vermont. Tier I hockey is the highest level of hockey play in the country for these young athletes, and their skills and accomplishments have helped them achieve these wonderful  opportunities.

USA Hockey will be represented in Taos by Ron Burn, former Coach at Division I Colorado College, and Dan Brennan who recently coached the USA National Inline Hockey team to a World Championship in Bad Tolz, Germany.

2004 International Ice Hockey Federation InLine Hockey World Championships

The coaches will work directly with the young Taos players, teaching skating and stick handling skills, as well as drills for fun and team play. Each age group will have hour-long sessions on Saturday and Sunday.

The Taos Youth Hockey Association is honored to have the NHL and USA Hockey sponsor these excellent coaches to come and skate with our children. This is a fabulous opportunity to learn from some of the best hockey minds in the country. The clinic is free to all registered Taos Youth Hockey players.

William (Willie) O'Ree
Director of Youth Development NHL Diversity

Although he played only 45 games over parts of two seasons with the Boston Bruins, William (Willie) O'Ree is remembered as the first black player in the history of the National Hockey League.

A 5'10", 180-pound left wing, O'Ree played two games for the Bruins in 1957-58 and 43 more in 1960-61. He was known for his exceptional speed and his checking ability. Even though he didn't play regularly in the NHL, Willie did have an extraordinarily long professional career - 21 seasons, mostly in the old Western League with the Los Angeles Blades and the San Diego Gulls, despite losing his right eye in a junior hockey game when he was 21.

Born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, on Canada's Atlantic coast, O'Ree was an outstanding athlete as a youngster, excelling at hockey, rugby, soccer, basketball, track and baseball. A shortstop, he was invited to training camp with the Milwaukee Braves in 1956.  

After O'Ree's professional hockey career ended in 1979, he became a supervisor for a company that handled security for the San Diego Chargers and later worked security at the spectacular Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego harbor.

O'Ree began doing promotional work in 1990 for the International Hockey League's San Diego Gulls. Six years later, he was asked by the NHL to assist with an All-Star Game designed to celebrate hockey's growing diversity.

Now in its eighth year, the Willie O'Ree All-Star Game honors O'Ree's career and allows selected boys and girls, ages 10-12, from each of the NHL Diversity programs across North America to interact with NHL players, attend an NHL game, and experience the culture of the host city. In addition, the youngsters take part in an all-star game of their own featuring an east-versus-west format. In February 2003, more than 1,100 fans attended the 2003 Willie O'Ree All-Star Game hosted by the NHL, Minnesota Wild, and Minnesota Hockey at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

O'Ree re-joined the NHL on January 18, 1998, the 40th anniversary of his first game in the NHL. As part of the 1998 NHL All-Star Weekend festivities, the NHL announced his appointment as the Director of Youth Development for NHL Diversity. On March 25, 2003, O'Ree was honored with the Lester Patrick Award, which recognizes outstanding service to hockey in the US.

Now 67 years old, O'Ree resides with his wife and daughter in San Diego, California.

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