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Terry O'Reilly

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This article is about the ice hockey player. For the radio broadcaster, see Terry O'Reilly (broadcaster).
Terry O'Reilly
O'Reilly with the Boston Bruins in 1978
Born (1951-06-07) June 7, 1951 (age 74)
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight 200 lb (91 kg; 14 st 4 lb)
Position Right wing
Shot Right
Played for Boston Bruins
NHL draft 14th overall, 1971
Boston Bruins
Playing career 1971–1985

Terence Joseph James O'Reilly (born June 7, 1951) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey right winger. He played for the NHL's Boston Bruins and featured in three Stanley Cup Finals. He was one of the most effective enforcers in NHL history. O'Reilly was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Early life

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O’Reilly was born to his parents Audrey and Jim O’Reilly. His family comes from Irish ancestry. He grew up in Oshawa, Ontario and started playing hockey at very young age.[1] Terry originally started out as a goaltender until he was 13. As a junior Terry had problems initially sticking with the Oshawa Generals. He even turned down a scholarship offer from St. Louis University in order to continue playing for the generals which would end up work out in his favor.[2]

Throughout his career O’Reilly would continue his education part time at theUniversity of Toronto and Boston University.[3]

Playing career

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Known throughout his career for an erratic skating style and buzzing all over the ice. O’Reilly would play 3 years of junior hockey with the Oshawa Generals from 1968 to 1971. Having his best year with the team During the 1970–71 season scoring 23 goals and 42 assists in 54 games.

O'Reilly was picked by the Boston Bruins in the first round as the 14th pick overall in the 1971 NHL Amateur Draft. O'Reilly spent his entire career in Boston, serving as the captain of the Bruins during the 1983–84 and 1984–85 seasons before his retirement. The Bruins retired his No. 24 on October 24, 2002.[4]

After being drafted he would play a season with the Boston Braves during the 1971–72 season.

O'Reilly made his NHL debut in the Bruins' final game of the 1971–72 regular season on April 2, 1972. He scored a goal in Boston's 6–4 victory over Toronto at Boston Garden.

O'Reilly charges into the stands during an incident at Madison Square Garden in 1979

O'Reilly was known for being a tough player, racking up over 200 penalty minutes in five consecutive seasons, and earning for himself the nickname "Bloody O'Reilly" in the press. His teammate, Phil Esposito, dubbed O'Reilly "Taz" in reference to the Tasmanian Devil cartoon character for O'Reilly's reckless, hard driving style of play. He was very protective of his teammates. When the Bruins retired O'Reilly's No. 24, Ray Bourque noted that O'Reilly's banner "hangs next to mine, protecting me again."[5]

During the 1973-74 season O’Reilly would play in 76 games helping lead the Bruins all the way to the Stanley cup finals. The following year in the 1974-75 season O’Reilly’s hard play would be rewarded when he was invited to the NHL all star game for the first time he would go on to score 1 goal and tally 1 assist in the game. Both seasons O’Reilly would be given the Bruins Eddie Shore award for his hustle/determination.[3]

The next two seasons O’Reillys scoring numbers would start to go up as in 1975-76 he had his first 20+ goal season along with 27 assists. In 1976-77 O'Reilly discovered chemistry with center Peter McNab. The line, often featuring Al Secord on left wing, became a serious offensive threat. O'Reilly would crash and bang in the corners and more often than not would come out with the puck. He went on to score 55 points that season.

On Nov. 10, 1977, O’Reilly would score his first NHL hat trick vs. Los Angeles.[3]

On top of his physical presence, he also had a decent scoring touch, highlighted by his 29-goal, 90-point season in 1977–78 finishing 7th in scoring and becoming only the third player in Bruins history to lead the team in both points and penalty minutes. This would lead to him being invited to the NHL all star game for a second time and once again helped lead the bruins to the Stanley cup finals. He would add to that with a 26 goals 77 point season in 1978-79 and 61 point campaign in 1979-80. He had 211 and 205 minutes in penalties in those seasons respectively, displaying an excellent balance of grit and scoring. He continued to be a productive player for the Bruins all the way till his retirement in 1985. He finished his 13-year career with 204 goals, 402 assists for 606 points, a +212 plus/minus and 2,095 minutes in penalties. As of January 1, 2022, O'Reilly was ranked 20th in career goals scored by a Boston Bruin in regular-season play.

In the infamous December 23, 1979, incident at Madison Square Garden, during a post-game scrum, a New York Rangers fan rolled up a program tightly and smacked Stan Jonathan in the face drawing blood, then stole his stick and wielded it like a weapon. O'Reilly scaled the glass and charged into the stands successfully tracking down the fan with the stick. His teammates Peter McNab and Mike Milbury then followed when other fans tried to intervene. O'Reilly was suspended eight games for his part in the brawl.[3] After the fact O’Reilly was quoted stating “There was no way he was going to strike one of my teammates and steal his stick, wield it like a weapon and then disappear into the crowd and go to a local bar with a souvenir and a great story.”[2]

During his career O'Reilly was one of the most feared men of the ice. He wasn’t afraid to go at his opponents full speed crashing into them with fists swinging. O’Reilly was also known for his hard work always being the first to skate onto the ice and the last to skate off of the ice.

Former Bruins coach Don Cherry was quoted as saying, “Terry typifies our team. He’s tough, really tough, and that’s the way I like ‘em.”[2]

O’Reilly is looked back on fondly by Bruins fans being referred to as the Ultimate Bruin giving everything he could to the team.[2] Former Bruins Gm and coach Harry Sinden would describe O’Reilly as “The model of a Bruins player to his teammates and fans alike and that phrase is a high compliment because of Terry."[2]

In 2023 he was named to the Boston Bruins All-Centennial Team[6]

Coaching career

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Two years after retirement, O’Reily became the head coach of the Bruins by replacing Harry Sinden in the middle of the 1986–87 NHL season. After finishing that year 34-27-6 overall and bringing the Bruins to the playoffs he got the permanent head coaching spot. He went 44–30–6 in his second year, During the playoffs O’Reilly and the bruins would end the Canadiens streak of having beaten the Bruins in 18 consecutive playoff series, dating back to 1946. Eventually taking the Bruins all the way to the 1988 Stanley Cup finals and winning the conference championship. However they would fall to the Wayne Gretzky-led Edmonton Oilers in the finals. He would keep his job until 1989, when he left to care for, and spend more time with his son, Evan, who was seriously ill with liver disease. O'Reilly later became an assistant coach for the Rangers from 2002 to the end of 2003–04 NHL season.

Personal life/retirement

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O'Reilly in 2012

O'Reilly ran a construction business in the Boston area during the 1990s after ending his coaching career. He was also extremely active in helping raise funds for the American Liver Foundation. After his coaching stint with the Rangers he returned to Boston and went into the real-estate business.[3]

Throughout his playing career he was an avid chess player and brought portable chess set on road trips early in NHL career.[3]

In the Adam Sandler movie Happy Gilmore, O'Reilly is mentioned as Happy Gilmore's favorite hockey player when growing up due to his tough style of play.

O'Reilly has stated his favorite player who plays for the Bruins is Milan Lucic, also born on June 7.

He was inducted into the Oshawa Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.

On August 24, 2015, O'Reilly threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Portland Sea dogs game.

He now resides in Salisbury Massachusetts. He still remains active with the Bruins alumni organization playing in charity games. Also being involved in the local community.[7]

O'Reilly has been married twice. Having 2 sons Evan and Conor. His son Evan would be the youngest person to ever be elected as a select man in Georgetown. However O’Reilly would lose him to liver disease in 2018.[8][9]

In 2010 O'Reilly would take part in the Boston Bruins legends game at Fenway Park.[10]

He was honored by the TD gardens sports museum as part of their class of 2005 and given the hockey legacy award.[11]

Awards, honours and records

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Records

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Most Penalty Minutes in Boston Bruins franchise history.

Career statistics

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    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1968–69 Oshawa Generals OHA-Jr. 46 5 15 20 87 — — — — —
1969–70 Oshawa Generals OHA-Jr. 54 13 36 49 60 6 1 5 6 22
1970–71 Oshawa Generals OHA-Jr. 54 23 42 65 151 — — — — —
1971–72 Boston Braves AHL 60 9 8 17 134 9 2 2 4 31
1971–72 Boston Bruins NHL 1 1 0 1 0 — — — — —
1972–73 Boston Bruins NHL 72 5 22 27 109 5 0 0 0 2
1973–74 Boston Bruins NHL 76 11 24 35 94 16 2 5 7 38
1974–75 Boston Bruins NHL 68 15 20 35 146 3 0 0 0 17
1975–76 Boston Bruins NHL 80 23 27 50 150 12 3 1 4 25
1976–77 Boston Bruins NHL 79 14 41 55 147 14 5 6 11 28
1977–78 Boston Bruins NHL 77 29 61 90 211 15 5 10 15 40
1978–79 Boston Bruins NHL 80 26 51 77 205 11 0 6 6 25
1979–80 Boston Bruins NHL 71 19 42 61 265 10 3 6 9 69
1980–81 Boston Bruins NHL 77 8 35 43 233 3 1 2 3 12
1981–82 Boston Bruins NHL 70 22 30 52 213 11 5 4 9 56
1982–83 Boston Bruins NHL 19 6 14 20 40 — — — — —
1983–84 Boston Bruins NHL 58 12 18 30 124 3 0 0 0 14
1984–85 Boston Bruins NHL 63 13 17 30 168 5 1 2 3 9
NHL totals 891 204 402 606 2,095 108 25 42 67 335

Coaching statistics

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Team Year Regular season Post season
G W L T Pts Division Rank Result
Boston Bruins 1986–87 67 34 27 6 74 3rd in Adams Lost in first round
1987–88 80 44 30 6 94 2nd in Adams Lost in finals
1988–89 80 37 29 14 88 2nd in Adams Lost in second round
Total 227 115 86 26

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "O'Reilly had some stories to tell". Foster's Daily Democrat. Retrieved 2025-07-10.
  2. ^ a b c d e "A Trip Down Memory Lane: Terry O'Reilly "Taz"". Causeway Crowd. 2012-10-19. Retrieved 2025-07-10.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "1971 NHL Amateur Draft — Terry O'Reilly". Retrieved 2006-07-18.
  4. ^ Bruce Allen (October 24, 2002). "Terry O'Reilly gets his number". Boston Sports Media Watch. Archived from the original on December 14, 2004. Retrieved 2006-07-18.
  5. ^ "ESPN.com: NHL - Bruins retire former great O'Reilly's number".
  6. ^ a b "Bruins Announce All-Centennial Team | Boston Bruins". www.nhl.com. 2023-10-13. Retrieved 2025-04-14.
  7. ^ "Terry O'Reilly". Blue Sky Sports & Entertainment. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
  8. ^ "Former selectman passes away at 34".
  9. ^ "Evan James O'Reilly - August 7, 1983 to May 22, 2018". BOSTON BRUINS ALUMNI. Retrieved 2025-07-10.
  10. ^ nesn.com https://nesn.com/2010/01/live-blog-bruins-legends-classic/amp/. Retrieved 2025-08-01. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. ^ "The Tradition - The Sports Museum". www.sportsmuseum.org. 2022-01-10. Retrieved 2025-07-10.
  12. ^ "Bruins Announce "Historic 100" Ahead of All-Centennial Team Reveal | Boston Bruins". www.nhl.com. 2023-09-12. Retrieved 2025-04-14.
[edit]
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Boston Bruins first round draft pick
1971 		Succeeded by
Sporting positions
Preceded by Boston Bruins captain
1983–1985 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Head coach of the Boston Bruins
1986–1989 		Succeeded by
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