In honor of Willie O'Ree's No. 22 jersey-retirement night, the Boston Bruins Kids Club held a special photo contest, in which they submitted a photo of themself and their hero or someone who inspires them along with a brief explanation about why that person is their hero/inspiration. Click here to see all the content NESN.com has produced in celebration of O'Ree's jersey retirement.
Robyn Bolger has the pleasure of interacting with her hero from time to time.
Bolger, 11, named the Boston Pride's Mallory Souliotis as the person who inspires her. Bolger plays for the South Shore Eagles U-10 Girls Team and the U-12 Militia Lady Team, the club for which Souliotis is the director for all the girls teams.
Here's why Bolger chose Souliotis as her hero.
"Robyn plays for a girls hockey team and looks up to other professional hockey players, especially female players, to inspire her to be the very best on the ice," Bolger wrote in her submission.
O'Ree broke the NHL's color barrier Jan. 18, 1958, as a Boston Bruins player. He has served as the league's diversity ambassador and an inspiration to players of all ages since 1994.
For her photo-contest efforts, Bolger won a pair of tickets to attend Tuesday's O'Ree jersey number retirement ceremony and the Boston Bruins versus Carolina Hurricanes game that follows the ceremony. NESN will air the ceremony live starting at 7 p.m. ET and full coverage of Bruins-Hurricanes.
