This is Part Three, the final in a three-part series edited for Bruins Daily from previous NHL.com articles written by Bob Snow. He covered the retiring of Terry O’Reilly’s No. 24 for NHL.com. 

October 24, 2002

BOSTON – Few Bruins wore more black-and-blue beneath the Black-and-Gold than Terence Joseph James O’Reilly.

His imprimatur from 1972-’85 on Causeway Street in the old Boston Garden is reflected in a few modified Bruce Springsteen lyrics: “Many an opposing team with jerseys soaking wet had a freight train running through the middle of their heads.”

And it was engineered by Terry O’Reilly.

Indeed, O’Reilly was on fire every shift.

“He had Game 7 anger in his game every single night,” Peter McNab said after playing eight seasons with O’Reilly.

“He was the only Bruin who played all five positions on a 60-second shift,” Ray Bourque said with a smile.

The Bruins’ second pick — 14th overall in the 1971 Amateur Draft — wasn’t blessed with the fluid stride of Bobby Orr, the scoring touch of Phil Esposito, or the packaged power of Ray Bourque. But few ever played the game with more heart.

“I’m very nervous and humbled tonight,” O’Reilly said. “I think we all agree it’s a deviation to be raised to the roof with the likes of Bobby Orr and Ray Bourque.”

O’Reilly’s roots to that roof lie in that heart, grit, and all-out play 60 seconds a minute and 60 minutes a game, hence the nickname “Taz” for his Tasmanian Devil-type play.

“He is the first person who comes to mind when someone uses the phrase ‘a true Bruin,’ then-team president Harry Sinden said. “I don’t think there was ever a player who wore a uniform of his team with more pride and passion than Terry.”

With a nose for the net and blades hell-bent on somehow getting there, O’Reilly holds more than his own in the Bruins’ record book.

Barreling up and down – and all around – the right wing through 891 regular-season games ranks him tops among all Bruins for that position.

“If I tried to break into the league today, I’d be mired in the minors,” he said. “I was lucky to have coaches who let me play my style while playing with such great defensive players like Don Marcotte, and Peter McNab who made up for my mistakes.”

The 204-402-606 career-scoring total is good for No. 8 all-time. In 108 playoff games, the tally stands at 25-42-67. O’Reilly led the team in scoring in the 1977-’78 campaign with 29 goals and 61 assists for 90 points.

The pugnacious Bruin also holds penalty-box distinctions as well. His career total of 2,095 minutes is tops in team history. Only Eddie Shore with eight seasons as team leader eclipses O’Reilly’s seven.

Many of those minutes were delivered from Ali-like jabs to wear the opponent down. Others from bare-knuckled bouts with memorable opponents such as the Flyers’ Dave Schultz, Islander Clark Gillies, and Montreal’s Chris “Knuckles” Nilan.

Still others from unique encounters like the memorable maneuver over the glass and into the stands in Madison Square Garden on December 23, 1979 – with sidekicks McNab and Mike Milbury – for a confrontation with Ranger fans after teammate Stan Jonathan took a sucker punch along the boards.

“You had a right to respond in those days,” O’Reilly said about the physical play in his day.

“You can’t pull the teeth out of a tiger,” former coach Don Cherry always says when asked about choosing not to tame O’Reilly’s penchant for the sin bin.

And it was through the penalty box where O’Reilly was asked to pause last night to a standing and rousing ovation on his way to greet his sons and hockey greats on hand at center ice.

“I didn’t know if it was for two or five,” he said in trademark humor. “And with these old knees, the rest didn’t hurt.”

It is that total package of tangibles and intangibles that earns O’Reilly his piece of immortality.

Last night, Bruin Nation bled affection and emotion as No. 24 rose to the [Fleet Center] rafters to take its place alongside eight other Bruin greats: Lionel Hitchman, Aubrey “Dit” Clapper, Johnny Bucyk, Milt Schmidt, and Shore, Orr, Espo and Bourque.

Asked to give a one-word reason why O’Reilly deserves the honor, fans were deliberate in their choice.

“Relentless,” offered John Lee, a former Section 99 diehard dweller in the old Garden. “O’Reilly never gave up.”

Jack Kiley is into his sixth century as a season-ticket holder. “Dedicated,” he said from Section 311. “Dedicated to his players and protecting his team, dedicated to his coach, dedicated to improving his play.”

Those fans voted O’Reilly the Seventh Player Award for the 1974-75 season.

Former teammates and coaches synthesized the O’Reilly presence.

“Give me a team of Terry O’Reilly’s,” Bobby Orr offered to the Boston media, “and nobody is going to beat me.”

“It’s nice to see your No. 24 up there protecting me again,” Bourque echoed.

Don Cherry about coaching Taz: “Start your engines, open the door and away you go.”

O’Reilly started his career on April 2, 1972, scoring a goal in the only game he would play that year; two months later the Bruins won their last Stanley Cup.

He was named captain his last two years during the 1983-84 and 1984-85 seasons.

The following season the other “C” was offered by management — to coach the Bruins.

In 277 games from 1986-’89, O’Reilly’s record was a respectable 115-86-26. The 45-year playoff drought against the dreaded Canadiens ended in 1988 when he guided the Bruins to a decisive Game 5 victory in the Adams Division Final.

“It was nice to turn the tables after a half-century,” he said.

The Bruins went on to the Finals that year before bowing to Edmonton – the closest No. 24 would come to having his name inscribed on Lord Stanley’s hardware.

“If there’s one thing still missing,” O’Reilly summed, “I guess it’s being part of a Stanley Cup winner.”

Among thundering chants of “Terry, Terry, Terry,” and with sons Conor and Evan at his side, wife Bernadette in the alumni box with his brothers and parents, Jim and Audrey, O’Reilly thanked them and the Boston fans for their support.

As well as Bruin alumni such as Johnny Bucyk for his community work with the Heart Fund, Cam Neely and the Neely House for cancer patients that he and his brother developed in his parent’s memory, and Bobby Orr and Dennis Leary for their efforts with the fire-fighting communities.

O’Reilly’s roots are blue-collar deep. And the recently named Ranger assistant coach maintains a firm perspective about playing and coaching.

“It’s a whole lot easier for me to go into a corner for a hockey puck than it is for a fireman to run into a burning building. Let’s not forget who our real heroes are.”

If one former Bruin is cut most closely from the mold of O’Reilly style on and off the ice, it’s likely Neely.

“You knew he came to work every night as a player,” Neely said. “Terry was also the leader in things like the Liver Foundation. When I could do things [in my parents’ memory] it was therapeutic. How Terry and the community put their arms around it is also very special.”

The retiring of No. 24 gives Bruins’ fans a ninth hero around whom to wrap their arms – and memories.