Playing career

O'Reilly was picked by the Boston Bruins in the 1st 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 #24 on October 24, 2002.

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 #24, Bourque noted that O'Reilly's banner "hangs next to mine, protecting me again."

On top of his physical presence, he also had a decent scoring touch, highlighted by his 29-goal, 90-point season in 1977-78. He added to that with a 77 point effort the following campaign. He had 211 and 205 minutes in penalties in those seasons respectively, displaying an excellent balance of grit and scoring that any hockey GM would cherish. He finished his 13 year career with 204 goals, 402 assists for 606 points, a +212 plus/minus (a tribute to his good defensive skills) and 2,095 minutes in penalties.

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, and then stole his stick and wielded it like a weapon. O'Reilly scaled the glass boards and charged into the stands. His teammates followed when other fans tried to intervene. O'Reilly was suspended eight games for his part in the brawl.

He became the replacement head coach of the Bruins during the 1986-87 NHL season and kept his job until 1989, when he left to care for, and spend more time with, his son who was seriously ill with liver disease. In that time, he took the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1988, where they were defeated by the Wayne Gretzky-led Edmonton Oilers. O'Reilly also was an assistant coach for the Rangers for the two seasons prior to the lockout.

Other

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

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

Career statistics

				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	2095		108	25	42	67	335

Coaching statistics

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 1st Rd
	1987-88	80	44	30	6	94	2nd in Adams	Lost in Cup Finals
	1988-89	80	37	29	14	88	2nd in Adams	Lost in Second Round
Total		227	115	86	26

Preceded by Gerry Cheevers

Head coach of the Boston Bruins 1986-89

Succeeded by Mike Milbury

[ Source: Wikipedia ]