FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Truro, N.S. (June 15, 2024) – The Maritime Junior Hockey League (MHL) is honoured to announce that trailblazer Bill Riley is the recipient of the 2023-24 Moe Bent Builders Award. The Amherst, Nova Scotia native played two seasons with the hometown Ramblers in what was then called the Metro Valley Junior Hockey League. He finished second in regular season league scoring to Grant Veinot of the Windsor Royals in 1968-69 with 29 goals and 29 assists for a team that went 7-21-2 in its inaugural season. In 1969-70, Riley was third in league scoring with 33 goals and 28 assists as the Ramblers improved to 13-10-7 and finished the season in third place.
On December 26th, 1974, Riley became the first African Nova Scotian and third Black player to play in the National Hockey League (NHL) when he suited up for the Washington Capitals against the Philadelphia Flyers. He played parts of three more seasons with Washington and part of the 1979-80 season with the Winnipeg Jets, tallying 31 goals and 30 assists in 139 games. After his NHL career, Riley spent time in the AHL, including serving as captain of the Calder Cup champion New Brunswick Hawks in 1982 and as captain of the Nova Scotia Voyageurs.
Riley returned to Amherst after retiring from professional play to be the head coach and general manager of the Ramblers in 1989-90. He won Coach of the Year for that first season behind the bench in Amherst as the team won the Maritime Junior A Hockey League (MJAHL) championship. From 1989 to 1996, Riley’s Amherst teams went a combined 160-125-37-1 (W-L-T-OTL). He would later join the Miramichi Timberwolves as head coach and GM in 2003-04, helping guide the team to a division title and its first playoff appearance since the team’s inception in 2000-01 with a record of 32-15-3-2; third-best in the league. In between those stints in the MJAHL, Riley organized and built the brand-new Moncton Wildcats in the QMJHL, serving as both the head coach and general manager until the end of the 1997-98 season.
Riley was inducted into the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame in 1998. His #8 jersey was retired by the Amherst Ramblers in 2013. Hockey Nova Scotia announced two new awards in his name in 2022 to honour his legacy. The Bill Riley Award will be presented annually to a player in Nova Scotia of African descent who embodies the characteristics and traits that Riley demonstrated during his hockey career. The second is the $2,000 Bill Riley Scholarship. Like Riley, the recipient should be a driven, hard-working student who is passionate about hockey. In 2018, Riley was inducted into the Multi-Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Amherst.
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Media Contact:
James Faulkner
Director of Communications
Maritime Junior Hockey League (MHL)
jfaulkner@themhl.ca
