At the age of 71 and with decades of hockey success behind him, Bill Riley’s number-one passion in life remains unchanged.

“I love hockey to death and there’s no game like it in the world," said Riley.

Together they made hockey history.

“We were the first two to ever play in the National Hockey League, to play on the same team and at times on the same line,” said Riley, who was also the first Black Nova Scotian to reach the NHL.

Counting his final season with the Winnipeg Jets, Riley played 139 career NHL games along with 391 games in the American Hockey League.

“I played power play and I was out there in the last minute in a period and in the last-minute of games,” said Riley.

The Capitals flew Riley back to Washington this past weekend to celebrate Black History Month, his first visit back to his former hockey home in more than three decades.

Riley’s granddaughter Kryshanda Green made the trip with him. She is an elite hockey player in her own right and the first-ever Black captain of the Ryerson Rams women’s hockey team.