elected to the hockey hall of fame, o ree, now 86, has worked tirelessly to make hockey a game for everyone a mentor with the nhl s diversity program, he gives some sage advice. if you think you can, you can. if you think you can t, you re right. and it s true. reporter: he remains a role model to the more than 100 black players who followed him into the nhl. thank you for being a role model. thank you, willie thanks, willie. reporter: willie o ree, the youngest of 13 kids, who overcame all obstacles to make it to the nhl. retiring willie s jersey is really sending a message if you come and you make a change by just either being a woman, a transperson, a person of color in a sport where we ve never seen that, that should be celebrated and remembered reporter: tonight his black and gold bruins jersey, number 22, will be raised to the rafters. kevin tibbles, nbc news and that s nightly news. thank you for watching, everyone i m lester holt. please take care of yourself
finally tonight, the boston bruins retiring the number of a beloved player who skated into history. here s kevin tibbles making sports history in hockey reporter: he was a game-changer. it was the greatest story of my life, i believe reporter: willie o ree became the first black player to skate in the nhl on this day 64 years ago. at the time, i didn t realize i had broke the color barrier until i read it in the paper the next day. because you didn t care didn t care. reporter: o ree played for the boston bruins in what many perceived to be at the time a white man s sport. i fought a lot when i first started. i fought not because i wanted to but because i had to. reporter: and willie did it all while keeping secret the fact he couldn t see out of one eye. that would have kept him from the game he loved.
puerta s son daniel was a high school junior when he died in april 2020. i was holding his hand when he took his last breath horrible reporter: puerta believes daniel thought he was buying a legitimate painkiller through snapchat, but the half pill he took was a counterfeit containing fentanyl. puerta says law enforcement told him it took months to get answers out of snapchat do you still know families who are waiting for answers? oh, yeah. reporter: snapchat says it s responding more quickly now to legal requests from law enforcement, reducing the wait time from months to a matter of weeks. when a user tries to search for drugs on snapchat, they re shown content about the dangers. some of the families have said to us that they wish that snapchat would apologize. will you apologize for the families, we re heartbroken. their pain is unimaginable their devastation, incomprehensible, and
aggressively raise public awareness about these lethal poisonings reporter: awareness that is growing. kate snow, nbc news. up next, honoring a hockey trailblazer.
groups f and e. mexico in strong position to move to round of 16 against sweden, which needs a two goal victory to advance. south korea needs to beat germany for any at progression. to match results of the knockout round. switzerland and costa rica, and serbia and brazil have a winner take all showdown for a final 16 spot. catch all of this year s world cup action on telemundo. and nhl class of 2018, heading into the hall, brodeur, and o ree. and st. louis. congrats to all those guys.