Motionless on the ice, Roy found the inner strength to tell his father he had accomplished his dream of playing for BU. He then made it his life's work to fund research into a cure.
Current BU coach Jay Pandolfo, a senior captain on the 1995-96 team, said he's grateful work in Roy's memory will continue.
"He understood that he had a challenge in front of him and faced it straight on," Pandolfo said. "There's not a lot of people out there that special, to be quite honest, so I think it's great that these guys continue with the charity game. They're going to talk about Travis, but they're going to enjoy it and keep his memory going."
Dr. Randy Trumbower is an associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School, and executive director of Spaulding's new center. The value of the assist in ice hockey is likened to the spinal cord and brain stem, each vital for split-second decisions and day-to-day routines too often taken for granted.
"You can imagine if that's gone how much extra time needs to take place and how much additional resources within the brain need to now consider simple actions that you and I don't think about," Trumbower said. "Unfortunately, we don't have a cure, so over time people with these injuries, not only those that are afflicted with the injuries but also their loved ones and their family and friends, become this hidden sense of being a burden. It really is about how do we provide people with a sense of belonging, independence."
Roy did play for the Terriers, at left wing with Drury at center and right wing Brendan Walsh, for a 12-0 exhibition game home win against the University of Toronto on Oct. 14, 1995. Six days later, he played his first and only regular-season shift.
"Even in the little moments in my head that we all have as humans that are passing moments, I can't help but think of that night over and over and over again," said Ronan, a Board of Trustees member at the Travis Roy Foundation. "That will never leave my memory."
Pandolfo is one of eight players from the 1995-96 roster to make the NHL (Drury, Michel Larocque, Shawn Bates, John Hynes, Mike Grier, Chris O'Sullivan, Chris Kelleher). The two-time Stanley Cup champion with the New Jersey Devils (2000, 2003) often rereads "Eleven Seconds: A Story of Tragedy, Courage & Triumph" to reflect on Roy's courage.
His message today is simple and poignant: Try not to take anything for granted.
"I think Travis would tell you that," Pandolfo said. "We talked to our players about this. I'm sure a lot of people would love to be in your shoes. We try to use that, and I think it's important not just in hockey and being a Division I hockey player, but in all aspects of life."
Roy's No. 24 hangs inside Agganis Arena, home of men's hockey since 2005. Ronan shows off a TR24 logo, "so people see his name, and then think of him as a giant in the community." Scott Linter started organizing the charity game after caring for his father, Dr. Richard Litner, a general and pediatric surgeon paralyzed in a 2005 accident who died at age 72 on May 22, 2006. New initiatives are earmarked for donations because "Travis was an inspiration and his legacy will continue to be that way," Litner said.
Even as a quadriplegic, Travis obeyed his father Lee's platinum rule: If you're down, get up. His peers remain committed.
"We did what hockey people tend to do," Ronan said. "You kind of keep going."
