Mike Lesakowski, ’94, didn’t put up big numbers in his hockey career at Fredonia, but he and his wife, Amy, clearly knocked the puck out of Buffalo’s HarborCenter with the 11 Day Power Play, a noble challenge to break the Guinness World Record for the longest hockey game ever played and raise $1 million for Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
The former Blue Devil began contemplating a Roswell fundraiser by staging the game while his wife was being treated for breast cancer at Roswell in 2009. The herculean task of planning such an undertaking began in earnest four years ago when Mr. Lesakowski’s mother, Evelyn, was diagnosed with brain cancer. She passed away in 2016. Lesakowski’s wife, also a co-founder of the event, played an equally important role organizing numerous activities before and during the game, held at one of two rinks in HarborCenter, a major downtown hockey and entertainment complex.
“We were very passionate about it. My wife’s life was saved at Roswell,” Lesakowski said.
Pick any number, and the event was an unparalleled success when it ended on July 3. In just 11 days, $1.2 million was raised for Roswell. A staggering 3,422 goals were scored by men mostly in their 40s, including six former Blue Devils. The game was clocked at 250 hours, 40 minutes – besting the old mark of 250 hours, 3 minutes and 20 seconds set in 2015 in Edmonton, Alberta. It was also the first time the record was set in the United States.
“We played around the clock. We dropped the puck and played for 60 minutes, were able to take 10-minute breaks while the Zamboni did the ice, and we came right back. We played four-hour sessions, and then the next group of guys came in,” Lesakowski said. Each four-hour session had five skaters, a goalie and one sub.
Players were on the ice in shifts, taking four-to-eight-hour breaks to catch a few hours of sleep and nurse mounting aches and pain, but they had to remain at HarborCenter for 11 consecutive days.
“We wanted to break this record, but more importantly, we wanted to give money for cancer research. There’s some really amazing research that’s being done, which we got to see first-hand at Roswell. That’s where our heart was. We got 40 amazing people to buy into that,” Lesakowski said. “Our goal was $1 million. And I’m happy to say that we raised $1.2 million for Roswell Park Cancer Institute.”
Veteran Hockey Coach Jeff Meredith remembers Lesakowski as a great teammate and a real “team-first player” during the program’s development. “The success he’s had with his 11 Day Power Play is a tribute to the great person he is along with his ability to inspire people.”
For fellow Fredonia teammate, Chris Boron, ’95, who has a sister who is a cancer survivor, the decision to play in a marathon hockey game was easy to make. “I love the game of hockey. Cancer sucks and I had the opportunity to give back,” he said. “For me, it was a no brainer.”
