The omega to the college hockey season came Saturday night when Travis Roy entered Metcalf Hall, on the second floor of George Sherman Union on Commonwealth Avenue, and sat beneath the huge flags of the schools of Boston University to exchange banter with his teammates. It was a week short of six months since the Terriers had raised the 1995 NCAA championship banner at Walter Brown Arena.
The banner marks the spot of tragedy now. It was a week short of six months since four players – Roy, Dan Ronan, Michel Laroque and Scott King – had walked out of their brownstone dormitory that overlooks Fenway Park and gone to the rink to play their first college hockey game. Three walked back, empty after an 8-5 victory.
It was a week short of six months since Roy had accomplished the goal he stated to Lee and Brenda Roy when he was a tow-headed 14-year-old in Maine: to be a Division I hockey player. His career lasted 11 seconds.