Going the Distance

Cancer hit Mike Lesakowski (MS ’08) hard. After his wife, Amy, survived an aggressive form of breast cancer in 2009, his mom, Evelyn, succumbed to brain and lung cancer last summer.

So he and Amy fought back by organizing the 11 Day Power Play, a marathon hockey game to raise money for cancer research.

Lesakowski and 39 other players, including several UB alumni, played in consecutive four-hour shifts with eight-hour breaks, ultimately shattering the Guinness World Record for longest hockey game.

More important, they raised $1.2 million for Roswell Park Cancer Institute, with Lesakowski alone bringing in $64,798.