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DRURY KEPT PROMISE ABOUT CUP AND FRIEND By Kevin Vaughn During the Stanley Cup playoffs, Colorado Avalanche center Chris Drury made a solemn pledge: If he and his team were lucky enough to win it all, he would share the trophy with a college teammate horribly injured in his first game. Drury's dream came true, and this week he lived up to his word. At a party with his family, close friends, former coaches and former teammates, Drury followed through on his promise, spending time with the Cup and his friend, Travis Roy. ``It was nice for me to have the opportunity,'' Roy said afterward. ``It was the first time I had seen the Stanley Cup.'' For Roy, the special day came Sunday, after Ray Bourque handed off the Cup to Drury, and before the trophy came to Colorado for a hike up Mount Elbert with the chief financial officer for Kroenke Sports Enterprises and a visit with the security guard for the Avalanche. The Cup also was taken to Las Vegas with general manager Pierre LaCroix before it was returned to Denver late Friday night. Roy's story has been well-chronicled. On Oct. 20, 1995, in his first game for Boston University, he crashed headfirst into the boards. He was paralyzed from the neck down. Drury, who was playing on Roy's line that night, always has kept Roy in his thoughts. Inviting him to the Cup party was just the latest chapter in that close friendship. ``He's done a lot for me,'' Roy said. ``Obviously, my hockey career is over, but I do get a lot of enjoyment in watching him play.'' Roy's mother, Brenda, said the relationship is a special one. ``It's nice of Chris to remember and include Trav in his celebration,'' she said. Miles traveled this week: 3,762 Cup quote: ``It certainly wasn't a bachelor party scene or anything, that's for sure,'' Roy said, comparing his time with the Cup with some of the soirees at which it has been present. ``It was typical Chris Drury - quiet, humble people.'' Cup lore: The Stanley Cup has been all over North America and Europe, but it never has been as high as it was Wednesday when Mark Waggoner, chief financial officer for Kroenke Sports Enterprises, lugged it to the top of Colorado's highest peak, 14,433-foot-tall Mount Elbert. Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO); 8/25/2001 |
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