7th Annual Junior Beanpot Challenge

About the Jr. Beanpot:

The Jr. Beanpot started in 2017 as the Bar Mitzvah project of then 13-year old Brookline defenseman Jacob Gurdin. He motivated his Boston Junior Eagles team to play with the Junior Huskies, Junior Crimson, and Junior Terriers in a Jr. Beanpot tournament to benefit the Travis Roy Foundation at the newly opened Warrior Arena. Jacob chose the Foundation because of Travis Roy’s amazing story and his commitment to helping other spinal cord injury survivors get the equipment they need to live as independently as possible. Travis admired Jacob's tenacity and quickly became a dear friend of Jacob and the Gurdin family. Since the first year of the tournament, fundraising efforts expanded across four youth hockey tournaments and three high school hockey tournament games. During the pandemic, a charity golf tournament at the Brookline Golf Course was held. To date the Junior Beanpot has raised over $107,000 for the foundation and affiliate spinal cord injury causes, continuing Travis’ life-long work of elevating the standard of care and quality of life for people living with paralysis. In keeping with that tradition, the 7th Junior Beanpot Challenge will benefit SCIboston and Journey Forward.

About Travis Roy (1975-2020):

As a college freshman in 1995, Travis suffered a spinal cord injury after playing only 11 seconds as a Boston University hockey player. Soon after his injury, Travis realized that he could turn his tragedy into a way to enhance the lives of thousands of other individuals living with paralysis after a spinal cord injury. He started the Travis Roy Foundation to help other survivors and their families. Over 27 years, the foundation raised $27 million, giving the gift of greater independence to 2,400 spinal cord injury survivors through their Quality of Life Grants and contributing millions to affiliate nonprofits and investing in medical research grants dedicated to improving mobility following paralysis.

Travis died on October 29, 2020 but his story continues to inspire all of us to live with both a passion and a purpose. Through the Jr. Beanpot, we hope that Travis’ spirit of perseverance, kindness, and love will motivate young hockey players both on and off the ice.

In 2023 the Travis Roy Foundation disbanded in accordance with Travis' wishes. As part of it's dissolution, the Foundation made a gift to SCIboston to help carry on the work of it's former Quality of Life Grant Program. Travis’ mentorship, guidance, ideas, and values continue to influence SCIboston as well as co-beneficiary of this event, Journey Forward, today.

A special thank you to the Foxboro Sports Center for generously donating the ice and to the coaches, players, and families for honoring Travis’ legacy.

"There are times in our lives when we choose our challenges and other times when the challenges simply choose us. It is what we do in the face of those challenges that defines who we are, and more importantly, who we can and will become." -Travis Roy