While most of us were nervously awaiting puck drop for Game Three between the Capitals and the Maple Leafs on Monday, one former Capital was doing a pretty great thing. Bobby Carpenter completed the Boston Marathon along with Denna Laing, the professional women’s hockey player who was paralyzed in an on-ice accident in 2016.
According to Boston.com, Carpenter and Laing raised more than $80,000 for Journey Forward, a nonprofit dedicated to bettering the lives of those who have suffered a spinal cord injury.
Carpenter played six seasons with the Capitals in the 1980s, then another in 1992-1993, racking up 183 goals and 210 assists. As a member of the Capitals in ’84-’85, he became the first American to score more than 50 goals in a season.
By the end of his career he’d played 1,178 games, scored 320 goals and 408 assists, and won three Stanley Cup championships with the New Jersey Devils–one as a player and two as a coach. He was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007.
Laing was a collegiate and professional women’s hockey player until her injury during an exhibition game at the 2016 Winter Classic. She tallied 77 points for the Princeton Tigers during her college career, and won the 2015 Clarkson Cup with the Boston Blades of the CWHL. She was a member of the NWHL’s Boston Pride when she was injured.
Carpenter and Laing finished the marathon in 4:32:30. That’s a per-mile pace of 10:24 while pushing a wheelchair.
This isn’t Carpenter’s first time running the Boston Marathon. He finished in 2016 with a time of 3:46:53.
Thanks to reader Brad B. for the tip.
Photo: Mary Schwalm / AP
