When talking about David Leggio, former Clarkson coach George Roll made it a point to mention how hard he worked for him. Yes, on the ice, but it was off the ice that really struck him.
When Coach Roll’s wife Paula battled brain cancer, it was Leggio, a Williamsville, N.Y., native, who stepped up for the former coach who had taken a gamble on him. Leggio organized a fundraiser to help with the struggle. Roll could not have been more flattered: “Him and his wife (Kristen) did a ton of work. I think they raised over nine, ten thousand dollars. He just took it upon himself to do that. That obviously means a lot to me and my family. I just can’t say enough about what he did for us.”
Though Leggio’s generosity had surprised him, it probably should not have. Battling is in his blood. That he would try to help someone in a battle as intense as that with cancer seems fitting. In fact, it was that mentality that had attracted Coach Roll to him in the first place: “One game I saw him, I think he gave up eight or nine goals, but he was relentless.” That demeanor encouraged the coach to roll the dice. “We offered him a walk-on spot to come and be on the team. He never gave up hope that he could play at the Division 1 level.”
In 2008, in his final two weekends playing for Clarkson, Leggio’s compete level provided five exciting, yet heartbreaking, hockey games. Weekend one was the ECAC final series against Colgate. Leggio shut out the Raiders in game one, but Colgate would bounce back with a 4-3 victory. Then, in the deciding Game 3, Colgate completed the comeback with a double-overtime win. That would have been a tough way to end a career, but Clarkson had qualified for the NCAA tournament Not that life would get easier. Clarkson opened with an upset of St. Cloud State. Leggio and the Golden Knights held a team with three top-15 scorers to just one goal. In the next round, Clarkson was pitted against the No. 1 Michigan Wolverines. They gave the maize and blue a scare, but the Wolverines were too much. They handed Clarkson a 2-0 loss.