He was two goals into the game when everything stopped.
Wednesday, December 3rd, 1975. Northbrook, Illinois. Michael Schwass — team captain, gifted center, 16 years old — picked up a loose puck in the corner and charged the net.
He never saw the hit coming. He crashed face-first into the boards. His body crumpled to the ice in the corner of the rink.
It took the paramedics 90 minutes to stabilize him. He underwent emergency surgery that night to save his life. He had shattered two vertebrae. A Catholic priest was called to administer last rites. Without surgery, the doctors said, he would not have survived until morning.
Michael Schwass would never walk again. At 16, the heart and soul of the Notre Dame Ice Dons — their captain, their leader — was now a complete quadriplegic.
The team was devastated. Their best player was gone. And they still had half a year of hockey to play.
"I was 18 years old and I had never known anyone who had suffered such a severe injury. What was I going to say to Stosh?"
— Matt Berrafato · Goalie #31The Notre Dame Ice Dons won 77% of their games after the injury. They fought through the playoffs. They reached the state championship — against Glenbrook North. The same school that had been on the ice the night Michael broke his neck.
On March 25th, 1976 — Michael's first day out of the hospital — a wheelchair rolled into Randhurst Twin Ice Arena. Notre Dame won the state championship, 4–3. Matt fought through the chaos, lifted the trophy, and laid it in Michael's lap.
STOSH. STOSH. STOSH.
— 3,000 voices · Randhurst Twin Ice Arena · March 25, 1976Michael looked around and asked the only question that mattered: "Now what?" He spent the next 35 years answering it.