It looks like any other net you might find at a high level of hockey. Posts. Netting. A little padding. Yet it’s hockey history, especially in Canada. The net into which flew the game-winning goal in the Vancouver Olympics was scheduled to go on the auction block Monday, but is instead headed for the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The net into which Sidney Crosby scored the overtime goal to give Canada men’s hockey gold at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics is not for sale after all.
Classic Auctions was going to put the net in its latest auction but the Vancouver Olympic Games Organizing Committee (VANOC), convinced them to pull the item.
Apparently, VANOC thought the net had already been sold as part of a massive eBay auction the committee held on eBay featuring thousands of Olympic-used items.
“It was actually quite exciting to find out that it hadn’t gone to a collector last year,” Wright told Canada’s Metro News. “We periodically review the inventory that was left and because they had stored it at a separate location, we didn’t know the net was still available.”
It’s likely the net would have attracted a major bid from someone in Canada. Their victory over the United States was one of the most memorable overtime finishes in hockey history.
The puck, stick and gloves worn by Crosby, who beat Ryan Miller and sent all of Canada into a frenzy, were already donated to the Hockey Hall of Fame and are on a national tour. Now, the net will complete the collection of artifacts from the game.
Several game-worn Olympic jerseys, an overtime puck and dozens of historic NHL pieces are part of Classic’s auction.