Photos: Justin Scacco/Sierra Sun
It was a beautiful afternoon on Lake Tahoe. It made for a perfect afternoon for the annual Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe Pairings Party, a fund-raiser for local health research programs. At the event, people who bought tickets to attend were divided into groups of four and then those groups were matched with a celebrity or professional athlete. Among the famous names on the attendance list was Stanley Cup Champion T.J. Oshie.
Alongside the golf tournament, there was also an auction. Among the items up for grabs was a Washington Capitals hockey puck. T.J. and his wife, quickly realized they needed something else for the people to bid on. “We were going around looking at all of the silent auction items and I just kind of realized all I had out there was a puck,” the right winger told the Sierra Sun, “My wife was with me and it was actually her idea first, ‘We should’ve sent something.”
Thanks to the Osh Babe’s quick thinking, they were able to come up with a hot item that would go on to earn the most money out of any of the items up for auction. T.J. was able to present a Capitals jersey signed by every player of this year’s Stanley Cup winning team. T.J. noted he had about ten jerseys just like it lying around, most of which were set aside for close friends and family members. He also said that he isn’t a ” memorabilia guy, and had no issue parting the sweater.
The item started an unscheduled bidding session. The starting offer was set for $1000. One bidder chimed in with a response of $1500. The Oshies were a little nervous at that point, having been hopeful for more. Then, they said, the bids really began to take off. The selling offer on the signed jersey was a whopping $12,000! And that combined with the other items in the auction earned a combined total of $70,000!
After this year’s 10th annual Gene Upshaw Memorial Golf tournament is completed on Monday, the event will have raised over a staggering $1.5 million!
Afterwards, it won’t be long until Oshie has his day with the Stanley Cup, which is currently in the Czech Republic with blue liner Michal Kempny and forward Jakub Vrana. Oshie plans on selfless sharing his day with rookie Shane Gersich, a fellow University of North Dakota alumni, who hasn’t been with the Capitals long enough to have earned his own day with Lord Stanley.
For more on what the Washington Capitals are doing this offseason, stay tuned to NoVaCaps!
By: Chris Laroche
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