All World Hockey by T. Michael Travers

  40+ years ago, I started a personal collection of sports memorabilia. My focus was collecting one-of-a-kind, unique and interesting-to-look-at stuff. Due to my interest in the sports collecting business, I was asked if I could source or create some sports-related items that could be used for sale at auction events to help finance the sports activities of the 29,000 athletes who make up Special Olympics Canada. Note : At one such Special Olympic auction, I created collectible items that were only for sale at the event. They were one-of-a-kind, uber-unique, and for that reason commanded top dollar with the bidders.  In the year before he was drafted by the New York Islanders, OHA teenage superstar John Tavares attended our black-tie dinner auction as one of our celebrity hosts, and his mother was his "date". John had his eyes on a very unusual Gretzky museum-framed presentation. He asked me what I thought the final price might be because he was interested in bidding. When...

"Don't look at me like that ... you know what you did and you're going to the box". 30 years ago, I was on a committee of four who presented NHL referee, Bruce Hood, for induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was being presented as a candidate for the first time following his 21-year NHL career. We had a dedicated group but w e had no idea what we were doing. We needed a proper strategy because we thought Bruce had earned the Hall's consideration and we didn't want to make a mistake with our presentation. But before I describe our plan, I must give you a little backstory. I was at Maple Leaf Gardens for a Leaf home game in 1984 when, following the 1st period, the announcer introduced Bruce and his wife on the ice to accept recognition from the NHL for officiating his 1000th game - the first ref to do so. The crowd gave him an appreciative cheer. He and I didn't know each other.   Scotty Morrison is all smiles for now ... but "The Book" will b...