Re: Michigan Tech 2012-13 Preseason Thread: Draft picks, video feeds, and Mel, oh my
Michigan Tech Hockey Garage Sale is Saturday Sept 29.
Hockey Equipment, Skates, Sticks, Pads, Jerseys, Apparel and Memorabilia
Had a great time at the sale and was very suprised how well attended it was. People packed the room when the doors opened and at one point there were easily 30 people in line waiting to check out. The line went clear across the Blue Line room. The only varsity jerseys I saw at the sale were two practice jerseys but I grabbed them anyway - one homemade goalie jersey which had the Pianodog crest sewn over the Heaton logo, and one from the late 2000s with the script "Huskies" crest by OT Sports.
There were hundreds of Hockey Development School jerseys, nearly all in child sizes. I saw what I assumed were local youth coaches picking up a dozen or so each. At $3 each, a great low cost way to get prenumbered jerseys for the kids. There were still 5-6 boses of them left when the sale ended. Also some misc logowear for the HDS program as well (polos, windbreakers, windpants, etc.)
Since the team also replaced pants and socks this year, there were 40-50 pairs of breezers and hundreds of pairs of socks. The breezers were generally $25 up to $50 for brand new still in the bag. I found a pair of used John Scott breezers (huge) with the suspenders still attached and also a pair of Michigan State used as well. No one had any idea how those got to Houghton, but I grabbed them anyway along with the Scott pair. The socks were $2 / pair, but if you spent $100 or more they let folks just grab a few pairs for free. The team even had black dazzle socks which were supposed to be worn with the black dazzle jerseys, but the team took one look at them and left them in the box and wore regular knit socks.
A few pairs of skates, a few new helmets (I picked up the only one with the Tech decals applied), and a good assortment of shin guards, elbow pads, and shoulder pads (many still new in the bags). Only about a dozen gloves, I picked up one set that actually matched, but many of the others were singles. The one big ticket item I picked up was a mixed set of goalie gear - leg pads and blocker from Josh Robinson 2008-09 and a catcher from Rob Nolan 2007-08. There was another complete set from Genoe as well but I let that stuff go and it went home with two other parties.
The coolest stuff (in my opinion) but didn't get much attention, was a small table of autographed and/or game used sticks - many of which were donated by Mel Pearson. As you would expect quite a few were from Michigan players (Montoya, Shields, Komisarek and a 93-94 Michigan team signed stick.) I grabbed a couple right away, but at the end of the sale many were still there so I grabbed a few more for my friends that cheer for other programs downstate. The ones I liked the most however were MTU 1998-99 team signed sticks which also included a brass plate for the ground breaking ceremony for the Hockey Education Center in September 1998. They were in mind condition (hadn't even uncovered the nameplates yet) and since I was actually at the ceremony that day, I thought that was a pretty cool souvie. The team also sold several dozen brand new sticks from former MTU players. They were really nice one-peice composites so I grabbed a couple for use in rec league hockey. I'm sure to score 50 goals this year now...
All in all, a great time and if I would have had more space I might have been tempted to pick up more. Talking with the staff afterwards, they thought maybe they had brought up 40-50% of what they had in storage for this sale (hard to believe with everything they had yesterday) but Mel wants to make it an annual event like they did at Michigan and so next year should be equal in scope.
Ryan J
