Leafs raise a staggering amount of money for ALS Action Canada thanks to game-worn memorabilia auction
Following his unfortunate and untimely death after a short battle with ALS, the Toronto Maple Leafs had been wearing special Börje Salming patches on their shoulders in honour of the late, great Leafs icon. The Leafs "retired" the patch and their Reverse Retro jerseys for the season after Wednesday's win over the San Jose Sharks.
The Leafs decided to auction off their game-worn and game-issued Reverse Retro jerseys following their retirement to raise money for ALS Action Canada. The team announced before the start of their game against the Lightning that they would be donating over $250K to the organization, but at that point in time, the auction had not yet closed. In the end, the Buds raised over $284K for ALS research. There were a number of jerseys that sold for in excess of $10K as well. Nick Robertson's game-worn jersey went for over $12,000, William Nylander's went for over $17,000 and captain John Tavares' went for over $25,000. The two highest bids on these jerseys were for Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner (no surprise there). Matthews' game-worn jersey raised over $50,000, while Marner's raised an astonishing $77,015.
Real Sports also sold authentic Reverse Retro jerseys with the special "Börje" patch on the shoulder on Wednesday, as well as the patches themselves. All of those proceeds will be donated to ALS Action Canada as well.
The passing of Salming is tragic, but it shined a bright spotlight on the devastating disease and the hundreds of thousands of dollars of donations that were raised by Leafs Nation will help future generations battle the disease.
While many fans wanted the Leafs to wear the patches for the rest of the season, they retired the patch after only 5 games, following the precedent that was set for the patches that they wore following the passing of George Armstrong. You'll be able to buy a special Börje Salming patch directly from Real Sports or on their website in the next week or two, with all proceeds going directly to ALS Action Canada.
| POLL | ||
4 DECEMBRE | 226 ANSWERS Leafs raise a staggering amount of money for ALS Action Canada thanks to game-worn memorabilia auction Did you buy/will you be buying a special Borje Salming patch from RealSports.ca in support of ALS Action Canada? | ||
| Yes | 166 | 73.5 % |
| No | 60 | 26.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
