WEST VALLEY CITY — Do a search on Canada and Olympics and cool hockey souvenirs on eBay in the near future, and this auction might pop onto the screen:
Item description — Rare, mint collection of autographs from the Canadian men's Olympic gold-medal-winning hockey team — includes legend Mario Lemieux, young star Jarome Iginla, savvy veteran Steve Yzerman, MVP Joe Sakic, Adam Foote, Theo Fleury, Martin Brodeur, head coach Pat Quinn and many more.
Quantity — 1 set.
Location — E Center in West Valley City, Utah.
Payment — cash or VISA (of course, it is Olympics-related).
Seller — Centennial Management.
Shipping — Negotiable.
If this intriguing item interests you, watch out for the negotiable shipping part — the Olympic souvenir signatures are etched onto the thick cement walls of what was Team Canada's locker room in the E Center. Shipping will be a bit pricey, even in Canadian currency.
Oh, those crazy Canucks. First they plant the infamous lucky loonie under center ice. Then their men and women defeated the home-favorite U.S. hockey teams to take the gold. And now this. Better inspect the roof to see if they stuck a large Maple Leaf flag on top. Double-check the marquee sign to make sure they didn't change it to the "Eh" Center.
"They got away with this one," said Kevin Vurder, general manager of the E Center, with a smile.
Canada's temporary locker room is now used for storage. It is also the leased office of Cleanevent USA, ironically the company hired to keep the E Center tidy. Though cleaning supplies are stored only a couple of feet from the walls, they won't be wiping off these precious pen marks.
"We might bust it down and sell it," joked George Mutter, operations manager of Cleanevent.
Kidding aside, Mutter wants to create a little Canadian shrine by putting hockey sticks, red-and-white flags, sweaters and other north-of-the-border paraphernalia on the walls. The signatures are already being protected by Plexi-glas sheets.
"We want to help preserve it and highlight it," Mutter said. "It's really special."
The Canadian graffiti also includes some friendly North American trash-talking and plenty of reminders of who won.
"U.S.A. — wot woz the score?" (Give 'em a break on the spelling, they're hockey players, not English majors.)
"Bite me!" (Give 'em a break, they're hockey players, not diplomats.)
"What a feeling — Gold for Canada!"
"Buster wuz here! So wuz Igg!" (Buster is Owen Nolan's nickname; Igg is Iginla.)
"Wavy scribble, squiggly scribble, fancy loops and lines — 66" (Lemieux's difficult-to-decipher signature, en Francais apparently, and Super Mario's famous sweater number.)
Some of the names, Lemieux's for instance, are almost impossible to read. Fortunately, the players included legible numbers. Coaches and team staff also signed their John Hancocks. A classy Canadian also left a kind note to the room's next occupant, a Paralympic sledge hockey club, writing: "Good luck to the Japanese team!"
"If the (Hockey) Hall of Fame doesn't accept the loonie," said Vurder, "they should accept the wall."
Until that happens, Canada's wall of fame can be found down the hall from the ice arena, second door on the right, next to the vacuums, brooms and scrubbers — and maybe soon on eBay.
E-MAIL: jody@desnews.com