TRURO - Out of sight, out of mind.
For several decades, at least, six goalie sticks have sat in the attic of Truro's first Canadian Tire store (now Truro Home Hardware) on Willow Street untouched and gathering dust.
"I've been here for 27 years and they've never moved from that spot upstairs," said store clerk Tim Clark. "They got old and we didn't figure they'd ever sell, so we just put them up there."
The sticks are Canadian made by Victoriaville (which shutdown in 1992) and staff who have been at the store longer than Clark estimate they have been there since the mid to late 1970s.
Clark said he tried to find a picture on the Internet of goalie sticks that compare to those in the attic but he was unsuccessful.
"These ones are mint, just like they came out of the factory," he said.
"Every time I go up there I always saw them and I just figured eventually, somebody would want them because you can't get them like that anymore."
That thought prompted Clark to send off an e-mail, with the blessing of store owner Les Mosher, to Canada's Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto to see if it would be interested in receiving the sticks.
"Thanks very much for the note," came the response, from Izak Westgate, an Outreach Exhibits manager and assistant curator with the D.K. (Doc) Seaman Hockey Resource Centre, a division of the Hall of Fame.
"If you are looking for somewhere to put them, we would definitely preserve them in our archives, especially based on the condition that you say they are in."
And, for that, Clark couldn't be happier.
"If they're in their archives they might just keep them out back somewhere, but it's interesting that's where they're going," he said.
"It's nice to just them out of there."
While three of the sticks are to be sent off to Toronto, at least one of the six will also be offered to the Colchester County Sports Hall of Fame, Clark said.
Twitter: @tdnharry
