Reebok Canada offers $10,000 reward for return of Crosby’s Olympic gear

Reward offered for return of Crosby’s Olympic gear

TORONTO — Reebok Canada is offering a $10,000 reward, no questions asked, for the return of the stick and gloves Sidney Crosby used to score in overtime in Canada’s Olympic championship victory over the United States.

The equipment disappeared after Crosby tossed his stick and ripped off his gloves to celebrate. Hockey Canada says all of the equipment was collected and was being put into the players’ bags when it was noticed Crosby’s stick and glove were missing

“The stick and glove are priceless,” Len Rhodes, vice president and general manager for Reebok Hockey CCM, said Saturday night. “There’s absolutely no substitute for that exact stick and glove.”

Reebok has set up an e-mail hotline for people to send in tips. Hockey Canada also is trying to figure out what happened and security officers are reviewing video that shows people leaving the rink with sticks.

Rhodes said Reebok will work with the authorities to trace Crosby’s gear, awarding the cash prize to the person who leads them to the pieces of Olympic history.

“He’s been a very close partner of ours and a member of the Reebok hockey family,” Rhodes said. “We just wanted to do what we thought was right.”

Crosby’s black stick has special markings that will help identify it, Rhodes added.

If the gear is returned, Crosby can decide to keep the items in his trophy case or give them to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

“We don’t want to keep the stick and glove, we’d actually just like to turn it over to Sidney Crosby himself and let him decide what to do with it,” Rhodes said.