Ultra-rare Wayne Gretzky rookie cards expected to be part of $3.72m Canadian auction

The pristine unopened case of Oh-Pee-Chee brand NHL cards could contain as many as 27 much-coveted rookie cards of ‘the Great One’

Among avid collectors of sports trading cards, rumours of a “holy grail” – a trove of cards so rare that they shouldn’t exist – have long swirled, but never materialized.

“It thought if we were ever going to find it … it would be buried deep up in Canada and the owners wouldn’t even know they had it,” said the expert Steve Hart.

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NHL’s Blackhawks will not wear Pride jerseys due to Russian anti-LGBTQ laws

  • Team says wearing jerseys could endanger Russian player
  • Pride jerseys have sparked debate among NHL teams

An NHL team with a Russian player has decided against wearing special warmup jerseys to commemorate Pride night, citing an anti-gay Kremlin law that could imperil Russian athletes when they return home.

The Chicago Blackhawks, who have an additional two players with connections to Russia, will not wear Pride-themed warmup jerseys before Sunday’s game against Vancouver because of security concerns involving the law, which expands restrictions on supporting LGBTQ rights. Vladimir Putin signed the law in December.

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Russia’s NHL hero Alex Ovechkin has a rare chance to hit Putin where it hurts

The Washington Capitals star is popular among Russians who may not usually question their leader. And he has debated the need for war

In 2017, Alexander Ovechkin, inarguably the best Russian hockey player alive or dead and the country’s most famous male athlete, started something called PutinTeam.

“I have never hidden my attitude towards our president, always supporting him,” the Muscovite and captain of the NHL’s Washington Capitals wrote, three years after Russia annexed Crimea. “I am confident that there are many of us, supporting Vladimir Putin. So let’s unite and show everyone a united and strong Russia!”

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On this day in 1921, this woman was the 1st to preside over a House session

In 1947, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was shot dead at the Beverly Hills, California, mansion of his girlfriend, Virginia Hill, apparently at the order of mob associates. Here, Siegel, right, shakes hands with his attorney Jerry Giesler after a Los Angeles Superior Court judge dismissed an indictment charging Siegel with killing New York gangster Harry Greenberg on the ground that the state had not proved its case, Feb. 5, 1942.

7 things to know now: Alligator grabs boy at Disney; Orlando…

This image taken from video provided by courtesy of WKMG shows an area near where an alligator dragged a 2-year-old boy into the water near Disney's upscale Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, 6 14, 2016. 1. Alligator grabs child : A 2-year-old boy is missing after an alligator grabbed the child off a beach behind a Walt Disney World resort hotel Tuesday.