When Wayne Gretzky was 13 years old, coach Ron St. Amand already had an idea to help his star players hockey career. "I remember him saying to Wayne, Weve got to beef you up to get bigger to go on and play this as a career," Rons son Rick St. Amand recalls. "Wayne actually came and worked at our printing company, sweeping floors and emptying garbage pails and doing that kind of stuff." Even then Gretzky was no ordinary 13-year-old and his hockey career was already the subject of media attention. That will happen when a kid scores 378 goals in a season. Walter Gretzky started keeping track of his sons stats, so by the spring of 1974 Brantford, Ont., was abuzz about the prodigys 1,000th lifetime goal. When he scored it in a late-season exhibition game, Gretzky signed his stick and gave it to Ron St. Amand and it remained in the coachs house until last year when he died at age 73. Rather than decide which one of her children should inherit the historic stick, St. Amands widow decided to put it up for auction with bidding through Heritage Auctions set to close Aug. 1. The value of the stick isnt clear because Gretzky memorabilia generally doesnt go back that far, but the U.S.-based auction house expects it to fetch $20,000 or more. The highest bid online as of Friday morning was $8,000. "The uniqueness of this stick is the fact that its probably one of the more important pieces of Waynes early history," Rick St. Amand said in a recent interview. "Pretty remarkable that even at 13 he was taking almost an adult position of signing the stick and giving it to someone he cares for." Shawn Chaulk of Fort McMurray, Alta., who owns one of the largest collections of Gretzky memorabilia, is interested in purchasing the stick, which he says collectors will be very "opinionated on." "A lot of the collectors who collect his career stuff have no interest in that kind of thing because its not part of the pro career or when the person turned the corner and became pro, things like that," Chaulk said. "Itll appeal to some people just because its unique. It appealed to me more because its unique and because Im a greedy collector who likes to have everything. "But Ive had a lot of people tell me straight up they have no interest in it because its not a milestone NHL stick or where he set a record in the WHA or something like that. Its a childhood stick, so it doesnt rank or come on the radar for a lot of collectors." Chaulk said its hard to prove the authenticity of items from an athletes younger days but has "no doubt" that Gretzky signed the stick after comparing the signature to others he had from his childhood. Chaulk knows all about Gretzkys handwriting from letters to another coach he owned and sold, one that even had a mention of Ron St. Amand. Those letters sold for an average of $500, Chaulk said, after he and others wondered if theyd fetch thousands of dollars. His experience with Gretzkys only known equipment bag that he figured was worth $2,000 and then sold for $10,000 showed that auctions can sometimes lead to unpredictable results. Thats part of the reason no one really knows how much this Gretzky stick is worth. For decades its been furniture, a conversation piece, in Ron St. Amands house. "I have never asked. Ive been curious," Rick St. Amand said. "(Heritage Auctions representatives) have been ones to say that we dont know what this stick would fetch. And I guess they dont. I guess it just depends on what kind of interest it draws." Chaulk has paid $50,000 for Gretzky skates, $20,000 for helmets and $35,000 for gloves. He has owned a plethora of sticks from his time in junior hockey through the end of his NHL career but has never paid that much for one, saying the rare ones in the past have sold for between $6,000 and $7,500. St. Amand and his family are considering donating a portion of the auction proceeds to help build a statue outside the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre in Brantford. "We thought that itd be a good idea that if we get a reasonable amount of money for the stick, then we would certainly donate to that cause," said St. Amand. Ron St. Amand could have sold the stick more than 20 years ago. On one of many trips to Los Angeles to see Gretzky play for the Kings, he was approached by owner Bruce McNall, who made money as a collector. "He had heard word that my dad had this particular stick and came up to my dad and said, I understand you had a pretty interesting piece of history, and my dad said, Yeah," Rick St. Amand recalled. "Bruce said, How much do you want? And he said, You dont have enough money, and kind of joked with him." One thing that makes the stick so fascinating for Rick St. Amand is the unknown: How many goals did Gretzky score with it, and how is anyone sure this was No. 1,000? Chaulk has sticks he can trace back to particular Gretzky NHL milestones, but this one is tougher to figure out. "Theres no exclusive club for a thousand (youth) goals or 700 goals or 633 goals," he said. "Its just a nice, round number that people say, Wow, his thousandth. At the end of the day its just another goal stick. He probably got 40 goals with that stick." More information about the auction can be found at www.ha.com. Tedy Bruschi Youth Jersey . Rousey will put her perfect 8-0 record and hardware on the line against another undefeated fighter, 7-0 Sara McMann in the main event of UFC 170, which will be held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas Nevada on February 22nd. John Hannah Patriots Jersey . 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NEW YORK -- A former New York Islanders co-owner who received a 10-year prison term for a fraud conviction had his sentence cut in half Wednesday by a judge who cited his good deeds and cooperation with prosecutors.U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska in Manhattan said 69-year-old Paul Greenwood deserved a reduction to five years. She noted that he regularly did charitable acts long before he became embroiled in an over half-billion-dollar financial fraud that spanned a dozen years.The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ordered the resentencing this year, saying another judge wrongly based the 10-year sentence in part on a finding that Greenwood had left some individuals financially devastated.Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Masella said 98 to 99 percent of investors money had been recovered, and the government sent the judge a letter citing the role Greenwoods substantial cooperation had played in the prosecution of another defendant, Stephen Walsh. Walsh eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.Greenwood and Walsh owned a controlling interest in the Islanders hockey team from 1992 to 1996.Greenwood pleaded guilty in 2010 to securities fraud, aadmitting cheating charities, schools and others out of hundreds of millions of dollars.dddddddddddd He used a portion of the money to buy collectible teddy bears and to invest in $100,000 horses.According to a 2008 magazine article, Greenwoods collection of teddy bears included more than 1,350 Steiff toys. Among them were 74 bears, plus birds, cats, insects, dinosaurs, kangaroos, seals and squirrels.Prosecutors said Walsh and Greenwood carried out the fraud from 1996 through February 2009, cheating institutional investors in particular.During those years, the men operated a securities business while Greenwood lived in North Salem, Connecticut. The businesses included WG Trading Co. LP, based in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Westridge Capital Management Inc., in Santa Barbara, California.Five years ago, Greenwood moved to Southern Pines, North Carolina, where his lawyer said he regularly tutored veterans and performed other charity work.Speaking by phone from prison Wednesday, Greenwood again apologized.I cannot express deeply enough how sorry I am, he said. ' ' '