Price was right for fan of Habs goalie at charity event
As long as Richard Lambie didn’t look over his shoulder, he figured this auction was going to turn out just fine.
And if he did look, same thing.
So it did turn out fine, Lambie considers this week, in town from Washington state with his girlfriend, Lee Klejeski, to watch Canadiens goaltender Carey Price in action at the Bell Centre.
Lambie is a regular at Olie and Stu’s Desert Bash golf tournament in Richland, Wash., a non-golfer who still enjoys rubbing shoulders with hockey players and digging deep for charity.
This annual event is a major fundraiser for the Carson Kolzig Foundation, in aid of the Responding to Autism Center in upstate Kennewick.
The relationship between Price and Kolzig goes back about a decade, when the future Habs goalie played major junior for the Western Hockey League’s Tri-City Americans; Kolzig and Stu Barnes, both former NHLers and Tri-City alumni, are coowners of the franchise.
Kolzig’s son, Carson, is touched by autism, and for years, Price has championed and contributed to the foundation operated by his mentor and longtime friend.
And, needless to say, Price’s involvement in the golf tournament and its related fundraising auction is a big part of its success.
In 2012, Price auctioned a pair of tickets to a One Direction concert at Key Arena in Seattle. Then last summer, at the tournament’s 12th edition, Price and his fiancée (now his wife), Angela, thought of putting a hockey trip up for bids.
With Jill Williams, the goalie’s billet mom during his time with the Americans from 2003-07, and then the involvement of the Canadiens, the idea grew.
By the time it was offered at the July tournament, Price’s prize for the high bidder and a guest included prime tickets for two Canadiens games — one of the games courtesy of the Habs — as well as Price-paid flights and accommodation at a fine downtown Montreal hotel.
The Habs provided some nice backstage access, as well, in addition to a pregame dinner of arena fare at the Bell Centre’s fourth-floor Directors’ Lounge.
Through sponsorship, donations and an auction, the tournament raised roughly $160,000 last summer.
Which brings us back to Rich Lambie, a Tri-City Americans fan for maybe 20 years and a Price devotee since the goalie arrived with the team at the age of 16.
Lambie had been high bidder on two previous hockey trips: one to Dallas, put up by then-Stars forward Barnes, and another to Washington, D.C., offered by then-Capitals goalie Kolzig.
He’s won other auction lots, including a few rare, autographed bottles of wine produced in the vineyard-rich area.
But the trip to Montreal to see Price in action was as much necessary as it was irresistible.
“I’ve been a fan of Carey Price ever since he became one of our (Tri-City) players,” Lambie said Wednesday, between his two Canadiens games. “We’ve followed him all the way through to the Olympics and now here.”
The bidding on the trip, he said, started out “hot and heavy.” But before long, it was down to two — himself and another bidder sitting behind him whom he would not turn around to see.
“I refused to look,” Lambie said, laughing, not seeing any upside to make eye contact with his competition. “Turns out it was one of the local wineries. But this one, I was not going to lose.”
In the end, Lambie wrote a cheque for about $4,500. He had a nice auction-day chat with Price and recently was in touch with The Sports Corporation in Edmonton, the agency that represents the goalie, to make arrangements for the Montreal trip.
“I was here when I was very, very young on a family trip, spending a day or two,” he said. “But I don’t remember much of it.”
Lambie took some vacation to make this happen, booking off from Babcock Services, a Washington company that provides services to the U.S. nuclear industry.
He and Klejeski, who had also made the Dallas and D.C. trips with him, flew to Mont- real through Denver, arriving Monday, then visited the Canadiens’ Bell Centre Hall of Fame museum and toured the arena.
The only bump on the road has come in the Fan Zone boutique, which was sold out of Price jerseys.
The couple enjoyed the Canadiens’ win over Colorado on Tuesday in Angela Price’s usual seats, then met me for a visit with Price near the team’s dressing room. Lambie had hoped to have a photo taken with the goalie and his Sochi gold medal, which Price brought for the meeting.
Thinking ahead, he asked Price to bring an elusive jersey to Washington next summer so he could bid on it.
Lambie and Klejeski spent Wednesday sightseeing, heading down to Old Montreal. They are to have a little more Bell Centre backstage access before Thursday’s game against Columbus, then have dinner in the Directors’ Lounge, guests of the Canadiens.
They’ll watch the game on tickets offered by the Habs before flying home on Friday.
The couple’s trip would be cherry-topped with a brief taste of Montreal winter, which was expected to arrive overnight Wednesday. They see all of one day of snow per year.
Price’s contribution to the golf tournament’s fundraising efforts didn’t end with his hockey package. He also auctioned off a pair of gameworn pads and gloves, raising another $2,000, and wrote a personal cheque for $5,000 in a “raise the paddle” auction call.
Price has a special bond with Kolzig, the head goaltending coach of the Washington Capitals who retired from the NHL in 2009 after a 14-season career with the Caps and Tampa Bay.
Kolzig’s community work is exemplary, recognized in 2006 with the NHL’s King Clancy Memorial Trophy for his leadership qualities and humanitarian contributions.
He and his wife, Christin, founded the Carson Kolzig Foundation in support of their son and, with former NHLers Byron Dafoe and Scott Mellanby, the latter the Canadiens’ director of player personnel, established the group Athletes Against Autism.
“I’ve just been very fortun- ate to be paid very well to play a game,” Kolzig told me during a Montreal talk in 2007, as he considered his own life and Price’s future in hockey.
“As athletes, we have an ability to give back and make a difference. For whatever reason, people look up to you as an athlete. Doctors, teachers, policemen or firefighters are so much more significant than we are, but we’re the ones who are set for life and get all the accolades. It’s not fair.
“I look at this as my way of helping the less fortunate. I have a very soft spot in my heart for children, and I’ve always felt that being sick and being a kid should not go hand in hand.”
Last summer, a Washington fan and a Canadiens goalie crossed paths in a charity auction, then again this week at the Bell Centre.
“I was prepared to pay whatever I had to pay to come here and see Carey Price play for the Montreal Canadiens,” Richard Lambie said.
“And hey, Carey won. What more could I ask for?”