Maple Leafs fans can buy sweaters, patch honouring Börje Salming to raise funds for ALS charity

Maple Leafs fans will be able to buy a commemorative patch the team has been wearing to honour hockey legend Börje Salming, raising funds for ALS Action Canada.

The sweaters worn by Maple Leafs players in their game Wednesday against the San Jose Sharks will also be auctioned off for the same charity.

Fans will also be able to raise money Wednesday in a one-day promotion by purchasing the “Reverse Retro” sweater online through Real Sports Apparel by visiting shop.realsports.ca or visiting the store in-person at Scotiabank Arena.

Salming, the Swedish defenceman widely regarded as a trailblazer who opened the door for many European players to the NHL, died last Thursday after several months of battling ALS. He was 71.

“Borje Salming’s death reminds us all that it is time to raise our voices and come together as a country to end this horrific and torturous disease now,” Leafs alumnus and ALS Action Canada’s board member Mark Kirton said in a statement released by the team Tuesday.

The patch will be available for sale the rest of the season.

Game-worn and game-ready sweaters from the Sharks game will be up for auction at auctions.realsports.ca from Wednesday at 12 p.m. until Saturday at 8 p.m.

Two weeks before his death, Salming was in Toronto for this year’s Hockey Hall of Fame celebrations, and he was feted at Scotiabank Arena.

ALS Action Canada says it is Canada’s only ALS patient-led non-profit organization with an aim to ensure urgent, equitable access to promising therapies for Canadians; more and better clinical trials for therapies throughout Canada; and increased federal and provincial investment in research.

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