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GTA family fights rising costs of minor hockey

Every autumn, the Elbe family of Etobicoke goes hunting for deals on hockey equipment. The Elbes’ main stop is the “Big 60” event at National Sports Centre. It’s a 60-hour sale every November. The family never misses it. Brian and Lucy Elbe wade through the aisles with their two sons: Gabriel, 12, and Matthew, 9. Gabriel grabs a shiny green hockey stick off the shelf. “I want this one,” he says. “I like the colour!” His father checks the price tag: $299.99. “Me too!” Matthew shouts, unknowingly asking his father for an additional $300. “You guys aren’t getting those,” Brian Elbe says, handing the boys two other sticks to try. They grudgingly accept and it’s on to the next item. “You try and spend reasonably. … For an 11-year-old or 9-year-old, the top brand or the middle, it makes no difference.”



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More than cash investment in Toronto youth hockey

With under a minute left, and his team down by one, 11-year-old Matthew Gleeson joins the rush. He skates for the net and sets up his teammate for the tying goal. In the dying seconds of the game, Matthew Gleeson gives a first-hand effort, using second-hand equipment. “If the edge is sharp, that’s good enough. Why do you need to buy top of the line skates?” Robert Gleeson says. Matthew’s father, Robert Gleeson, buys his son’s equipment from Play-It-Again Sports. The store sells used equipment at reasonable prices. Just one way the Gleesons afford the cost of their son’s hockey.