Items from hockey store heist likely now on black market, says retailer

Regina-based retailer Extreme Hockey is out tens of thousands of dollars after a weekend heist that saw more than half of the store’s tent-sale inventory cleaned out from its parking lot.

“When we arrived on Saturday morning, our tent was broken into and inventory liquidated out by the thieves,” the store’s Jason Degelman said.

The retailer originally planned to hold its first tent sale from Sept. 9 to Sept. 15; that week’s rainy weather kept traffic to a minimum during the weekdays.

Staff members were ready to kick off Saturday morning with a big opening, a barbecue and attendance by members of the Adam Herold Legacy Foundation.

But more than half of Hockey Extreme’s Under Armour clothing, hockey sticks and New Era ball caps were gone from the tent.

Three sides of the white vinyl tent walls had been cut open, along with a section of the blue steel fence erected around the inside of the tent.

“They obviously cut the metal with some type of metal cutters or grinder to get in, loaded up and off they went. All the product will be on the black market now,” Degelman said.

The items were new, but they were on clearance because the manufacturers had discontinued them. Degelman didn’t want to say the total value of the allegedly stolen items, but he said it’s in the tens of thousands of dollars.

He figured the people who pulled off the heist weren’t the one-off, “smash-and-grab” thieves that sometimes target stores.

“Thieves at this level that broke in were not just a common thief; we were scoped out and they got us,” he said.

He thinks the amount of inventory stolen would have required at least two trucks to haul: “A lot of things that were easier to carry; hockey bags (stuffed) inside of hockey bags. Things like that.”

“They broke in from the south side (of the parking lot), facing Long and McQuade where it was only a few feet to back in trucks,” Degelman said.

The parking lots for each business are adjacent to each other, with only a short guardrail separating them.

Extreme Hockey reported the apparent theft to Regina police, Degelman said.

980 CJME has contacted the Regina Police Service to confirm that the theft has been reported and that its members are investigating the incident. That message has yet to be returned.