TJ Oshie was reunited with some of his childhood hockey memorabilia last year after enduring an uncomfortable situation with a storage unit flipper.
Oshie shared the story while making an appearance on the "NHL Unscripted with Virk and Demers" podcast.
The former Capitals forward, who recently moved back to Minnesota after retiring from the NHL in June, was asked if he found any memorabilia or items that brought back any good memories while packing. Oshie took his response in a different direction, opening up about a challenge his family had after his late father's plight with Alzheimer's disease.
TJ Oshie: I haven't dug too deep into the memorabilia stuff. Actually, last summer, which technically was right after I played my last game, I went through -- my teammates, high school teammates up in Warroad, there was this big debacle. My dad had Alzheimer's, forgot a lot of things. He forgot that he had a storage unit up in northern Minnesota and just stopped paying for it. And, you know, 'Storage Wars,' someone got it.
They tried to ask me to buy it back for, like, I think the number was 16 grand or something. I was like, 'Dude, it's just my childhood things.' There's no (value) -- it's all high school and before, so not World Juniors, none of that stuff, right? And he wouldn't give it back, wouldn't give it back. And finally, I was like, 'Alright, just keep it. Like, peace off and sell it if you want.'
Apparently, he couldn't sell it because it was literally my kid (stuff), you know, your medals playing, like, Burnaby 8 Rinks, the SuperSeries. That's all it was. It was stuff like that. My team pictures.
Anyway, so I went up for [the Warroad] golf tournament last year and they brought me down to my buddy's basement and surprised me. Some Warroad guy was driving through, a guy told him about it, and he was like, 'I'm leaving with that stuff.' And he paid the guy -- I can't remember what the amount was. Not 16 (grand), but I think he paid over $1,000. He's like, 'This is all I have here. I'm leaving with TJ's stuff.' And he packed it all up and I walked downstairs and they had it out like a museum.
Like, my letterman jacket was in there. And then a bunch of my dad's childhood stuff, like his community college basketball things. And so that was kind of the big thing for me, is I got all that stuff. And last summer I went through it all and, you know, threw away some stuff that has no meaning, but it's cool to see all that stuff and a good surprise from my high school buddies.
Oshie's father, Tim, passed away on May 4, 2021, at the age of 56. Nicknamed "Coach," the elder Oshie lived with early-onset Alzheimer's disease from at least 2012. Tim was influential in TJ becoming such a successful hockey player, moving his son to Warroad in 2002. Oshie would go on to star for Warroad High School's hockey team -- his number 19 was retired in 2022 -- and eventually went 24th overall to the St. Louis Blues in the 2005 NHL Draft.
Having a family member with Alzheimer's is a heartbreaking experience, as their memory and reasoning skills erode over time. With those circumstances in mind, one can only imagine how frustrating of an experience this was for Oshie having to deal with a flipper who was trying to make a quick buck.
The fact that one of TJ's friends managed to get the gear and reunite him with it is extraordinarily kind. Not only does it show how much respect TJ has garnered from those close to him, but also his father, who fought valiantly through a profoundly-challenging disease.