That’s how much he signed for with a seven-year deal with the Rangers back in 2007, but despite carrying the NHL’s 12th-highest current cap hit at $7.357 million, he managed just two goals last year for Montreal.
But while Gomez has struggled mightily to score on the ice of late, he does just fine on the links. On Thursday, Gomez even notched a hole-in-one to win a $50,000 SUV in a tournament to benefit his own charitable foundation.
“The guy wins a car at his own tournament. Can you believe it?” Continental Motors owner Marten Martensen told the Anchorage Daily News.
Martensen’s company will be supplying the car, an Acura MDX, which Gomez won by acing the 225-yard par-3 sixth hole at Eagleglen Golf Course in his native Alaska. That was where Gomez was hosting the sixth annual tournament to raise money for The Scott Gomez Foundation, which supports youth hockey programs in Alaska.
It’s a bit awkward when the host wins the big prize, but Gomez promised that his charity would be the real winner. “The Foundation will get it in some form,” Gomez told the Anchorage Daily News of his plans for the SUV.
Despite his hefty salary, Gomez could actually use the car himself. He’s been using his sister’s mid-90s Nissan to get around at home in the summer. So Gomez may keep the new SUV to use himself and donate the cost of the vehicle to his foundation.
Either way, Gomez at least finally has something to celebrate. He went more than a calendar year between goals for Montreal. After scoring against the Rangers on Feb. 5, 2011, Gomez did not score again until getting a goal against the Islanders on Feb. 9, 2012, a span of 61 regular-season and playoff games without a goal.
Things got so bad that one fan even set up a web site to track the length of the drought with a running clock calculating the time between tallies. And yes, it has been updated to celebrate Gomez’s triumph on the links.
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