Maria Canton
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 20/00) - She bids, she scores.

No novice to auctions, Rhonda Egar's bidding strategy was simple at the recent Nunavut Trade Show gala and charity auction.

She and her boyfriend, Pierre Parent, thought they would wait until what seemed to be the casting of a final bid before raising their paddle to enter the race for an autographed Chicago Blackhawks hockey jersey.

"We didn't want to start a bidding war right from the beginning," said Egar.

"We waited for what seemed like a final limit and then put our bid in."

The couple had eyed the jersey signed by Blackhawk Doug Gilmour earlier in the evening and thought it would make the perfect gift for Parent's brother, who lives in Ottawa.

Auctioneer Jerry Ell was all too happy to enter another bid into the auction that lasted close to two hours.

Even with Egar and Parent entering late in the race, they still had to up their ante quite a few times before they were able to secure the prize.

And, $850 later, the hockey fan who received the jersey and whose birthday was last Friday, is surely happy with his gift.

Before the sought-after jersey was open for bids, another jersey, signed by Toronto Maple Leaf Curtis Joseph, sold for more than $1,200.

"We weren't expecting the first jersey to go for so much," said Egar.

"But we had a price in mind and we thought we'd go for it.

"When it was over I think (Pierre) was a little surprised at how much money he spent, but it was very, very exciting."

Upwards of $20,000 was raised at the Saturday night auction -- money which will go towards a new scholarship fund currently being established by the Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Specific criteria for the scholarship has yet to be determined, but the basic element behind the award is to help those who wish to pursue post-secondary education.

A designated scholarship committee will likely follow a model similar to that which was used when the Al Woodhouse scholarship was developed by the Nunavut Research Institute and the Iqaluit Rotary Club.