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Mark Pavelich's 'Miracle on Ice' gold medal sells for $262,900

The 1980 Winter Olympic gold medal owned by Mark Pavelich, a forward on the famed "Miracle on Ice" U.S. men's hockey team, has sold for $262,900 at auction.

Pavelich's gold medal was the second to be sold through Dallas-based auction house Heritage Auctions. In 2010, the medal that once belonged to Mark Wells, also a forward on that "Miracle" team, went for $310,700.

In April, Pavelich spoke to Puck Daddy and disclosed that his intentions for putting the gold medal up for auction were motivated by family reasons.

“I’m doing a lot for my daughter here,” he said. “I want her to get a step forward in life. That’s probably the biggest reason.” 

The 56-year old Pavelich said he had some other items from his hockey career that he was considering auctioning off in the future, but none would be from his five seasons with the New York Rangers.

Pavelich did not have any reservations about parting with his gold medal. There were only so many thing he could do with it and the risk of displaying it in his house and having it stolen was too great. And just because he no longer owns it won't ever take away the pride he has in what that team accomplished 34 years ago.

“You can’t say that you never did win a medal just because you don’t have it anymore," Pavelich said. "You always can say that you got it.”

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Sean Leahy

is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!