Championship hockey ring
Early last year I was metal detecting at a beach along the Pacific Ocean in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. I was using my Minelab Excalibur 1000. I really love this machine and the depth that I get with the WOT 15" coil that I put on it. My intention on this night time hunt was to follow the tide as it went out and work the lower part of the beach area at the lowest part of the low tide, where it is always covered in ocean water at high tide. Although I was wearing a headlamp, I kept it turned off, and at times I could see and hear helicopters hovering above me. The helicopters were there on security patrol for the Vancouver Winter Olympics, and many of them had been flying round the city. Detecting away, after about an hour I got a faint signal at a spot where I had been detecting at the low tide area of the beach. I put my shovel into the wet sand at the spot where I got the signal and after digging a fair sized hole I then passed my coil over it and found that the signal was now a bit stronger. I continued piling sand beside the hole but still got no signal. I passed my coil 
over the mound beside the hole and instantly got a loud clear "spongy" sounding signal. I still could not see what it was, however, as the target was deeply buired in the wet sand pile. Even though it was dark, I could see pretty well with the moonlight and clear, starry sky, but I decided to turn on my headlamp anyway to dig up the find. I took my hand and spread out the wet sand from the hole to level it a little and then passed the Excalibur' coil over the top to pinpoint the target. Right away I found the spot and buried my hand in the sand, feeling around for my find. Pulling it out, along with a handful of sand, I could see part of a huge band of gold! I wiped more of the sand off the ring to reveal a diamond on the top. Getting pretty excited, I first thought that it resembled a class ring, but what kind of ring could this be? My head lamp was shining right on it, and I could not believe what I saw. One side of the ring read, "1986 Blazers" and bore the Blazers' logo. On the other side was "WHL" inside a hockey logo, and the hockey player's name, "Kachowski," just above the the logo. On the top of the ring, was the word "Champions," with a diamond in the middle. Being a hockey player myself and having grown up watching hockey on TV, I tried to recall that name Kachowski, but all I could think of was, "It kind of rings a bell, but I'm still not sure who he is". I did want to mention that I always fill in all the holes I dig for the overall safetyof everyone walking along the shore. Amazed that I had actually found this championship ring, I had to call a friend who also metal detects, right then and there with my cell phone, standing all alone in the dark at the low tide at the ocean. I just could not hold in my excitement. Later that night, after an hours drive home and getting home around 12 a.m, I fired up my computer and did some research on 
Kachowski and found out that, sure enough, Mark Kachowski and his team had won the WHL championship with the Kamloops Blazers in the 1986 season. I also discovered that he continued his hockey career, going on to play in the NHL for the Pittsburgh Penguins, on the same team with Paul Coffey and Mario Lemieux, and played against Wayne Gretzky. In fact, i found a lot of useful information on the internet that helped confirm that this was indeed a real championship ring, and was Mr. Kachowskis. I next proceeded to find his contact information. I turned on the internet again and was lucky enough to have some help from a member on a treasure forum who is good at finding information on the internet. He succeeded and passed on Mr. Kachowskis contact information to me. I then emailed Mr. Kachowski and gave him the good news that I found his championship ring. I also had an enjoyable phone conversation with him, during which he expressed his appreciation to me for finding his ring. He was also kind enough to tell me a little bit about his hockey career, and then we arranged to have his ring sent back to him. After everything was said and done, I was able to mail the ring back to him just seven days after finding it. I recently communicated with Mr. Kachowski again and he confirmed that he had received his ring. It is now finally back in his possession after soaking in the Pacific Ocean for 24 years.