Damn... I know how that feels. When I was in High School and making a whopping $3.75 an hour I saved up about $75... which was a small fortune to me at the time. My family went to visit my grandparents and when we went in I forgot my wallet in the back seat. When I came back out it was gone. My wallet was later found by someone who noticed it tossed in their front yard, minus my money.
If you are up to the trouble, you can canvas the local pawn shops to see if the hockey equipment turns up... if it does they should have a record of who sold it to them.