Autism awareness is the goal

Goaltenders Olaz Kolzig and Byron Dafoe, who were teammates with the Washington Capitals in the early 1990s, have a different kind of goal in mind these days.

Kolzig, who is still with the Capitals but plans to become a free agent next week, and Dafoe, who spent two seasons with the Kings and is now retired, three years ago created Athletes Against Autism, with help from fellow NHL player Scott Mellanby.

All three have autistic children.

Athletes Against Autism, an offshoot of Autism Speaks, held its annual fundraising dinner and auction in Santa Barbara on Sunday night.

“We started out with eight athletes,” Dafoe said. “We now have more than 100.”

He said the immediate goal is to bring awareness to autism and offer support to parents, but the ultimate goal is to help find a way to treat, prevent and even cure autism.

Now that would be one heck of a save.

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Trivia time

Among the former and current athletes at the autism fundraiser was former Dodgers pitcher Jim Gott, whose sons C.J., 20, and Danny, 14, are autistic and who with wife Cathy is very involved in helping children with the neurological disorder. During his playing days, how was Gott connected to Cal Ripken’s streak of 2,632 consecutive games played?

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Story holds up

When filming began on “Quantum Hoops,” a documentary on the Caltech men’s basketball team’s unique ability to blend winning academics with losing athletics, Caltech had lost 230 consecutive California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games.

When the movie premiered in November, that streak had reached 259 games. And when the DVD is released today, it will stand at 271.

Maybe by the time of the film’s silver anniversary in 2032, Caltech will no longer be clinging to that victory over LaVerne in 1985 -- the school’s last in a conference game.

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Horse lover

Harry Aleo, the prominent Northern California real estate magnate and horse owner who died Saturday at 88 after battling cancer, was truly a lover of horses.

There is evidence of that in a new documentary about Aleo’s prized horse, Lost in the Fog, the 2005 Eclipse sprint champion. Lost in the Fog was diagnosed with cancer in August 2006 and euthanized a month later.

In the film, a reporter asks Aleo why he had resisted selling the horse.

Says Aleo: “If I sold him, I wouldn’t have the horse, would I?”

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All in the name

When a clip of Lost in the Fog was shown at the Eclipse Awards ceremony at the Beverly Wilshire in January 2006, horseman Gary Dimkick asked: “Is that horse named after Al Davis?”

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A homer, mostly

Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports recently wrote about Johnny Most, the legendary Boston Celtics announcer who died in 1993, saying that he “was beloved (at least by Celtics fans) for his gravel-truck voice, his propensity to smoke while on the air (he once dropped a cig and lit his pants on fire) and, of course, his unabashed homerism.

“It was an entertaining, one-of-a-kind style that went against many of the professional standards of the day. Unlike his Lakers counterpart, Chick Hearn, he never criticized the home team. You tuned in to hear the game called through green-colored glasses.”

Wetzel points out that one time during a Celtics-Philadelphia 76ers game, Most cracked, “There is a city ordinance in Philadelphia that decrees Moses Malone cannot be called for a foul.”

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Trivia answer

Gott’s first major league win on May 30, 1982, when he was with the Toronto Blue Jays, marked the start of Ripken’s streak.

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And finally

Easy prediction: The Bulldogs will win the College World Series.

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larry.stewart@latimes.com