Customized Authentic Jerseys

I popped my (hockey) jersey collar once, and then I popped it again, so naturally I’d like to pop it one more time because poppin’ collars is just plain fun.

I ran across a rare 2000 World All-Star jersey blank on eBay a while back and knew there was at least one more Avalanche player, besides the players on the jerseys in the posts above, that would look great on it.  That someone turned out to be Latvia’s own (check out the left sleeve below)  Sandis Ozolinsh.  Ozo was known as one of the premier offensive defenseman of his day and had five great seasons with the Colorado Avalanche.  I won the jersey on eBay, bought a red Air Knit nameplate from a buddy of mine, and had Denver Athletic work their magic to create this jersey.

Why number 18 rather than his usual number 8?  Ozolinsh must have had a small discussion with then Mighty Ducks of Anaheim right wing Teemu Selanne prior to the game.  It’s the player with more career goals that usually gets to keep their jersey number if there are duplicate numbers for the game.  That was the case here.

Quick!  What’s the only thing better than one All-Star patch on an All-Star jersey?  Answer: Two commemorative patches.

The NHL 2000 patch, in various team colors, was worn by every team in every game throughout the 1999-2000 NHL season.  The All-Star patch was worn by the Maple Leafs all season as the All-Star game was played in Toronto at Air Canada Centre (I love spelling things that way) on February 6, 2000.

Ozolinsh’s claim to fame in this game didn’t come by way of a multi-goal MVP performance or even a large handful of assists, it came by taking the only penalty of the game, a hooking call, at 5:51 of the third period.  Oops.  You have to work VERY hard to get called for a penalty during an All-Star game.  Way to go Ozo!  Nicely done!

Based on the rosters from the 2000 and 2001 NHL All-Star games I believe I’m done poppin’ my collar when it comes to this style of jersey.  Only the World style of jerseys from those two games had collars on them.  I guess I could always venture outside my favorite team’s jerseys, but that would be a dangerous move for my collection, the extra space in my jersey closet, as well as my bank account.  That’s definitely not the plan for right now, but I guess you never know.  Stranger things have happened, like someone taking an actual penalty during an NHL All-Star game.  Thanks for the memories Ozo.

The 2004 NHL All Star game, the 54th edition of the mid-season classic, was hosted at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul Minnesota.  It was a memorable one for Avalanche as well as jersey fans for a few different reasons.

The first reason for me, and be sure you’re sitting down because this is going to shock you beyond belief, was the jerseys.  Classic style and color.  There’s just something about the diagonal lettering on the front of jerseys that people enjoy and prefer.  The patch on the shoulder that indicates the player’s team is something that has been lacking the past few years.  Many fans, myself included, miss that small but very noticeable touch.  Here’s a 2009 Western Conference All-Star jersey that I’ll eventually have made into a Milan Hejduk.

Throughout the years I have been able to find two of the 2004 Western Conference All-Star jerseys in a size 56.  One was a Joe Sakic (two huge shockers in one AHP post!  Are you kidding me!) that I found on eBay which as already customized.

The other was a blank jersey that I had made into a Rob Blake.

If I ever find another blank in a size 56 I have the option of making it an Alex Tanguay.  Once again, there are always jerseys to make and that’s the fun part of collecting.

Another reason why this particular game was memorable was Joe Sakic’s MVP performance.  The Western Conference lost the game, but Sakic scored one goal in each period to steal the show.  Just another trophy for the old trophy case and another honor to add to his already impressive resume for our beloved Joe Sakic.

So these jerseys have that clean classic look to them and they’re associated with some good memories.  Ask any jersey collector about that combination and they’ll tell you that jersey is sold (or it’s already in the collection anyways.)

Paul Stastny’s rookie year in 2006-2007 provided jersey collectors with a rare opportunity.  When he switched jersey numbers during the first half of the season he gave “jersey heads” like me  twice as many options when it came to making rookie jerseys.

Early in the season his jersey looked like this:

About 25 games into the ’06-’07 season he made a number switch and his jersey ended up looking like this, and it still does:

I covered the story behind the entire number switch with John-Michael Liles in a previous post on my site found here.

These two jerseys are blank authentics that I had lettered into Stastnys.  In this Avalanche jersey era, during the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons, fans had three styles of jerseys to get customized: the white, the burgundy, and the alternate.  Since Stastny decided to switch numbers this gave fans six options instead of the normal three options to have jerseys made.  Since this is a rookie jersey it makes things even more fun and interesting.

So when people come up to me and ask, “What’s going on with your Stastny jersey?  He never wore number 62.”  I am more than prepared with an explanation for them.  And if other collectors choose to get a number 62 Stastny rookie jersey in any of the three versions available at the time, they will have a few things too: a pretty cool jersey, the respect of knowledgeable and die-hard Avalanche fans, and an explanation for the people that ask you about your jersey.  How can anyone possibly go wrong with those options?

I’m featuring another collared jersey in this post, but like I said in part one of this two-part series, this one has a little more of a story to it.  Let’s get to the pictures first.

The first thing that many Avalanche fans will notice is Milan Hejduk’s number that he wore in the 2000 NHL All-Star game held in Toronto.  His normal jersey number is 23 when he plays with the Avs and when he played in the 2001 NHL All-Star game in Denver, but in this game he wore jersey number 22.  Most of the time in All-Star games the player with the most career goals gets his jersey number when two players wear the same number during the regular season.  The player with less career goals then chooses a new jersey number for the game.  That wasn’t the case here.  Hejduk’s fellow countryman Peter Svoboda wore number 23 for the 2000 All-Star game.  Svoboda was the first Czech player to ever play 1,000 games in the NHL and only had 58 career goals as he was a defenseman, but he obviously had the respect of a particular young Avalanche forward and was allowed to wear his customary 23 for the game.  A classy move by Hejduk, but that’s what we’ve come to expect as Avalanche fans through the years.

There are also a few differences between the 2000 and 2001 All-Star jerseys.  The basic design is obviously the same at first glance, but there are a couple of details that make them different.  One is the back right tail of the jerseys.  The 2001 only has the black and silver NHL shield there, the 2000 jersey looks like this:

CCM moved their logo to the back of the neck of NHL jerseys before the start of the 2000-2001 season.  I’m not exactly sure why CCM chose the move from one year to the next, but I’m sure marketing and emblem visibility had something to do with it.

Another difference is the All-Star patches.  The 2001 patch is very familiar to all of us Avalanche fans.  The 2000 jersey patches looked like this:

The patch on the top was worn by the Toronto Maple Leafs on their jerseys all season long and the NHL 2000 patch was worn by every team in the league during the 1999-2000 season.  For example, here’s a Chris Dingman white game worn jersey from that season:

And here’s a burgundy authentic that I had made into a Chris Drury.

The last thing I’d want is for Avs fans to forget what the Avalanche jerseys looked like that season as we all have short memories.  Plus, as I’m sure you guys have noticed, I’ll take any chance I get to post a jersey that’s in my collection on the blog.  That’s kind of the point, right?

So that’s the end of the collared jerseys in my collection.  They don’t come around too often, and I know many of you are thanking me for that.  Either way, these jerseys are definitely unique in their own way and are attention-getters at games due to their color and style.  Ask any collector about people asking you about your jerseys while you’re wearing them; that’s never a bad thing.

(***Quick side note for the readers that don’t follow hip-hop at all, the title of this post comes from this song by Three 6 Mafia.  Not the best song ever, but fun to listen to anyways.  You’ll understand the connection as you read and see the pictures.  Trust me!)

A collar on a hockey jersey?  Never thought I’d see that, until the 2000 World Team NHL All-Star jerseys debuted.

A little different, right?  I’ll cover the 2000 Milan Hejduk (the collared jersey above) that’s in my collection in a future post as it has a little more to its story, but I wanted to share the pair of 2001 NHL All-Star jerseys now.  The 2001 All-Star jerseys are basically the same jerseys as the 2000s except for some small patch, tagging, and logo details.  I picked two of them up blank from a seller on eBay a few years ago for what I’d call “eBay prices.”  I like eBay pricing.  It’s a good thing.  Have I mentioned how much I love eBay lately?  I actually received the jerseys still wrapped in plastic, which is pretty rare for jerseys that have existed for as long as they had.  Here are the photos of the blank originals:

And what Avs fans don’t love the memories involved with this patch?

After dropping them off at my favorite jersey place, who also lettered the jerseys for the 2001 All-Star game here in Denver, here is what they look like now.

I love the captain’s “C” on the Forsberg.  All-Star captains from your favorite team don’t happen that often.  It’s important to take advantage when the chance is there.

Please don’t tell me that you’re at all surprised to see that jersey.  You guys know how I roll by now!  I’ll talk about this one in a later post.

The collars?  Not too bad if you ask me.  They’ve grown on me throughout the years.  I’ve met a lot of collectors that don’t like these jerseys at all.  Me?  I like them.  I don’t know if it’s the good memories attached to them or what, but I think they’re just fine, collars and all.  They’re perfect for poppin’ when I’m at Pepsi Center and that’s all that really matters anyways.