Game Worn Jerseys

I know what some of you are thinking, “Seriously Jay?  Another Scott Parker jersey?  Do you really need two of them in your collection?”  Hang with me here, I can explain.  First, I am a stickler for small details.  The jerseys I love and prefer are the jerseys that are either worn on the ice or made for players to wear on the ice.  That way I know they are done right, and that’s a big deal to me.  Second, I am not only a jersey collector, but I’m also a jersey wearer.  My Dad and I go to about 25 games a season at Pepsi Center so I like to have options.  Third, I’m a big guy.  I’m six feet, four inches tall and I weigh 250 pounds.  Finding jerseys that fit me is tough.  In the old style of jersey, the Koho/RBK 6100 model, I was able to wear the same size as most of the players wore on the ice.  That was a size 56.  I also get along just fine with a size 58 as well.  With the new Edge jerseys, there are only three Avalanche players that I can wear because of the newer, more tapered style.  These three Avs wear a size 58+: Adam Foote, David Koci, and Wes O’Neill.  Scott Parker was another Avalanche player whose jersey fit me in the Edge style, but as you already know, if you’re an Avalanche fan or a loyal reader of my blog, Parker retired a couple of seasons ago.  His retirement wasn’t before he wore this jersey in a 2008-2009 preseason game though.

The Sheriff must not have played that much in the games when he wore this jersey because the only evidence of game use is this simple stick mark on the left elbow.

In the grand scheme of things a mark like that isn’t that big of a deal, but jersey collectors will say it’s pretty darn cool.  It’s the type of stuff we love.

Even though “Parksie” didn’t skate very much in this jersey during the small handful of preseason games that it was worn in doesn’t mean that it wasn’t designed to withstand some serious action and abuse.  I had no idea this modification on the the neck was there until I unfolded the jersey from the box it came in.  Check out the stitching on the NHL shield.

Here’s what that stitching is holding in place.

That’s a piece of elastic that’s sewn on to keep the jersey from tearing down the middle when it’s stretched during fights.  The same precaution is found on two game worn Ian Laperriere jerseys in my collection found here and here.  These are the “small” details that I love when it comes to collecting jerseys.

I hope my explanation at least makes some sense as to why there are so many obscure players in my collection.  I’m always looking for great deals on jerseys that I can wear to Pepsi Center while I cheer on my favorite NHL team.  As for why I need so many of said Avalanche jerseys?  Don’t ask.  I really don’t have an answer to that question.  It’s a sickness that I’ll admit to someday, but that day’s obviously not today and tomorrow’s not looking so good to be that day either.

Playoff overtime goals are kind of a big deal.  Ask any Avalanche fan about Joe Sakic’s heroics throughout the years.  His eight overtime game winning goals in the playoffs are a record for a career and that’s two more than the next player in NHL history.  That’s why Sakic’s name and the word clutch end up in the same sentence so often.

The Avalanche had another clutch player that played here in Denver for a few seasons and his name was Andrew Brunette.  He has two playoff game winners that I can easily remember off the top of my head.  Here’s one.  (Avalanche fans, I apologize in advance for bringing back memories like the one in the video below.)

That was April 22, 2003, game seven of the Stanley Cup Quarterfinals against the Minnesota Wild, otherwise known as Patrick Roy’s final game in the NHL.  And as my man Forrest Gump would say, “That’s all I have to say about that.”

Fast forward through the 2003-2004 season and the 2004-2005 season that didn’t exist because of the strike and Andrew Brunette is now a member of the Colorado Avalanche.  Brunette played in all 82 regular season games for the Avs that season and recorded 24 goals and 39 assists for a strong season of 63 points.  He finished third on the team in points for the regular season behind Joe Sakic (87 points) and Alex Tanguay (78 points.)  The Avs entered the playoffs as a seven seed and played the second seed Dallas Stars in the first round.  The series went five games.  The Avalanche won three of those games in overtime including the fifth and deciding game at 13:55 of the first overtime period.  Andrew Brunette scored the series clinching goal and he was wearing this jersey while he did it.

Just before the shot…

(Photo courtesy of AP/USA Today)

Just after the shot…

(AP Photo/ Donna McWilliam)

This video will show you how to get to the highlights of game five through the Avs’ main site.  The embed functions on the highlight page aren’t working like they should, so we’ll go the long way.  Just open up another window and follow my lead!  Game five was on April 30, 2006, just for reference.

The Avs were swept by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the next round so this was the final time that Avalanche fans were able to celebrate a win that playoff season.

Now let’s get to the jersey specifics.  It has a patch.  That’s always a good thing in my book.  Just adds to the story.

This jersey is what collectors like to call hammered.  In non-jersey collector terms that simply means that it’s very easy to tell that it was used during a game.  Here are a few pics that detail that game use.

Right sleeve:

Left sleeve:

The back left side of the jersey.  Sticks marks all over the place.  I especially like the one just left of the “B” in Brunette.  It continues on to the nameplate.

Here’s the front of the jersey which includes a mark on the Avalanche crest.

And check out the mark/burn/snot just below the “5″ on the left sleeve.

That mark looks very similar to the mark that’s on my alternate that Brunette wore during the same season.  I still haven’t figured out how marks like that get on a jersey, but I do know they add some character and that’s a good thing.  The rest of the marks are from sticks and pucks.  Holes are always a nice touch too.  The evidence of game use represents the way Brunette plays the game as well.  He’s never been afraid to enter those high traffic areas on the ice and pay the price to make things happen.  I’ve always respected that about Bruno.  He was a pleasure to watch when he played here for sure.

So overall it’s pretty clear what Andrew Brunette does in the Stanley Cup playoffs, he prefers to score series-ending overtime goals.  I remember one of those goals like it was yesterday.  As far as that other goal, me, along with pretty much any other long-term Avalanche fan, we’re just trying to forget that one.  I’m obviously very happy that I now have the actual jersey from the good memory in my collection.

Six foot, five inches, 240 pounds.  That’s what’s known in the NHL as a heavyweight.  They don’t come around very often and they definitely serve a purpose.  In his 51 fights in an Avalanche jersey, Scott Parker protected some of the best players in the game.  He was a first round draft pick of the Avs, the 20th pick overall, in the 1998 draft.  He left for the first time when he was traded to the San Jose Sharks on June 21, 2003.  Then on February 27, 2007 the Sharks traded Parker back to the Avalanche.  When he returned this is one of the jerseys he wore.

Many of you will remember “The Sheriff” wearing number 27.  He wore that jersey number for 232 of his 242 games with the Avs.  When he was traded back to the Avalanche in 2007 defenseman Ossi Vaananen was wearing 27 at the time.  Vaananen signed outside the NHL during the 2007 off season and Parker was able to get his regular number 27 back.  This jersey being from one of the 10 games that Parker didn’t wear number 27 was one of the things that drew me to it.  Here is one of the other reasons.

And here’s a better look, courtesy of gamewornauctions.net.  They have a better camera than I do.

As a fighter, Parker put a lot of stress on the necks of his jerseys.  Check out this example from the 2001-2002 season.  Photo again courtesy of gamewornauctions.net.  Their camera rocks.

Scott Parker obviously kept the equipment manager for the Avs busy.  I love the color coordination on the white jersey.  There are also stains pretty much all around the neck.

As well as some staining and a stick or puck mark on the piping just under the Avalanche crest on the chest.

This jersey definitely tells a great story, but another interesting story is about Scott Parker ended his career with the Avalanche as well as retiring from the NHL.  It’s not your everyday retirement.  Parker played 25 games with the Avalanche during the 2007-2008 season.  He had no points in those games and logged 70 penalty minutes.  During one of those 25 games he suffered a concussion and ended up on the injured reserve.  Here’s where things get foggy in terms of the story.  Supposedly, when Parker was deemed healthy he was assigned to Colorado’s AHL affiliate.  That was an assignment he never showed up for.  The terms of what really happened were never really made public, and I really don’t have a guess as to what happened either.  What I do know is that his contract was eventually terminated for insubordination.  That’s something we, as sports fans, don’t see every day.

Parker also retired in a strange way.  He never officially announced that he would no longer play in the NHL until he went on a local radio show and said it there during an informal radio show.  This was the result of too many concussions in too short of an amount of time.

I have to admit, Parker was never one of my favorite Avalanche players (and I have caught a little heat from fans thinking the same thing), but I also have to admit that I’m really happy that I had the chance to add this jersey to my collection.  Between the story behind the number and the neck reinforcement/repair that I had never seen on a Avs jersey before, it fits in my closet better than I ever thought it would.

I promised you a “partner jersey” post in the first Ian Laperriere jersey post, so here it is.  This is the burgundy jersey that Lappy wore late in the 2007-2008 season, as well as in the playoffs.

There isn’t a lot of game used to share with you on this jersey.  The darker jerseys never show wear near as well as the white or lighter color jerseys.  The one thing I did notice right away is that the neck on the jersey is very “stressed out.”  The thread is beginning to pop all over the neckline.  That’s the direct result of a few things.

This fight with Marian Gaborik of the Minnesota Wild.

This fight with Dave Cowan of the Vancouver Canucks.

Not so much in this fight with Steve Staios of the Edmonton Oilers, but it’s still fun to watch the jersey that’s in your collection in action.

And especially this fight with Stephane Veilleux when he was with the Wild.  The neck takes a beating during this one.

This jersey has the same modifications as the white version, with the elastic above the NHL shield and behind the lower part of the front of the neck.  Here’s the front.  And if you look really close, you can see how the thread around the neck is beginning to come out, especially just up and to the left of the NHL shield and on the back right side of the neck as well.

And here’s a look a the inside.

I didn’t originally plan to buy both of the Laperriere jerseys, but I couldn’t resist after I saw the white version in person.  Like I said in the first post, Lappy quickly became one of my all time favorite Avalanche players.  On top of that, his jerseys are fairly affordable in the grand scheme of game worn jersey collecting.  That’s why it was, and always will be, all about Lappy when it comes to my game worn jersey collection.