The Avs Hockey Podcast

Yes jersey fans, there are particular reasons why huge fans like me like it when Hall of Famers get hurt.  There aren’t many reasons, but jerseys are one.

Let’s start with pricing.  Joe Sakic is a lock for the Hall of Fame on his first year of eligibility.  He is one of, if not the, best clutch playoff performer of all-time.  Any questions?

And let’s just add an 8th to that overtime game winner list.  Why not?

He is, without a doubt, one of the most respected leaders of his hockey generation.  As a result of these reasons, these statistics, and many, many other tangibles and intangibles, his game worn jerseys sell for a TON of money.  (Examples here, here, here, and here.  I think you get the point, they’re kind of expensive.)  Not just anyone has the chance to purchase a game worn Joe Sakic jersey too.  These are for the serious collectors with the serious money, A.K.A. “The Big Boys at gameworn.net.”  As much as I love jerseys, I have a tough time spending over $1,000 on one.  That’s a lot of money.

When Joe Sakic left the game with a back injury against the Phoenix Coyotes on November 28, 2008 little did we know that would be the last time we would all see him on the ice as a player.  But what’s shown below is a direct result of that back injury.

This is the jersey Joe Sakic would have worn in his last NHL games if he would have been healthy enough to play in them.  It is a game issued, set 3 jersey.  For the past few seasons the team has worn three sets of their burgundy and white jerseys during the season.  Here is one other image of one of the huge highlights of my jersey collection.

The three tick marks, made with black marker, on the top of the size tag on the back of the neck indicate “set 3.”  And the Captain’s “C” speaks for itself.  They’ll be other captains for the franchise, but they’ll never be a Joe Sakic.

As far as the game wear, there obviously is none.  This was made for him to wear and he was never healthy enough to wear it in a game.  Lucky for me too because if he played one shift in this jersey I would not have it hanging in my jersey closet right now.  Game issued jerseys sell for a fraction of game worn jerseys, no matter who they’re made for.  That’s another reason why I like game issues jerseys so much.

The story behind this jersey is interesting as well.  The company that sells the Avalanche game worn jerseys has had a summer sale the past few years.  People from all over the U.S. and Canada make their way to New Jersey to take advantage of the sale and to talk and deal with other people with jersey sicknesses remarkably similar to my own collectors.  Just days before the 2009 summer sale this Sakic and the white version of the same jersey became available on their web site.  I knew with the summer sale coming up that collectors would jump all over this piece of history.  I’m happy I saw it when I did because the white version of the jersey was gone the morning of the sale.  Quite simply, I got lucky.

Like I mentioned before, this is obviously one of the highlights of my collection.  I have been a huge Sakic fan through the years as anyone would see with my hockey card collection that features him, along with many customized jerseys that I’ve turned into Sakics throughout my jersey collecting career.  It’s safe to say this jersey isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.  I don’t, and never have, collected jerseys for the money, I collect them for the stories and the memories.  This jersey brings up plenty of both for me.

…And this jersey represents the ONLY reason why I’ll always be grateful that Joe Sakic hurt his back.

If you follow me and a few of my friends on Twitter you’ll know the significance of my title.  A few of us made it an ongoing thing to guess what David Koci does during the game rather than play hockey.  We can obviously all agree that his role this year was one that would be classified as “limited.”  I’d link to some examples of the beauties that people posted, but I found out the hard way that Twitter only saves searches for a short amount of time.  Thanks so much Twitter.  You’ll just need to trust me, it was entertaining.  In fact, our list was way more entertaining, and much less painful, than watching David Koci actually play the game of hockey.

Anyways, I didn’t care at all for the new thirds when they were debuted earlier this season.  In a word, I thought they were ugly.  The color, the shoulders, the way the Avs played in them for the most part this season, all yuck.  Then, not too long after the season ended, I got the chance to get one in my hands…

…And everything changed.

I suddenly loved the color.  They were sweet in person.  The accents between the Airknit and the Xtrafil are outstanding.  It shows best underneath the arms.

The pipe that divides the two different fabrics is an awesome touch.

The only part I ended up deciding I could live without was the back of the neck.

I really don’t think that anyone who follows hockey would see the back of this jersey and wonder, “Which NHL team was this again?  I already forgot.  I sure wish there was some kind of way to tell which team this was when I was looking at the back of this jersey.  I’m so confused!  It needs the team name on the back of the neck or something.  That would be a great touch!”  Whatever.  I’ve had a few people comment that this makes it look a little like a soccer jersey.  I have to agree with that.

Back to the details on the jersey itself, this is the jersey that David Koci would have worn late in the season if he was healthy enough (or good enough…zing!) to play for the Avs at that point.  He did return for a  game or two late in the year, but they weren’t games where the team wore this style jersey.  It is labeled as a game issue and they are my favorite.  They are made by the player for game action, but not worn by that player during a game at any time.

I know you might be thinking as well, “Why in the heck did you get a David Koci jersey?”  I can answer that and am definitely ready for the hate that comes with adding a Koci jersey to my collection too.  I wear a size 58+ in the game worn/game issued jerseys the Avalanche wear on the ice.  That limits me to three Avs players that suited up for games during the 2009-2010 season: Adam Foote, David Koci, and Wes O’Neill.  Wes O’Neill dressed for exactly two Avs games this season.  If I wore his jersey to a game people may think that I put my own name on my jersey.  In my book, putting your own name on a jersey is a HUGE no-no.  My explanation for that is a different topic and for a future post.  (***Quick side note, I’ll probably add the O’Neill to my collection eventually though.  Yes, I have a jersey sickness and it’s a lot of fun.)  Adam Foote’s jerseys are all game worn and list for over twice as much as I paid for the Koci.  I like Footer a lot, but not enough to drop that kind of money on his jersey right now.  So…for the price, the name, and the size, Koci was my best bet.  (Boy, I never in a million years thought I’d ever utter that phrase verbally or type it either.)  I hope you find it in your heart, as true Avalanche fans, to forgive me.

I’m looking forward to adding more of the alternate style jerseys to my collection in the future.  Liking them all of a sudden was weird, but it was a welcome surprise as well.  As I said earlier, this is the first Avalanche alternate jersey in my collection, and it won’t be my last; famous last words if you’ve seen how many jerseys I have.