The Avs Hockey Podcast

Two Fan's Perspectives on Colorado Avalanche Hockey...and jerseys too.

You’re thinking jersey foul, but think again…

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Every Avalanche retirement makes people happy and makes people sad.  Joe Sakic’s retirement made me as well as every Avs fans sad, but it also made me happy that he hurt his back and lost his fight with a snowblower because it led to this jersey being in my collection.

This is the jersey that Joe Sakic would have worn during the end of the 2008-2009 season, his last in the National Hockey League.  It is hanging in my jersey closet.  There are plenty more details about this jersey in this blog post from a while back.

Now, back to the title of this post.  Jersey Fouls, as defined by our good friends at Puck Daddy, are “the rules and etiquette for proper hockey jersey creation and exhibition.”  Not every Jersey Foul is agreed upon, there is some gray area every once in a while, but for the most part, you know them when you see them.  Click on the Puck Daddy link above for more examples of fouls than you’ll ever need.  As a friend of mine likes to say, Jersey Fouls are funny, and sad, all at the same time.

One foul that many people agree with is wearing a style of jersey that particular player never wore on the ice.  Take the Ray Bourque blueberry alternate in this Puck Daddy Jersey Foul post.  Bourque had actually retired before even the burgundy alternates were debuted by the Avalanche at the beginning of the 2001-2002 season.  Almost a decade had elapsed before this particular style of Avs jersey was put into play and Bourque had played his final game for the Avs.  Definite jersey foul.  No doubt about that.

Now take a look at this.  What’s your first thought?

You can’t help but think jersey foul, right?  I don’t blame you, and I have news for you, you’re wrong.  This is the one and only Forsberg blueberry alternate that cannot be considered a jersey foul.

This is the alternate jersey that Peter Forsberg would have worn if he had been healthy enough to play in more than two road games with the Avs during the 2010-2011 season.  It’s a jersey foul because he never wore this style, but this would have been THE jersey he would have worn at Pepsi Center on February 16, 2011, against the Penguins.

Here is some comeback history that will help fill in any gaps.

During his final comeback Forsberg played in two road games.  One was in Columbus against the Blue Jackets on Friday, February 11, 2011.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R3DxAbtaVY[/youtube]

He also played the next night, Saturday, February 12, 2011, in Nashville against the Predators.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV0f01ZmixQ[/youtube]

…And he was still the same old Peter Forsberg, or so we all thought.

Excitement grew in The Mile High City as we all prepared to watch Peter Forsberg take the ice again sporting the burgundy and blue that Avs fans always thought he looked best in. Then, on the morning of Monday, February 14, 2011, it was over.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34PR8zn_JqM[/youtube]

My initial feeling was shock.  Forsberg was a combined minus four in the two games he played in, but he didn’t look that bad at all.  It was clear from the beginning of this comeback that it was going to take a week or two to get his game legs underneath him, but it was his right foot that let him down in the end…again.

The Avs still had a game that night though.  They went out and made the fans, as well as Peter Forsberg, proud by trashing the Flames in an epic victory were promptly handed the worst loss in franchise history.  The Calgary Flames destroyed the Forsberg-less Avs, 9-1.

After the shock from the retirement and the game wore off I started thinking jerseys.  You’re probably more than surprised by that. I thought there had to be at least a burgundy jersey as well as the jersey I posted pictures of above made for Forsberg to wear on the ice.  An email was sent to my friends at MeiGray group, I got myself on the waiting list for an eventual Peter Forsberg game issued home burgundy and/or alternate and then played the waiting game.  About a month later I received an encouraging email.  I made a phone call and found out that both the alternate and the burgundy were available for purchase.  I did what any honorable jersey collector and die-hard Avalanche fan would have done and reserved the pair.  Here’s the jersey every Avalanche fan wishes Forsberg would have worn on February 14, 2011, at Pepsi Center against the Flames.

And, by the way, this isn’t a jersey foul either.  Forsberg’s comeback late in the 2007-2008 season and into the playoffs is when he wore this style jersey on the ice.  The two goals he scored during that comeback are here:

And here.  This goal is great because about 90% of the Wild fans are watching where Jeff Finger’s stick ended up in the crowd rather than watching Peter Forsberg bury one in the back of the net.  Beautiful!

One interesting detail on both of these jerseys is the stamp on each of the fight straps.  This is some very expensive ink.

It’s a little tougher to read it on the burgundy jersey, but they both read, “Game-Issued Not Worn.”  This is huge for resale purposes.  The difference in pricing between a game worn and a game issued jersey is over $2,000.  Like I said, that’s some expensive ink.  Both of the images above also feature the Meigray Group tag that proves that this jersey is a legitimate game worn or game issued jersey and not just a retail authentic that someone had made into a Peter Forsberg.

So, as stated above, I guess every retirement makes people sad and every retirement makes people happy.  Forsberg’s opposition was pleased that they didn’t have to deal with this junk any more.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRtrQ1YrCzw[/youtube]

Avalanche fans were very disappointed for the reasons demonstrated quite clearly in the video above.

Me?  I’m somewhere in the middle.  I sure wish I would have seen Forsberg play in the jerseys above, but that doesn’t mean that I’m sad to have them in my collection.  Another game issued jersey (or two) from a true Avalanche great, and future Hall of Famer, can never be a bad thing.

Thanks for everything Peter Forsberg, including the many memories and the fantastic jerseys.  We will miss you.

Bates Battaglia and the Mystery Patch

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If any Avalanche fans blinked late in the 2002-2003 season or very early in the 2003-2004 season they might have missed Bates Battaglia’s stay here in the Mile High City.  24 games total isn’t a long time to spend with a franchise, but that was the length of Battaglia’s tenure for the Avalanche.  Battaglia arrived in Denver late in the 2002-2003 season when the Avs sent Radim Vrbata to the Canes in exchange for Battaglia.  In 13 games played during the regular season Battaglia had one goal and five assists.  He also added two assists in the seven playoff games the Avalanche played in that post season.  Then, after one assist in four games played in the 2003-2004 season, Battaglia was traded to the Washington Capitals as part of the deal that brought current assistant coach Steve Konowalchuk to the Avalanche.  This late season arrival and early season departure led to extra Avalanche jerseys that were never used in games, and many of you should know by now where those end up.  (***Small hint—In my closet.)

Here is an old style alternate jersey that was made for Bates Battaglia to wear during the 2003-2004 season.

And here is a dark jersey that was made for Battaglia to wear during the 2002-2003 season.

When I received these jerseys (I bought them from the same seller at the same time on eBay) everything looked fine.  The name or the numbers look a little off center on both of them, but that’s just your eyes playing tricks on you.  Fours tend to do that on jerseys.  They seemingly throw everything off on the back of a jersey, especially when the number on the back is 41 or 44.  It’s just one of those things.  If you look hard enough, you will see that everything is pretty much centered.

The thing that did stick out was on the dark 2002-2003 jersey.  As I checked it out I ran across this on the inside of the neck tag.

It’s a piece of solid black nylon twill and it’s sewn all the way through the Koho tag on the back of the neck.

I had never seen this modification on an Avalanche jersey and decided to ask around and see if anyone had any idea what it was.  The seller told me that the Avalanche did this to all of their game issued jerseys from that season.  I wasn’t sure about that at all.  I’ve seen a ton of Avs jerseys over the years, and, as I said before, I had never seen anything like this.  No one else has really had a good guess that made sense as to what the patch is all about.

So the patch remains and the mystery grows.  It adds to the story behind the jersey, but it’s tough not knowing exactly what’s going on with the black mystery patch.  I guess it makes it easier to write a post about it, but having the real story would be really nice too.  I’ll continue to check around and see what I can come up with.  If I hear anything solid I’ll let you guys know!

Some International Flavor

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First off, I have to come clean, I was never that big of a Wojtek Wolski fan when he played here in Denver, but I did have his back when he needed me.  With that said, let’s get to the jersey.

A few years ago a seller on eBay listed a handful of jerseys that were to be worn during the 2006 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships which were hosted that year in Canada.  It’s pretty tough to find who didn’t make the Team Canada roster after tryouts, but the fact that this jersey exists makes me assume that Wolski was one of the final roster cuts.

The story may be unclear, but the jersey does exist, and here it is.

There are all kinds of great details to share about this jersey.  First, there are the patches.  One is the tournament patch found on the upper left hand part of the chest.

This patch is only found on the jerseys that were worn in, or made for, the tournament itself.  Many eBay sellers reproduce patches like this and sell them, but the “real deal” is obviously always better in terms of quality and detail.

Another patch that I love on this jersey is the IIHF patch found on the back of the jersey on the lower right tail.

The International Ice Hockey Federation is the governing body over all international hockey competition.  Again, this patch is imitated by many people, but never duplicated like people can find on jerseys made for or worn in IIHF tournaments.

The other thing collectors find on Nike authentic jerseys is this.

Nike heat seals a barcode like this on all of their authentic jerseys.  It’s found underneath the lower left hand side of the back hem of the jersey.  There has been a lot of discussion regarding these tags and even the experts don’t know if this tag means that this jersey was made to wear in games or it was something that Nike did with all of their authentic jerseys.  Either way, it’s definitely something worth paying attention to if you’re a collector.

Nike also changed the cut to the jerseys they made for international teams just after this tournament.  The more form fitting cut they labeled “Swift” has not been very popular for hockey fans, but it has been something the company has stuck with so the players must not mind it too much.  This jersey having more of the traditional cut was something that drew me to it.  I prefer the larger cut of this jersey and jerseys of its time.  The design looks very much like a Nike Swift, but the cut is definitely not Swift-like.

Another Nike international jersey trademark is the names on the back of the jersey are heat pressed rather than actually sewn onto the nameplate.  I guess Nike didn’t want all that thread weighing the players down when they wore this jersey.

There’s more too.  Canada decided not too long before this tournament to start outlining the emblem on the chest and shoulders in gold rather than the red and black they had used in the past.  The larger image of the front of the jersey (shown above) doesn’t show this very well, the close up of the crest on the chest and the shoulder patch shows the gold accents way better.

This jersey, like all of the game worn or game issued jerseys in my collection, tells a story.  The story isn’t as long as it would have been if Wolski had actually played in the tournament, but that’s alright, some international flavor is always welcome in my collection anyways.

Joe Sakic 2001 All-Star Jersey: A Nice Little Fixer Upper

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Sometimes, especially on eBay, rare treasures can be found for reasonable prices.  Sometimes those rare treasures need some TLC.  The jersey featured below is definitely one of those treasures.

Ever since the 2001 NHL All-Star game here in Denver I had been looking for a blue North American authentic version of the jerseys that I could potentially make into a Joe Sakic.  I didn’t have the money to buy an authentic back then.  The jerseys being right around $250 didn’t help either.  I don’t think I’d buy any blank jersey right now for that much.  Either way, I trusted I would get one eventually.

After a wait of just short of a decade I was able to finally find the jersey I was looking for on eBay, and the wait was well worth it for many reasons.  First off, the seller obviously had no idea what they had.  It was listed as an “Avalanche alternate jersey” in a size 58.  There was no mention in the title or description about it being an NHL All-Star jersey.  One pretty bad picture of the front was all that was included in the listing and that was it.

Based on the size I had a strong feeling that this jersey was different in a good way.  Size 58s from this era of jerseys were only made for the teams and not for retail sale.  That had me very curious.  The listing also mentioned the fight strap had been cut off of the jersey.  That’s never good when it comes to authentic jerseys.  The fight strap is one of the things that makes the jersey authentic in the first place.  I’m also assuming that scared off a few bidders.  I ended up placing a last second bid and won the jersey for $32 delivered.  Not too bad at all.

Opening that box was pretty exciting when it arrived.  My focus went directly to the back of the jersey on the lower right hand side.  I found what I was looking for because it looked like this:

The silver NHL shield is found on all of the authentic jerseys of that era.  No big deal.  But the NHLPA logo to the left of the NHL shield is a big deal.  Those are only found on jerseys that are made to wear in the actual NHL All-Star games.  On a side note, I found the red jersey below on eBay as well.  It has a similar story behind it.  Check out the lower right hand side of the back of the jersey.  You’ll see the NHLPA logo there as well.  That means it was going to be used in an All-Star game, but it ended up as a blank extra just like my potential Sakic.

By the way, just in case you’re wondering, NHLPA stands for the National Hockey League Players’ Association.

With the good news of the future Sakic jersey being what I wanted it to be there now came new challenges.  Look really closely where the fight strap should be, just below the middle of the back, and notice that most of it isn’t there.

Here’s the front, just for the “before” reference.

Overall, the jersey was in pretty good shape.  I’d classify it as very good used condition.  I was very happy overall, but I was just getting started.

I now had my next steps to make this jersey into something special: find someone that could fix the fight strap, find a blue nameplate for the back of the jersey, find a Team Canada flag patch for the left sleeve, a small Avalanche patch for the right sleeve, and a company could letter it into a Sakic for me.  No problem.

A few connections on a jersey forum that I’m a member of helped me find someone that could very easily fix the fight strap.  That same guy knew someone that could get me some blue material for the nameplate on the eventual finished jersey.  I purchased the patches I needed from a local sports memorabilia store that I’ve been going to for 25 years.  And after discussing things with my favorite local jersey lettering place I found out that they were the actual company that lettered the on-ice All-Star jerseys for the game at Pepsi Center in 2001.  How’s that for a plan?

Fast forward about six months and here is the finished product:

It’s a beautiful thing.

In the end, a $32 jersey became something very special.  In the grand scheme of things I made a game issued Joe Sakic 2001 All-Star jersey for a fraction of the price of a documented game issued jersey.  Also in the end, it was quite a bargain and was definitely well worth the wait.

Many jersey collectors will say the most expensive jerseys price-wise automatically end up as the centerpieces of their collections, but sometimes the best deals and the projects stemming from those deals steal the show in the end.  This jersey is a perfect example of just that.