The Avs Hockey Podcast

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

Peter Forsberg 2004 Game Worn Jersey: Another One Game Wonder

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There are jerseys that I have acquired that excite me.  Then there was this jersey.  This was about two miles beyond excitement.  Here’s the story, from the very beginning.

I have a friend in the jersey business who emails me once in a while to make sure I’ve seen a jersey that he thinks I might be interested in.  For the most part, I have already seen what he sends me, but it’s always good to hear from him anyway.  People looking out for my collection is always appreciated.  This jersey slipped through the cracks though.  I had not seen it and I don’t think I would have without his email.  I owe this one to him.  The subject of the email was, “You keeping an eye on this one?”  I obviously wasn’t.  The jersey was being offered by Heritage Auctions.

This jersey was what is known as a “one game wonder” as well.  That usually that has to do with a patch that’s worn during a single game.  This jersey was actually part of a patchless promotional set of jerseys the Avs had made during the 2003-2004 season.  Forsberg wore it on March 23, 2004 in a game against the Chicago Blackhawks at Pepsi Center.  Most of the teams in the NHL had a promotional set of jerseys made and worn during that season as well.  I wasn’t sure whether it being worn in only one game would have an impact on the final price, but I would soon find out.

This auction was an interesting one.  There were two parts to it: an online component and a live component.  Bidding started low during the online listing, so I jumped in.  The Internet bidding ended with me as the high bidder.  Step one complete.  Then things got interesting.  The live auction option was available for only the people that had already placed a bid on the jersey during the Internet portion of the auction meaning it was now between myself and five other bidders.

Fast forward to mid-morning of the next day and the online live auction had now begun.  There were almost 900 lots total in the entire auction and the Forsberg jersey was about 20 from the end of that seemingly endless list.  It was obviously going to be a while.  That “while” actually being close to nine hours until it was finally my turn.  During the live auctions that I watched online I had seen very few items sell for the same price as the end of the Internet bidding.  People were watching and bidding.  Needless to say, I was worried.  I actually thought I’d get buried, especially since I wasn’t willing to go any higher than I had during the live auction.

The Forsberg jersey finally came up for auction, again.  The auctioneer announced it, and within 10 seconds, (after all that waiting and without any additional bids from my competition) this jersey became the newest addition to my collection.

Now it was time to try and photomatch this jersey.  Being as it was only worn in one single game I thought the chances of this were pretty much slim to none.  As I examined the images the auction provided I noticed one distinct mark on the Avalanche crest that would be a possibility for a match assuming that Getty had any images from this game.  This was my only hope.  (By the way, for the items that were available for the online live auction Heritage Auctions provided outstanding images.  This one is just a small part of the “scrollable” image they had of the front of this jersey.  There were images of the same size and quality for the back, the size 58 hang tag, and the MeiGray Group tag as well.)

Photo Capture Courtesy of Heritage Auctions

Next stop, Getty Images.  I had to get lucky and hope there was a Getty representative there to take pictures during this game.  Their photographers aren’t there every game.  I searched “Peter Forsberg 2004” and crossed my fingers.  I navigated the pages until I got to the games played in March.  Luckily, there were three pictures from the game Forsberg wore this jersey in.  One of them was this.

Screen Capture Courtesy of Getty Images

Here’s another capture from another post I ran across in my research.  It’s a little easier to see the slash mark on the crest in this image.

Right next to the nearly horizontal silver streak in the middle of the crest you can clearly see the photo match.  It’s a beautiful thing.

The other interesting detail about this jersey, as well as this picture, is that I’ve used the image above as a profile picture on Twitter before.  I’ve always liked this picture.  For lack of a better term, it’s bad-ass, just like the Peter Forsberg we all knew and loved.  Never did I think I would own the jersey Forsberg was wearing in the image above, but now I do.

Regarding the final cost to me from the auction, it was a fraction of what I’ve seen other Forsberg game worn Avalanche, Predator, or Flyers jerseys offered and sold for.  I guess the one game wonder aspect worked in my favor in this case.  That made this deal even sweeter.

So to sum it all up: a great price, an undeniable photomatch, a pretty decent performance (as usual) by good ole number 21 while wearing this jersey in action (click here for the game summary), and documentation from my friends at The MeiGray Group that the jersey was worn in one game and one game only.  Any jersey with these credentials is obviously more than welcome to join its friends in my collection.

Ryan O’Byrne Peter Forsberg Retirement Night Game Worn Jersey: Upon Further Review

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Joe Sakic’s retirement night, on October 1, 2009, was definitely memorable.  Avs fans had the opportunity to send him out in style with speeches, a banner in the rafters, the whole thing.  The team also wore a special patch on their jerseys just to commemorate the night.  Those jerseys, worn for only that night, were then auctioned off on NHL.com.

As far as the game goes, here are your highlights.  Do what I like to do whenever I get the chance and look for the patch.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eVDS4_P-LY[/youtube]

I kept my eye on a few of the Sakic night jerseys that I thought would be affordable and that didn’t work out too well.  Even the game issued jerseys ended up being pretty pricey.  Maybe next time.

That next time came as we fast forward a few seasons to October 8, 2011.  It was time for Avs fans to say goodbye to Peter Forsberg.  Same procedure: banner, patches worn for one night, and those jerseys auctioned off on NHL.com.

Here are the highlights.  Again, the patch, look for it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt0f3szcsRI[/youtube]

Here’s some video from my seats that night too.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_Pghq-FS24[/youtube]

I was NOT going to miss the chance to get one of these jerseys and I ended up living up to my word.

Here’s a close up of the Forsberg night patch.

Normally with a jersey worn for just one night there may be a mark or two, but nothing too distinguishing.  This jersey wasn’t normal.  Check out the damage.  This is a close up of the back of the right shoulder just above the “E” in O’Byrne.

And the big foot patch on the right shoulder has some scuffing/burning along the toes.

The next step for a jersey collector when it comes to damage is to try and photo-match it.  That process usually begins on Getty Images.  I was hoping to get lucky and maybe get a close up shot of the back of the jersey.  That didn’t work out well.  There were only two images on Getty featuring O’Byrne wearing this jersey opening night: here and here.  The Forsberg patch isn’t visible in the second image, but the “21” on the boards is the other clue.

Next, it was time to check the highlight videos for a hit that O’Byrne might have been involved in.  That didn’t work out either.  The NHL, Avalanche, or whoever decides what gets posted in the highlights only saw two hits the entire game that were worth sharing with the fans.  Thanks so much for the help guys.  Try not to wear yourselves out.

I’m not one to give up easily so I went back to the game on my DVR hoping I could see something, anything, that might clue me in as to how the damage on the shoulder of the jersey happened.  Not wanting to watch the whole thing (I don’t really prefer watching the Avs  get shutout over and over) I fast-forwarded between O’Byrne shifts and watched him very closely while he was on the ice.  He scraped the boards along the far side of the ice late in the first period, but these jerseys are made to last so that couldn’t have done it.  Then, as the second period horn sounded, Johan Franzen did what hockey players do and stuck up for his linemate Jiri Hudler, who had been knocked down by Ryan O’Byrne in the near corner.  That’s when the magic happened.  Franzen’s hit caused O’Byrne to slam into the boards in a seam between two panes of glass.  That had to be it.  It all made sense now.

I never thought I would ever thank Johan Franzen for anything.  He’s been a huge Avalanche killer over the years and I obviously don’t care for that.  But, Johan Franzen, thank you very much for coming to the aid of Jiri Hudler after big mean old Ryan O’Byrne knocked him down.  You did the right thing in regards to the jersey I now own.

As far as an official photo match through Getty and MeiGray, that will be easy.  The jersey and patch were only worn for a single game.  Blow up one of the images above and call it good.  But with a little persistence, and some investigative skills, I was able to video match this jersey as well.  It’s stuff like this that gets jersey collectors called the sickos they actually are really excited.

It took me two tries to get a retirement night jersey, and I’m still beyond satisfied that I was able to set a goal and achieve it.  Because of that fact, this Avalanche jersey is undoubtedly one of the big highlights of my collection.  Seeing it live in action made adding it to my jersey closet that much sweeter.

MeiGray creates a letter of authenticity that accompanies every game worn jersey they sell.  This letter was a little different than the others that I have.  Here are the sentences that made the letter extra special, “On October 8, 2011, the Colorado Avalanche wore a commemorative set of jerseys in honor of Peter Forsberg’s retirement.  The actual jersey worn on “Peter Forsberg Night” by #3 Ryan O’Byrne is now yours.”  I love the sound of that and I think I’ll hang onto this jersey for a while.  And by a while I actually mean forever.

Another One Game Wonder

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Just for the record, I have written about “one game wonders” before.  These are jerseys that were patched for one NHL game and one NHL game only.  The Avalanche have worn jerseys like this on a handful of occasions during their existence.  Here are examples from two of those games:

Ben Guite’s game issued jersey that was made for him to wear during a game against the Lightning on January 5, 2007.

The story behind this jersey was covered in a previous post on my blog found here.

Quick side note… I had a couple of authentics made into jerseys worn that night as well.  Here’s the Paul Stastny for reference:

There’s this patch as well, worn only on October 1, 2009 to honor the greatest Avalanche skater we’ve all known.

I have three of these patches just waiting for jerseys to go on, and for my next trick, I’m going to track down some blank Reebok Edge jerseys to put them on.  It may be a while before those jerseys end up in my collection, but believe me when I say that this is simply a matter of time.

This jersey though, is another type of one game wonder.

Charlie Stephens played in exactly six games in his Avalanche career and all of those games happened fairly early in the 2003-2004 season.  The most important of those six games, when it pertains to this particular jersey, was the game against the Minnesota Wild on November 4, 2003.  By process of elimination in my research, this is the only game this jersey was worn in.  As I searched my media guides and images sites, such as Getty Images, I came across this search which excited me as soon as I got there.  There is NOTHING like seeing the jersey you own in action on a website or in a YouTube video.  The only thing I can’t match is this stick mark on the front right side of the jersey.

I guess that mark must have been made a little later in the game.

The one thing that’s pretty pleasing about this jersey is the amount of game use it shows for only being worn in one NHL game.  There are the marks on the bottom front of the jersey.  Check those out on the image of the front of it earlier in the post.  And also notice the game use on the sleeves as well.  Here’s the right sleeve:

And here’s the left sleeve:

So in the grand scheme of things when it comes to all of the players that have worn an Avalanche jersey, Charlie Stephens is pretty much just a blip on the radar.  But when it comes to my collection, I was excited to add a different type of “one game wonder” to the old jersey closet.

A One Game Wonder

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Ask any person who loves jerseys about patches.  Patches just add to the story of a jersey.  Sometimes they tell of the season the jersey was worn: like this one,

Dingman white Pro Player Gamer NHL 2000 patch

or this one,

Sakic 2000-2001 Koho dark chest and tags

or this one too.

Liles 10th Anniversary Patch

Sometimes they say whether a team is playing for the Stanley Cup (as well as bring back great memories): like this one for example,

1996_Stanley_Cup_Patch

and this one.

Bourque 2001 white Stanley Cup chest and tagging

Sometimes they’re worn to honor a player for a certain amount of time: like a game, sort of like this one.

Joe_Sakic_Night_Patch

The jersey below is one of those jerseys.  The patch tells the collector all they need to know about when and where this jersey was worn (or made for a player to play in it anyways.)

Ben Guite Teammates for Kids GI

Ben Guite Teammates for Kids GI back

This is a Ben Guite game issued jersey that was made for him to be worn on January 5, 2007 against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Pepsi Center.  Garth Brooks’ Foundation, Teammates for Kids, created a partnership with the NHL and auctioned off every player’s jersey from that few nights of play in the league.  This jersey was part of that auction, then ended up back on Meigray’s site through a consignor, and then swept up by me when I got a chance.  You’ll quickly learn that I have a really hard time not buying, or making, jerseys with patches.

This jersey does have a few quirks though.  For one, it’s labeled like a retail authentic.  Reebok 6100 jerseys with the blue and white Reebok/NHL tag on the back of the neck are labeled for retail sale.

Hejduk 2005-2006 RBK dark chest and neck tagging

Avalanche Reebok 6100 game worn or game issued jerseys don’t have that tag on the neck.  Like this:

Cody McLeod 2007-2007 Preseason dark gamer neck tagging

Second of all, it looks like this jersey was “tampered with” by the team or by the previous owner.  The thread was taken off from around the Garth Brooks Teammates for Kids patch and it also looks like someone tried to take off the patch at one time or another.

Ben Guite Teammates for Kids GI patch

It’s tough to tell with this picture that someone tried to take this patch off, so you’re just going to have to take my word on it.   The person who tried to re-purpose this jersey didn’t get far enough where it can’t be fixed though.  It is currently at the customizer as I type this.  They are going to restitch around the patch and this jersey will be as good as game issued new.

It doesn’t get any rarer than one patch that was worn on one night.  I was there for that 4-2 Avalanche victory.  The video’s grainy, but you see the patch plenty in these highlights.

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

Ben Guite was injured so he didn’t play in that game.  His injury though, is my collection’s gain.