The Avs Hockey Podcast

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

Bates Battaglia and the Mystery Patch

by

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!

Andrew Brunette 2005-2006 Playoff Worn Jersey: Clutch

by

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.)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxQDR1AXRqY[/youtube]

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.

Poppin’ My Collar (Part Two)

by

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.

Poppin’ My Collar (Part One)

by

(***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.