The Avs Hockey Podcast

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

July 9, 2010 by Jay Vean - The AHP

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.

An Unexpected Retirement

July 6, 2010 by Jay Vean - The AHP

Just over one year ago, as I type this, Steve Konowlachuk was hired as an assistant coach of the Colorado Avalanche. Many people, by then, had forgotten how quietly his playing career ended with the Avalanche in late September of 2006. Konowalchuk was forced to retire due to a heart condition just before the 2006-2007 season was to begin. He played 97 games with the Avs and scored 54 points in those games. He was a true power forward and played with a lot of heart, no pun intended at all. His retirement created space on the roster for a young second round pick from the previous year’s draft named Paul Stastny. I suppose everything that came from Kono’s retirement wasn’t bad, but it was still sad to see a career like his end like it did. Most players say that ending things on your own terms is all they ever want, but sometimes things just don’t work out.

Konowalchuk’s retirement also led to this jersey making its way to my collection.

This is one of the jerseys that was made for Kono to wear during the 2006-2007 Avalanche season, a season that he wasn’t healthy enough to play in. I love the fact that it was the first size 58 Avalanche jersey in my collection and I also love the alternate captain’s “A” on it.

These aren’t given to just any player on hockey rosters, they are given to players that earn them.

I proudly wear this jersey to games at Pepsi Center for two big reasons. First, Steve Konowalchuk is actually in the building. That’s always cool. And second, I watched Konowalchuk play hockey plenty long enough to know that he would have worn it with pride if he would have had that opportunity.

Andrew Brunette, My First Game Worn Jersey.

June 25, 2010 by Jay Vean - The AHP

There came a time, a few years ago, where I felt that I had saved enough money to start thinking about “upping the ante” when it came to my jersey collection. I had a lot of cool Avs jerseys, but something was missing. It was time to go after some game worn jerseys.

I ended up on Captain’s Jerseys site. I’d hyperlink it for you, but he doesn’t do near as much as he used to when it comes to jerseys on his site. Anyways, I ran across an Andrew Brunette game used alternate jersey from the 2005-2006 season. I’m a real sucker for any jersey with a patch on it. (Have I mentioned that 100 times already yet?) I sent him what I thought was a fair offer on the jersey, he countered with an offer that wasn’t so fair, and I decided to turn it down. Guess what showed up on eBay a few weeks later? After I got over feeling cheated about him not giving me a heads up about the jersey being listed I followed the auction and won it. If I remember right, the auction ended at about $75 cheaper than my original offer to him. Funny how things work out sometimes. I finally had my first game worn jersey for my collection.

I don’t meet many Avalanche fans, or jersey fans, that don’t like the style of this jersey for a lot of reasons. I’ve missed them since the Avalanche stopped wearing them. They just have that classic look that everyone has a hard time disliking.

The first thing I noticed on the jersey was the game wear. Seeing the “battle scars” that litter the jersey is always part of the excitement when a gamer arrives. This jersey had a fair amount of wear. Here are some examples.

And I don’t really want to even guess what this is above the 15 on the right sleeve. Glue? A burn from the boards? Snot? Who knows?

I noticed a few more things about this jersey right away too. One thing is the new NHL shield sewn directly over the old NHL shield on the back tail. This is consistent with many of the jerseys from this era. When Reebok took over the branding from CCM/Koho, this is what they did to recycle the jerseys in a sense. Here’s the new shield:

And here’s the old NHL shield with the tail of the jersey flipped up.

The tag you see above is the Meigray tag. Every team that has signed a deal with Meigray has their game worn and game issued jerseys tagged this way. Each jersey has its own number and the “C” in front of the “02824” indicates that this jersey came from the third year of the game worn jersey program. Here’s the weird part though, this jersey has two Meigray tags. The one above is actually on the bottom of the front right of the jersey, where no Meigray tags ever are. Here’s the real Meigray tag, where it’s supposed to be, on the back left side of the bottom of the jersey.

The small patch to the left of the Meigray tag helped Meigray “recycle” the jerseys they had tagged for the 2004-2005 NHL season, which was a total wash as a result of the players being locked out by the owners of the league. I contacted Meigray about the double tag and they said it was a mistake on their part. It was also noted in their records that this jersey was double-tagged. I hadn’t seen a jersey with two Meigray tags on it before this one and I haven’t seen one since. Strange quirks are fun, especially when the jersey is yours.

Since this jersey I have added many more game issued and game worn jerseys which you’ll hear all about in the future, I just wanted to share with you how the fever began.

The Sheriff’s In Town…

June 16, 2010 by Jay Vean - The AHP

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 interview. 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.

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