The Avs Hockey Podcast

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

Some Blueberry Love…

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A great friend of mine, who I grew up with, now lives in Wilmington, North Carolina.  We’ve tried our best to make it a tradition to get together whenever we have the chance.  As part of a new tradition, we made our way to Raleigh, North Carolina a few seasons ago to see this great comeback by our favorite NHL team.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bMeVbCQolE[/youtube]

I can definitely vouch for the fact that The RBC Center is one of the loudest buildings in the NHL, but it can also get pretty quiet when the visiting team comes back from two goals down to steal the game in the third period.  Thanks for the memories Marek Svatos.

When the schedule for the 2010-2011 season came out my attention went immediately to when the Avalanche would be back in Raleigh.  Flight reservations were made and tickets were acquired.  Steps one and two, done.  That was easy.

Step three (and for those of you that know me at all this is a very important step) it was time to decide what jersey to wear.  For most people, that’s a simple task.  Just open the closet door, grab your Avalanche jersey, and head out the door to the game.  For me, it’s obviously not quite that simple.  If I went with a white jersey, I may have blended in with the home town crowd.  I didn’t want that at all.  I brought a jersey for my friend to wear because he has a lot of Martin Brodeur jerseys and no Avs jerseys.  I’m cool with that.  He’s a true hockey fan so I don’t give him too much stuff.  Here’s what he wore to the game:

Since I brought the burgundy jersey for him, I was going to go with one of the two alternate jerseys the Avs have worn through the years.  The burgundy alternate might have been lost in the sea of red and white in Carolina, so I went with my game issued blueberry David Koci jersey.  It was made for him to wear during the 2009-2010 season.

As marked on the collar tag,

…this jersey was a backup (“B.U.”) alternate jersey for the 2009-2010 season as Koci’s jerseys can take a beating (pun very much intended) at times.  Here are a few examples of why a backup jersey is needed.

December 13, 2009.  Fight against Calgary’s Brian McGrattan.  Check out the neck of the jersey at the end of this one.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPrIJ-D55yM[/youtube]

And something similar happens to his jersey during Joe Sakic night on October 1, 2009 during a scrap with San Jose’s Jody Shelley.  And for those of you that are into that type of thing, check out the Meigray tag towards the end of the fight as well.  It’s the white tag with blue stitching that’s sewn into the inside of the back tail of the jersey.  Here’s the Meigray tag on my alternate.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OTDoLTwpl4[/youtube]

As far as the jersey goes, I’ve received more heat concerning it than any other jersey in my collection.   People sometimes don’t think much of David Koci because of his limited role and limited skating ability as well, but, honestly, he’s never really given me any reason to not like him.  I purchased the jersey for two main reasons.  One, I wanted that style represented in my jersey collection.  And two, it fits me just in case I ever decide to wear it to a game.

Fast forward to December 3, 2010 in Raleigh, North Carolina.  My buddy and I were excited about our seats knowing that they were three rows from the ice, but we became even more excited when we saw exactly where they were located.  The RBC Center is one of those buildings where the opposing team has to skate from one of the corners of the rink to their respective bench.  Our seats were exactly four seats away from where the team entered and exited the ice.  We got there plenty early so we could watch pre-game skate as well.  That’s when the magic began.

A couple of the Avalanche equipment managers and trainers noticed my jersey right away.  They called me over and asked me a few questions about it.  They even took a picture of the back of it.  I’m assuming they were going to show it to Koci himself.  It was unexpected and exciting to draw some attention from the people with the team.

Then, after the Avalanche tied the game at one in the third period with a Milan Hejduk goal, my jersey made its network television debut.

For those of you that haven’t met me in person, that was me cheering on my team at the end of that highlight.  For those that had met me in person, the tweets and Facebook posts began to show up.  I caught a little bit of flack from fans complaining that I didn’t stand up though.  First, we were packed in like sardines down there.  I didn’t have the time to squeeze myself out of the seat.  Second, I didn’t want to be “that opposing fan.”  We’ve all been at a game with that fan there, and we all know how difficult that can be.  I did my best to choose the classy and laid back route.

So the jersey in my collection that hasn’t gotten much love from anyone in the past definitely came through for me.  In the end though, it didn’t come through for my team as they lost 2-1 in overtime.  Here are your highlights.

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

I’ve begged my buddy to stay in touch with the guy he got the tickets from because seats don’t get much better than that.  I’ll never forget the experience I had that night, and that was actually before I knew I had been on television.

And being as David Koci was a healthy scratch for the game and didn’t even participate in the pre-game skate, the jersey that was made for him to wear last season got more air time than the jersey the team brought with them for Koci to wear that night.  That’s a type of thing that doesn’t happen very often at all.

Something Borrowed, Something Burgundy (and Blue)

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The magic that was the Avalanche’s 2010-2011 opening night had its impact on me.  The 15 year reunion of the 1995-1996 team had the crowd excited.  The introduction of the team that was going to battle this season was great as well, but it was the link between the two that had me sold…literally.

After the fans were reacquainted with the team that brought the first world championship ever to Denver, the newest Avs team was introduced.  The introductions were in numerical order, and there was one exception.  Adam Foote was left to be the last player, and for good reason, as he’s the only player left playing in the NHL from that 1995-1996 team.  Check it out.  (Thanks to YouTube user BroncoRamAvs26 for the video.)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atemxOq6SlU[/youtube]

The tribute and ovation was really cool to be a part of.  It’s very clear that Adam Foote is a fan favorite.  His style of play and longevity have led to that well-deserved admiration.  The pre-game ceremony was special and memorable.  I thought being there was as close as I was going to get to everything that went on.  Upon further review, I was wrong, and that’s a very good thing.

The jerseys that the 1995-1996 team wore were signed by the players and then auctioned off to benefit Kroenke Sports Charities.  As one can imagine, these jerseys went for a pretty good chunk of change.  The history behind these jerseys and the names associated with that team contributed to some of these ending prices.  Here’s the Sakic, the Forsberg, and the Roy.  Even the Adam Deadmarsh and the Claude Lemieux jerseys went for over $1,000.

I did a little research and found out that the company that sells all of the game worn jerseys for the Avalanche were conducting their pre-sales for the first set of jerseys that are currently being worn by this season’s team.  I went to the site, took a look at who was still available, and found out that Adam Foote’s jersey, the same jersey that Milan Hejduk handed to him in the above video, was still available.  But don’t worry about going there and trying to buy that jersey now because I already did just that about a month ago.

So that’s why I said, on my Twitter feed and my Facebook Fan Page for my podcast, that Adam Foote is simply borrowing that jersey from me until he’s done using it in early to mid-December.  That jersey will then be sent back to MeiGray, I’ll pay the rest of the balance I owe from pre-ordering it, and then they’ll send the jersey to me.

So obviously there are a few reasons that I can’t wait for Adam Foote to return from his recent head injury.  One, this team is better when he’s on the ice.  And two, I want him to use this jersey as much as possible before it’s sent to me.

I’ll post part two of this story, along with plenty of pictures, after I get the jersey sometime in December.  To be continued…

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.