08-09 Lawrence Nycholat Vancouver Canucks Jersey

March 22nd, 2009

This is the game worn 2008-09 road Vancouver Canucks jersey of defenseman Lawrence Nycholat.

A depth player for the Canucks, Nycholat only appeared in 14 games for the Canucks, contributing one assist, before being claimed off of waivers by the Calgary Flames (and subsequently being traded to the Colorado Avalanche).

The jersey shows light wear as expected. Just some board burns and light stick marks throughout.

One of the marks — on the right arm near the number 2 — made for an easy photo match to a game played on November 17, 2008.

The interior shows some piling around the fight strap (obviously from the velcro) and around the cuffs. The fightstrap has “NYCHOLAT 32″ penned in with a fine tip sharpie.

The set 1 jersey is a size 58, manufactured by Rbk and is composed of airknit, knit, mesh, and edge materials. Everything is sewn on — name is on a nameplate. Meigray number is F09933.

I acquired this jersey (along with the home version) on March 20, 2009 from Meigray.

This jersey is in my collection because Nycholat spent just over two seasons playing for the Hartford Wolf Pack.

Together, they are my twenty-third and twenty-fourth Nycholat jerseys.

Posted in National Hockey League, Vancouver Canucks | No Comments »

88-90 Scott Young Hartford Whalers Jersey

July 27th, 2008

This is a game worn home Hartford Whalers jersey from the 1980’s of right wing Scott Young.

Scott Young was drafted eleventh overall by the Hartford Whalers in the 1986 NHL Entry Draft behind players Jimmy Carson, Zarley Zalapski, and Jocelyn Lemieux who would also eventually spend time with the Whalers. Of those players, though, Young would have the longest and most successful NHL career.

Many NHL fans tend to forget that Scott YOung began his long NHL career in Hartford. Prior to “sticking” with the St. Louis Blues, Young bounced from Hartford to Pittsburgh (for Rob Brown), then to Quebec, which moved to Colorado where he was dealt to Anaheim. From there, he signed with the St. Louis Blues spending 4 seasons there before heading to Dallas.

For his final season in 2005-06, he returned to the St. Louis Blues.

Based on the lack of the NHL’s 75th Annoversary patch, this jersey is from either the 1988-89 or 1989-90 season.

The jersey is a Maska airknit manufactured by CCM that I originally acquired from another collector in 1997.

There is no size printed or penned in on the tag. Young’s number 27 is written on it in black sharpie.

Name, numbers, and crest are all sewn. There is no nameplate, the letters are individually sewn on directly. The rear CCM hem pattern is white-white-white, with blue lettering, and is embroidered.

Inside, the fightstrap shows some fraying and the velcro is filled with green thread from the green pants the team wore at the time.

The exterior of the jersey shows tons of wear. Board burns, repairs, and thick stick marks litter the entire jersey.

There are some easily identifiable black marks across the front crest as well as the back numbers, but to date, I haven’t found a photo match though I’ve no doubt one will turn up sooner or later. As luck would have it, most of the time the photos on hockey cards were not taken in Hartford, so the Whale are almost always in their road greens in the photos.

Posted in Hartford Whalers, National Hockey League | 3 Comments »

94-95 Paul Brousseau Quebec Nordiques Jersey

March 17th, 2008

This is the game worn 1994-95 road Quebec Nordiques jersey of right wing Paul Brousseau.

Paul Brousseau was selected by the Quebec Nordiques in the second round, 28th overall in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft.

Brousseau began his major junior career as a member of the Chicoutimi Saguenéens in 1989-90 as a 16-year-old. IN 57 games during his rookie year he scored 17 goals and 41 points. The following year he played in Trois Rivieres with the Draveurs, scoring 30 goals and 96 points in 67 games. In 1991-92, Brousseau was sent to the Hull Olympiques where he once again scored 96 points, albeit in ten fewer games. During his final year of junior with the Olympiques, he finished the year with 75 points on 27 goals and 48 assists in 59 games.

In 1993-94, Brousseau turned pro and joined the Cornwall Aces of the AHL, the affiliate of the Nordiques. In 69 games he scored 18 goals and 44 points.

This jersey is from the strike shortened 1994-95 season and shows very light wear — perhaps used during the abbreviated pre-season as Brousseau did not play an NHL game that season.

It is a size 56 knit jersey manufactured by CCM. All logos and numbers are sewn. The name is sewn to a knit nameplate.

Brousseau’s chance at the NHL came in the 1995-96 season when he suited up for eight games with the Colorado Avalanche. During that stint he scored his one and only NHL goal. The next season, he joined the Tampa Bay Lightning and played a total of 17 games for the Lightning over two years.

In 2000-01, he led the AHL’s Louisville Panthers in scoring as also played one game for the Florida Panthers before deciding to head to Europe for the remainder of his hockey career.

I acquired this jersey in January of 2007 from Pete Mehdradeh who had originally purchased it from Murf Denny. While this jersey doesn’t fit my “Hartford” theme, I’d always wanted an all-sewn Quebec Nordiques jersey.

Posted in National Hockey League, Quebec Nordiques | No Comments »

85-86 Sylvain Turgeon Hartford Whalers Jersey

March 4th, 2008

This is the game worn 1985-86 road Hartford Whalers jersey of left wing Sylvain Turgeon.

Sylvain Turgeon was drafted second overall by the Hartford Whalers in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft behind Brian Lawton. While Lawton would turn out to be a bust for the Minnesota North Stars, Turgeon would have immediate success at the NHL level leading the Whalers with 40 goals in his rookie season as an 18 year old.

Based on the CCM “born-on” date behind the size tag that reads “86 04″, this jersey was either worn towards the end of the 1985-86 season and/or the beginning of the 1986-87 season.

The Whalers only lasted two rounds (9 games) into the 1986 playoffs and based on the heavy wear this jersey shows, it’s reasonable to believe that it could also be from the 1986-87 season.

The jersey is a CCM mesh that I originally acquired from another collector in October of 1997.

The size tag, which is falling off reads TG/XL. It also has Turgeon’s 16 written on it in black sharpie as do all of the Hartford Whalers jerseys in my collection.

Name, numbers, and crest are all sewn. There is no nameplate, the letters are individually sewn on directly. The rear CCM hem pattern is blue-blue-green, with white lettering, and is embroidered.

Inside, the fightstrap has pulled free from the twill base and the snap has also been pulled through. Turgeon was hardly a brawler, but the fightstrap clearly shows that it was a different game in the 1980’s.

The exterior of the jersey shows a ton of wear. Board burns, repairs, and stick marks litter the sleeves and front of the jersey. The white sections on the sleeves show some yellowing. The stitching at the front of the neckline has popped.

There are some easily identifiable black marks across the front crest as well as the numbers on the right and left sleeves, but to date, I haven’t found a photo match though I’ve no doubt one will turn up sooner or later. As luck would have it, most of the time the photos on hockey cards were not taken in Hartford, so the Whale are almost always in their road greens in pictures.

This is one of my favorites in my collection. Partially because it’s from a fan favorite of my favorite team, but mostly because of all of the wear it shows and because of the small size. It was a different era in the NHL. Equipment that fit, more goal scoring, and a lot more rough stuff…

Posted in Hartford Whalers, National Hockey League | 4 Comments »

91-92 Rob Brown Hartford Whalers Jersey

January 27th, 2008

This is the 1991-92 Hartford Whalers home jersey of Rob Brown.

Brown originally came to the Whalers the previous season in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Scott Young.

Later that same year, the Whalers would make another trade with the Penguins… Yep, the one that essentially doomed the Hartford franchise and won the Pittsburgh franchise two consecutive Stanley Cups.  (basically, it was Ron Francis and Ulf Samuelsson for John Cullen and Zarley Zalapski)

During the 1991-92 season, Brown started the season with the Whalers and recorded a respectable 16 goals and 15 assists in 42 games, but it wasn’t the type of production he’d put up Pittsburgh and he was dealt to the Chicago Blackhawks on January 24, 1992 for defenseman Steve Konroyd.

Being a 91-92 jersey, this one features the NHL’s 75th Anniversary patch that every team in the league wore.

This is the only knit Whalers jersey from the green era in my collection. All others are mesh or airknit. For the 1992-93 season, the green road jersey was abandoned in favor of a blue road jersey. Jerseys were knit in that season as well.

The Maska fly tag has Brown’s #44 penned in in black sharpie. Every single one of my Whalers game worn jerseys has this in common. The jersey is a size 52.

The jersey shows pretty heavy wear with stick marks and board burns throughout. There are a few unrepaired slices along the hem and the sleeves show some staining from Brown’s gloves. The CCM logo on the rear hem is embroidered in a blue-blue-green pattern next to the old black and orange NHL logo.

Best of all, some of the marks on the right arm and in the striping on the hem can be photomatched to Brown’s 1991-92 ProSet hockey card (card #606).

I originally acquired this jersey from Brian at the Detroit Hockey Company in the late 1990’s.

Posted in Hartford Whalers, National Hockey League | 2 Comments »

96-97 Derek Armstrong New York Islanders Jersey

January 25th, 2008

This is the 1996-97 New York Islanders home jersey of Derek Armstrong.

Army played in 50 games that season for the Islanders. At the time, it was the most NHL ice-time he’d seen in his career, having bounced up and down from the minors in the previous season.

I originally purchased this jersey from Milt Byron in the summer of 1999. By then, Derek Armstrong was the star player for the Hartford Wolf Pack. I already had one of his Hartford Wolf Pack jerseys in my collection, and added a New York Rangers Armstrong jersey courtesy of Meigray that same summer, so while leafing through one of Milt’s photocopied lists with colored stripes all over the mailing label (remember those?), the name Armstrong caught my eye.

Now, this was *way* before the Fisherman jersey gained it’s popularity — I think I paid less than $200 for this jersey.

Milt had a bunch of them at the time, and in hindsight, picking the Armstrong probably wasn’t the wisest move, but it fit my theme, and it’s still one of the jerseys in my collection that gets the most inquiries.

The jersey shows some decent wear — though most of it is on the dark areas of the sleeves and the front hem. A few unrepaired holes in the shoulder areas as well, though they are all small. No repairs.

It’s a size 52 (players weren’t all wearing tents yet in 1996), and it’s a sublimated airknit manufactured by CCM with the CCM logo embroidered in orange and navy on the right rear hem beside the old black and orange NHL logo.

A lot of people talk about how the Fisherman Isles jerseys had their crests replaced. Mine definitely shows a glue residue around the entire crest in the shape of a slightly larger version.

On that, I’d assume the crest was replaced, but quite honestly, the larger version of the crest could not have been much larger than the current one. I’m not sure why they would have bothered.

The jersey also features the Islanders 25th Anniversary patch. The four little Stanley Cups are a nice touch.

Looking at the back of the jersey, it’s no wonder this style didn’t last. The nameplates must’ve been a bear to put together, following the curve. They must’ve had an endless supply of numbers and letters on hand because each letter/number would almost have to be custom based on where it fell on the curvy wave.

This was also the first jersey in my collection where the name and numbers were that herringbone pattern type of fabric. You see it on jerseys a lot now, but back them, pretty much every team was just using plain old tackle twill.

Of all of the email I receive regarding this jersey, the one question everyone asks is if Joe McMahon’s signature is behind the crest. The answer is yes.

Joe McMahon was the Isles equipment manager at the time and often signed the insides of the jerseys behind the crest. Thinking about it, I’ll have to check my 1990-91 Jeff Finley Isles jersey for it now…

Posted in National Hockey League, New York Islanders | No Comments »