JERSEY #30

30 JERSEYS 30 STORIES – JERSEY #30

“It was my understanding that there would be no math”

– Chevy Chase as Gerald Ford, Saturday Night Live, 1976

When I was first approached by the President’s Council on Very Niche Low Interest Blogging, frankly I was skeptical.  But as the project unfolded, these feelings were quickly replaced by uncertainty.  Some have called me moody, bitter, brooding, even hypoglycemic; but when all is said and done, at the end of the day, I only have 29 jerseys.  Yes, now it’s out there, I cannot count.

Around jersey number 25 or so, I thought I should review what I had left to cover – and then it hit me – 29 jerseys.  The shame!  As we all do when confronted with a major life changing event such as this, I found myself moving through the five stages of grief:

Denial – “What?  This can’t be right! Another jersey will pop up somewhere!”

Anger – “Stupid jerseys!  I hate you!  You’re all out to get me!”

Bargaining – “C’mon Hockey Gods – get me out of this…I’ll make it worth your while…”

Depression – 😦

Acceptance – “Well, we all gotta go sometime”

So I really thought “oh what the heck, I’ll just buy another jersey” – but somehow that seemed like cheating.  After all I promised you the loyal reader, 30 stories about 30 jerseys way back in March.  In fact, who really would even read about 29 jerseys – just doesn’t have the same appeal does it?

So I reached out to some of my closest advisors, the top suggestion was to put up a sort of Wish List – “what might my next jersey be?”  It could be a year off, or I might stumble on it at a yard sale this weekend.

So, in no particular order, I present, Andrew’s Top 4 highly coveted hockey sweaters:

Always liked the Pens logo, Mario Lemieux, and Sid the Kid.  and they did just win the Stanley Cup yesterday, right?  

An old WHA franchise, 5 Stanley Cups, and I think the Great One spent some time there. 

The old Vancouver Canucks Flying V.  Thought of as hideous by most, I’ve always had a thing for the unusual.   

The Whale!  The Brass Bonanza!  You can’t spell WHA without Hartford WHAlers!  

So plain, yet this sweater inspired fear into opponents back in the day.  and back in the USSR those Ukraine girls really knock me out, they leave the West behind… 

Should anyone from CCM, Reebok, Nike, or River City Sports be reading this and want to send a sweater my way, please do so!  And feel free to hire me as well as your lead copywriter!

I hope you have enjoyed reading the tales of my 29 hockey jerseys, and yes, I am grateful for our time spent together.

 

I’d like to thank my Staff and Crew and of course all their parents who drove them, paid the fees, and worked so hard making the costumes….

JERSEY #27 – VANCOUVER CANUCKS

 

30 JERSEYS 30 STORIES – JERSEY #27 – VANCOUVER CANUCKS

  Ca·nuck   /kəˈnək/  noun:  “a slang term for a Canadian”

So why would I even own this jersey?  Well, go back a few years.  The Avs were tanking, Winnipeg didn’t have an NHL team, and Vancouver actually seemed to be Canada’s best bet to bring a Stanley Cup to a Canadian franchise.    Plus, it’s just a really cool sweater.  The killer whale / Orca is even better looking than San Jose’s Shark, the VANCOUVER lettering is a great old-school touch, and the shoulder patch is a nice nod to the original Canucks uniforms of the early 70’s:

Hard to believe but that was it back then.  That was their main logo.  These days sports franchises pay top dollar for team logos, branding, coloring, etc.  Back then Larry from Accounting probably figured “okay, we got a hockey team here, right?”, drew a hockey stick on a napkin, gave it to the boss and called it a day.

Also, for awhile there “the ‘Couve” was kind of the darling of North America.  They hosted the 2010 Olympics which featured the Canada/USA Gold medal game – Sidney Crosby’s OT game winning goal lived on my DVR for 5 years until I had to swap out the box.  2011 the Canucks made it to finals vs Boston.  They were up 2-0, and 3-2 at one point.  Game 7 was in Vancouver!  Remember the “Vancouver riot?”   Yeah, I lost more than one beer bet that year.

I don’t remember the event exactly, but I believe that this was taken at one of the kids end-of-the-season parents vs kids games at the Ice Ranch that I dragged Michael to because we needed an explosive Winger for the left side that would also chip in for beer.  I do remember that old Jofa helmet though.  It was huge enough to fit my massive cranium and when filled with ice could hold an entire case of Labatt’s….