2000-01 San Jose Sharks Marco Sturm Jersey

July by the Numbers checks in at #19 from a regular member of the German National Team.

Marco Sturm was born in West Germany and played two seasons in the top German hockey league, the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) for the Landshut Cannibals, owners of the single most bizarre logo in all of sports, before coming to North America to begin his NHL career with the San Jose Sharks who drafted him 21st overall in 1996.

Sturm would play parts of eight seasons for the Sharks before being traded to the Boston Bruins in the 2005-06 season in the deal that sent Joe Thornton to the Sharks. Sturm has played four seasons in Boston but had his 2008-09 season ended after only 19 games due to a knee injury. His best season to date was the year he was traded, 2005-06, when he would score a career-high 29 goals and 59 points.

Sturm has appeared for the German National Team on ten occasions, twice in the World Juniors, twice in the European Juniors, four World Championships, one World Cup and two Olympics in Nagano, Japan in 1998 and Salt Lake City in 2002, although he was scheduled to be team captain for the Germans in the 2006 Torino Olympics but had to pull out just days before, as did Jochen Hecht, due to injury.

Today's featured jersey is a CCM 2000-01 San Jose Sharks Marco Sturm jersey which features the home version of the Sharks 10th Anniversary patch with the teal background. The road version was on a grey background to match the shoulder color of the road jersey.

This jersey was first introduced in 1998-99 after the teal version, first worn as an alternate, was adopted as the primary road jersey and a white home version was needed.

Patches worn on this jersey include the black version of the NHL 2000 patch, the 10th Anniversary patch shown here, and the Warren Strelow memorial "WAS" patch worn in the 2007 playoffs for the last 9 games the Sharks participated in starting on April 16th after Strelow, goaltending coach for the Sharks and previously Jim Craig and the 1980 USA Olympic hockey team from "The Miracle on Ice" fame, passed away on April 11th, the date the Sharks opened their playoffs.