2005 Team USA Mike Modano Jersey

July by the Numbers continues with jersey #9 from Team USA.

2005 was the high point in international jersey design, as nearly all the top teams in the IIHF received all new jerseys or excellent updates. Team USA was no exception, as the Nike template style that had been in use since after the 1998 Olympics was finally retired.

The new jersey was based on the St. Louis Blues very well received third jersey, introduced in the 1997-98 season, which immediately became the Blues primary the following year. The USA added a tie-neck collar to complete the look.

Mike Modano was available to play for Team USA in the 2005 World Championships due to the 2004-05 NHL lockout, as his club team the Dallas Stars were usually deep into a playoff run every spring, making Modano unavailable for the World Championships every other year since the Stars moved to Dallas.

Modano was named team captain and finished with three goals and four points in seven games for the United States as the USA finished second in their group to Canada and then lost in the quarter-finals to eventual champions the Czech Republic by a 3-2 score.

This 2005 Team USA Mike Modano jersey features the newly redesigned International Ice Hockey Federation logo patch on the lower back of the jersey, as worn on all the jerseys in the 2005 World Championships, as well as a pair of my custom made Innsbruck/Tirol sponsor patches on the shoulders to give it the "European" look of the sponsorship worn on jerseys at the World Championships.

Modano has appeared in a USA jersey on 11 occasions in a variety of tournaments, twice in the World Juniors, once in the 1991 Canada Cup, three times in the World Championships, two World Cups, and three Olympics, earning a gold medal at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.

Here is some rare, wiggly-jiggly footage of Modano in his 2005 Team USA road jersey.