2004 Team USA Throwback Chris Chelios Jersey

On this date in 2004, the United States faced off against Russia in St. Paul, Minnesota as part of the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, with the US wearing throwback jerseys in honor of the silver medal winning 1932 United States Olympic Team.

The 1932 United States Olympic Team

The 1932 US Olympic Team would open the double-round robin tournament on February 4th, 1932 in Lake Placid, New York with a 2-1 overtime loss to Canada and then defeated Poland 4-1 the next day before going on a roll that would see them post consecutive shutouts against Germany (7-0) on the 7th, Poland (5-0) on the 8th and Germany again (8-0) on the 10th before skating to a tie with Canada 2-2 to close out the tournament on February 13th.

Here is a photo of an actual game worn United States sweater from the 1932 Olympics.

Russia would win the 2004 matchup against the United States by a 3-1 score on goals by Dainius Zubrus, Alexei Kovalev and Viktor Kozlov, while Keith Tkachuk would score the lone goal for the US.

This would be the one and only game that Team USA would wear the 1932 throwbacks, although the US World Junior team would also wear these throwback jerseys during the 2005 World Juniors three months later in Grand Forks, North Dakota, only this time with the individual player names on the back.

Today's featured jersey is a 2004 Team USA 1932 Throwback Chris Chelios jersey as worn during the 2004 World Cup of Hockey on September 2, 2004 in St. Paul, Minnesota versus Russia.

This jersey features the 2004 World Cup of Hockey patch on the upper left chest, along with Chelios' captain's "C". The jerseys were customized with a distinctive, oversized number font with a pronounced white outline and were worn without names on the back.

Also absent was the IIHF logo patch, normally worn on the back bottom right hem of all the jerseys during the 2004 World Cup, with the only other exception being the 1920 Winnipeg Falcons throwback jerseys worn by Team Canada during the tournament. 

Here is some video footage of the 1932 USA throwback jerseys in action during the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. Don't miss one of the all time great goals by the sublime Alexei Kovalev.