1974-75 New York Islanders Clark Gillies Jersey

Clark Gillies was drafted 4th overall by the Islanders in the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft after he helped the Regina Pats win the Memorial Cup. Gillies was also drafted by the Edmonton Oilers, who were still playing in the WHA at the time, but chose to sign with the Islanders, a "can't miss" decision that would seemingly have resulted in multiple Stanley Cups either way! We should all have such choices forced upon us.

The Memorial Cup champion 1973-74 Regina Pats

He would make the Islanders in his first training camp and complete his 14-year career without ever playing a single game in the minors. In his first season he would score 25 goals and 22 assists for 47 points, but was more than just a goal scorer, bringing an element of toughness to his game that made him valuable beyond just offensive statistics.

Playing on a line with Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier, Gillies would score over 30 goals in six of the next seven seasons, aided by his durability, as he would skate in at least 70 games in each of his first ten seasons with the Islanders.

Gillies, Trottier and Bossy

During his fourth season with the Islanders, 1977-78, Gillies was named team captain, a position he would hold for two seasons.

1979-80 would see the Islanders frequent long playoff runs pay off and the Islanders would win the first of four consecutive Stanley Cups. Gillies would contribute 16 points in 21 games in 1980.

15 points in 18 playoff games in 1981 helped the Islanders win their second Stanley Cup and was followed by an almost identical 14 points in 19 games and a third consecutive championship.

The forth Stanley Cup of the Islanders dynasty came in 1983 and Gillies would compete in only 8 playoff games that season, registering but two assists.

The following season saw a drop in his production during the regular season, with just 12 goals in 76 games and less than 30 points on the season, his first time under 40 points in 10 seasons, but a strong rebound in the playoffs, leading all scorers with 19 points in 21 games.

The next two seasons with the Islanders saw unmistakable declines in games played, goals and points, finally dropping to 4 goals and 14 points in 55 games in 1985-86. As a result, he was left unprotected in the NHL Waiver Draft and was subsequently chosen by the Buffalo Sabres, where he would play the final two seasons of his career.

His final NHL totals were 958 games played, 319 goals, 378 assists and 697 points. He would also total 164 playoff games, the equivalent of two additional seasons, scoring 47 goals and 47 assists for 94 points and four Stanley Cups.

Gillies also played in the 1978 NHL All-Star Game and was on the NHL All-Star Team in the 1979 Challenge Cup and skated for Team Canada in the 1981 Canada Cup.

Gillies barrels through the Soviets during the 1979 Challenge Cup

His annual playoff duties with the Islanders precluded any participation in the annual World Championships held each spring during the NHL playoffs, as Gillies clubs made the playoffs in 13 of his 14 seasons, including every one of his 12 years on Long Island.

Gillies #9 jersey was retired by the Islanders on this date in 1996.

Gillies number hanging from the rafters on Long Island

Today's featured jersey is a 1974-75 New York Islanders Clark Gillies jersey from his rookie season in the NHL. This jersey sold at auction in 2008 for $3,723. Despite being the 4th overall pick and the Islanders first round draft pick, notice that his name on the back is misspelled!

This is the first style of Islanders jersey, notable for the lace-up collar, and was worn from 1972-73 to 1976-77, although the numbers on the back were orange for the first season and we must question the name even being on the back of an Islanders jersey with the lace up collar, something that we believe should not have appeared until the change to the v-neck collar unless perhaps this jersey was worn for a televised national TV game.

photo courtesy of Classic Auctions

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1978 NHL All-Star Game Clark Gillies jersey from his only All-Star appearance. He was named to the game in 1977, but did not play due to sickness.

This jersey style was first used by the All-Stars in 1973 and had a long run by today's standards, as it was used through 1981, nine games in all.

photo courtesy of Classic Auctions

Here Gillies demonstrates his noted toughness and punches noted Boston Bruins tough guy Stan Johnatan into the middle of next week.

Next Terry O'Reilly beats up Clark Gillies' fist with his face.

Finally, some post game interviews, including Clark Gillies, following the Islanders clinching the Stanley Cup in 1981. Now can someone explain why Gillies was wearing a #24 jersey?

An Update for our Readers

Today we wanted to update you on some distressing behind the scenes goings on with Third String Goalie.

Years ago when we first discovered the game worn jersey collecting forums online we saw that Webshots was by far and away the image hosting choice for collectors to document and share their jerseys with the collecting community, so we naturally followed suit and began to photograph and upload our images of our jerseys to Webshots as well.

Over the last dozen or so years we have photographed and uploaded nearly 2,700 pictures to Webshots detailing the front and back of our jersey collection as well as each and every patch our jerseys have, as a resource for other collectors.

Later, when we began this website, Webshots became an extremely vital part of creating our articles, as we could simply copy and paste the code associated with our photos to illustrate our stories with images of our jerseys. In fact, the template of this website was modified to accommodate the standard width of the photos supplied by the Webshots code.

While we had our issues with certain aspects of Webshots over time, zero customer service, highly annoying auto-play commercials each time we loaded a page (which we did quite often in the way we used the site), and a a few lost images, we did appreciate the interface they used and the ability to create albums and rearrange images along with the ability to quickly create the code to paste those images into our website.

Unfortunately for us and many others, the original owners of Webshots recently repurchased the site, abandoning the image hosting that we and so many others relied on Webshots for, and are throwing their efforts behind a new site that is based on storing your social media photos in The Cloud. Swell idea.

Except...

the SIX HUNDRED AND NINETY MILLION photos hosted on Webshots, including our 2,700 images, many of which were linked to here on our humble website, were all deleted forever and have now vanished from Third String Goalie.

At least for the time being.

We're not sure how long it will take, but we will select a new image hosting service and will make our best effort to rebuild and repair the damage done to us by Webshots and founders Narendra Rocherolle and Nick Wilder.

It's going to take a criminally long time for us to resize, upload and then title, describe and tag each of our 2,700 images before then searching through our roughly 1,300 posts to identify which Webshots hosted images are missing, generate new codes for embedding and then manually paste them into each article that now contains broken links and no jerseys images thanks to Narendra and Nick. We only wish we could bill them for the damage they have done and the lost time we are going to have to endure fixing the disaster they have brought upon us after we trusted them.

Fortunately we did not put all our eggs in one basket, and have chosen from the beginning to host all of our illustrative images on Photobucket.com, so it could have been much worse than it already is.

We may have to lessen the frequency of our new posts for awhile in order to find the time to fix our previous posts, so bear with us in this time of distress, frustration and linkrot as we work to restore the lost images from Third String Goalie, a project that has suffered a severe blow, but that we still believe in and are committed to.

1911-12 Montreal Wanderers Riley Hern Jersey

Born on this date in 1880, Riley Hern played both goaltender and forward as a youth but settled on goaltending by the time he progressed to senior hockey with the Stratford Legionnaires of the Ontario Hockey Association from 1898 to 1901.

He turned professional in 1901 with the Pittsburgh Keystones of the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League, which he led in victories with 9 in his first season. After going five-for-five in wins the next season, he suffered a dismal 1-10 slog through the 1902-03 season.

Looking for greener pastures, he found one in Houghton, Michigan with the Portage Lake Hockey Club. Not a member of any established league at the time, Portage Lake played a schedule of exhibition games to great success, as Hern finished the season with an outstanding record of 15-1.

The 1903-04 Portage Lake Hockey Club

With the stellar lineup of talent Portage Lake had assembled, which included future Hall of Famers "Bad" Joe Hall, Bruce Stuart, his brother Hod Stuart and the legendary Cyclone Taylor, thanks in no small part due to the salaries the club was paying in what was still primarily an amateur sport, Portage Lake became members of the International Professional Hockey League for it's inaugural 1904-05 season. After a second place finish in year one, Portage Lake won the league title in 1905-06 as Hern posted a 15-5 record.

He moved east for the 1906-07 season to join the current Stanley Cup holders, the Montreal Wanderers, who were members of the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association at the time. Before the season began the Wanderers faced a Stanley Cup challenge from the New Glasgow Cubs, who they turned back in a two-game, total-goal series with scores of 10-3 and 7-2 to retain the cup by a total of 17-5.

Hern and the Wanderers then lost control of the cup on January 21st when the Kenora Thistles wrested the cup away with 4-2 and 8-6 wins.

After their surprising defeat, the Wanderers marched unchallenged through the ECAHA schedule, finishing with a flawless 10-0 record on the back of 105 goals scored while giving up just 39, which calculates to an average of a 10-4 win every game. As champions, and also on a roll having posted goal totals of 16, 13, 18, 10 and 16 in their last five games, the Wanderers attempted to reclaim the cup by traveling west to challenge Kenora for the rights to the Stanley Cup.

With the first game delayed a day due to bad ice conditions which forced a change in venue from Kenora to Winnipeg, Hern and the Wanderers all but reclaimed the cup during Game 1 with a 7-2 win. Kenora hung tough and won the second game 6-5, but failed to overcome the five goal deficit they faced after Game 1. With the Wanderers taking the series 12 goals to 8, they returned to Montreal with the cup in hand, only to have it stolen and held for ransom!

The 1907 Montreal Wanderers

Following a team photo, the cup was taken from photographer Jimmy Rice's homeand when no one would pay for it's return, the Stanley Cup was left on Rice's doorstep and his wife used it as a geranium planter until the fall when it was put back into service!

At some point during the time between winning the cup, having it stolen, it being used as a planter and the next cup challenge, the Wanderers had the audacity to not only engrave the name of their team into the cup, but the entire roster of the club, beginning a tradition which many feel makes the Stanley Cup the greatest trophy in sports.

The 1907 Wanderers celebratory engraving in the bottom of the bowl of the Stanley Cup

For the 1907-08 season, the Wanderers had to defend the cup against the Ottawa Victorias, whom they easily turned back 9-3 and 13-1. Following the regular season, where the Wanderers again emerged as league champions, they were challenged for the cup twice more, first by the Winnipeg Maple Leafs, who they beat 11-5 and 9-3, and then by the Toronto Professionals in a one game playoff the Wanderers won by a score of 6-4, which gave Hern a 13-2 record for the season.

The 1908 Montreal Wanderers

Once again, prior to the 1908-09 season, the Wanderers face yet another challenge for the Stanley Cup, this one from the Edmonton Hockey Club, a team stocked with ringers for the challenge. It was to no avail however, as the Wanderers won Game 1 handily, building a four goal advantage heading into the final game after a 7-3 win. Edmonton did take Game 2 7-6, but the cup remained firmly in the hands of the Wanderers.

With the 1909 schedule consisting of only 12 games, each contest was critical as the Wanderers and the Ottawa Senators engaged in a neck and neck struggle for the league championship which entitled the winner to the rights to the cup. The Wanderers gained the upper hand with a 7-6 overtime win during the opening game of the season for each club. The two clubs dominated their games against the Quebec Bullogs and Montreal Shamrocks for the remainder of January until their next meeting on January 30th when Ottawa prevailed 5-4. On February 6th, the clubs were involved in their third consecutive one goal game, won by Ottawa 9-8 and they sealed the Wanderers fate with a dominant 8-3 win in their final meeting to end the Wanderers two year hold of the cup, which included four successful defenses.

With that, the ECHA dissolved and the Wanderers formed a new league, the National Hockey Association, while the other three clubs entered the Canadian Hockey Association, which failed after less than two weeks, sending its clubs looking to join the NHA. Hern and the Wanderers tore through the now seven team league with an 11-1 record, outscoring their opposition 91-41, with Hern getting all the starts for Montreal. With Ottawa in the NHA, Montreal assumed control of the Stanley Cup once more by virtue of winning the league title. They faced one challenge for the cup from Berlin of the Ontario Professional Hockey League, whom they dispatched 7-3.

The 1910 Montreal Wanderers

Hern would play one final season of 1910-11 and with the Wanderers finishing fourth with a 7-9 mark, the Wanderers would relinquish the cup as Hern's hockey career came to a close at the age of 30.

Hern would conclude his career with a 106-43 regular season record and a 10-4 won-loss record in Stanley Cup challenge games and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962.

Today's featured jersey is a 1911-12 Montreal Wanderers Riley Hern jersey. The Wanderers adopted the "redband" style jersey and no doubt influenced the Montreal Canadiens who later adopted their iconic red sweaters with a blue band across the chest in 1913. This Wanderers jersey remained unchanged and in use until January 2, 1918 when their home arena burned down, forcing the club, already in debt, to cease operations after 14 1/2 seasons of competition.

2009-10 Montreal Canadiens 1909-10 Centennial Mike Cammalleri Jersey

It was on this date in 1909 that John Ambrose O'Brien founded "le Club de Hockey Canadien", the oldest team in the NHL.

O'Brien, in Montreal for business was asked by the owners of the Renfrew Creamery Kings to apply to join the Canadian Hockey Association (CHA). After being turned down by the CHA, he met Jimmy Gardner, the manager of the Montreal Wanderers hockey club.

The pair hatched the idea of starting their own league, christened the National Hockey Association (NHA), using O'Brien's teams in Cobalt and Haileybury, the Wanderers plus founding O'Brien's new club, the Canadiens, intended to appeal to he French-speaking fans in Montreal as a rival to the Wanderers.

1909-10 Montreal Canadiens future Hall of Famers Cattarinich, Laviolette & Pitre shown wearing the Canadiens original sweaters

O'Brien only owned the team for one season because he was sued by George W. Kendall, the owner of the Club athéltique Canadien, who claimed he had the legal rights to the Canadiens name. As part of the settlement, Kendall bought the team from O'Brien for $7,500.

The Canadiens remain the longest continuously operating professional ice hockey team and the only NHL club older than the league itself. During their history, they have held the Stanley Cup 24 times, including their first in 1916, a year before the founding of the National Hockey League.

The 1915-16 Canadiens, the first Stanley Cup winners in franchise history

While the rivalry with the Wanderers fell by the wayside in 1918 when the Westmount Arena burned down and the Wanderers folded, the Canadiens new cross-town rivals arrived in 1924 with the founding of the Montreal Maroons. Two seasons later the Canadiens would move into their home of 70 years, the Montreal Forum, which they would share with the Maroons until their demise in 1938.

By 1949 the Canadiens had won but six Stanley Cups in their first forty years, hardly the dominant franchise the hockey world would soon come to know, as the Canadiens would make it to the finals in 1951, the first of ten consecutive appearances in the final series.

The arrival of Boom Boom Geoffrion in 1951 to compliment Maurice "Rocket" Richard, Doug Harvey and Dickie Moore set the ball in motion, and soon the Canadiens embarrassment of riches would grow into a full-fledged dynasty with the additions of Jean Beliveau and Jacques Plante in 1953, Henri Richard in 1954 and Claude Pronovost in 1955. Ten seasons later, the Canadiens would double the number of Stanley Cups won, with six in ten years.

Richard and Beliveau with the Stanley Cup in 1958

The success would continue through out the 1960's despite the retirement of Rocket Richard after the 1960 championship. The club would capture an astounding ten titles in fifteen seasons from 1965 to 1979, including four straight to finish the run with star players such as Jacques Laperriere, J. C. Tremblay, Guy Lafleur, Yvan Cournoyer, Ken Dryden, Peter Mahovolich, Steve Shutt, Bob Gainey, Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe, Jacques Lemaire and Larry Robinson.

The club continued it's streak of at least one championship in every decade from the 1910's by winning the title in 1986 behind the goaltending of rookie Patrick Roy and again in 1993.

The Canadiens most recent championship team from 1993

The team became the first in NHL history to reach 3,000 victories on December 29, 2008 with a win over the Florida Panthers, a team no one could have imagined in 1909.

To celebrate the club's centennial several uniform numbers were retired, including those of Moore & Cournoyer (both #12), Geoffrion (5), Savard (18), Dryden (29), Robinson (19), Gainey (23), Roy (33) and Elmer Lach (#16) and Emile Bouchard (#3) leaving them with 15 retired numbers, 12 of those under the #20, forcing current Montreal players to wear some of the highest numbers in the league, a visual oddity for one of the most traditional franchises in sports.

Lach and Bouchard were the last to have their
numbers retired by the Canadiens

In addition to other events, such as the issuing of commemorative coins and stamps, the construction of a "Centennial Plaza" outside the Bell Centre and a concert, the Canadiens hosted the 2009 NHL All-Star game as well as the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, but our favorite tribute to the club's historic past was the wearing of a series of Centennial Jerseys, six in all.

Today's featured jersey is a 2009-10 Montreal Canadiens 1909-10 Centennial Mike Cammalleri jersey, as worn on November 21, 2009 against the Detroit Red Wings in a 3-2 shootout loss, with Cammalleri scoring both of Montreal's goals.

The jerseys had a lace-up collar and sported the Canadiens Centennial patch on the right shoulder, as did all the Centennial jerseys worn by the club.

They were scheduled to wear the jerseys a second time on February 13, 2010 against the Philadelphia Flyers, but a change in plans saw them stick with their regular jerseys, leaving the 1909-10 blue jerseys worn just the one time.

Here is the shootout from the November 21st game when the Canadiens debuted their 1909-10 Centennial jerseys.

Finally, here is 100 years of hockey supremacy condensed into five and a half minutes. If this doesn't get your juices flowing and make you want to put on your skates on and pretend you're Richard, Beliveau or Lafleur, you have no pulse.

1984-85 Central Red Army Igor Larionov Jersey

Born on this date in 1960, Igor Larionov began his career with Khimik Voskresensk of the Soviet League in the 1977-78 season, scoring 3 goals in 6 games. He also appeared in the European Junior Championships that same season, igniting a long and illustrious international career.

He would three more seasons for Khimik, raising his point total to 7  in 1978-79 and 18 in 1979-80 before erupting for 45 points from 22 goals and 23 assists in 43 games in 1980-81. During that span Larionov would also appear for the Soviet Union in a pair of World Junior Championships, twice scoring 6 points in 5 games while earning gold medals in both 1979 and 1980, and then joining the senior national team for the 1981 Canada Cup tournament, which also saw the Soviets come home with the championship title as Larionov contributed 4 goals in 7 contests.

As was regularly the case, when a player began to stand out as an elite talent, he would find himself on the roster of the Central Red Army club, and Larionov was no exception. Identified by coach Viktor Tikhonov as just such a player, he began his career with CSKA Moscow in the fall of 1981. He immediately made his presence known by setting a career high with 31 goals on his way to 53 points in 46 games while centering a line with wingers Vladimir Krutov and Sergei Makarov, the trio striking fear into the hearts of opponents as the KLM Line. Red Army would win the Soviet League championship in 1981, and for the next seven seasons, Larionov and Red Army were an unstoppable force, eventually winning titles during each of Larionov's eight seasons with CSKA.

A personal highlight for Larionov came during the 1987-88 season when he scored 32 assists and 57 points, both personal bests while in the Soviet League. His efforts were recognized when he was named the league's Most Valuable Player.

After joining CSKA in 1981-82, Larionov made his World Championship debut, immediately earning a gold medal thanks in part to his 10 points in 10 games. A second gold followed in 1983, a tournament which saw him rack up 12 points in just 9 games. He also toured North America as part of the 1983 Super Series, which saw the Soviets playing against NHL club teams.

His Olympic debut came in 1984, where Larionov quickly earned a gold medal in his first attempt, followed later in the year by his second Canada Cup. His streak of gold medals was interrupted with a bronze in the 1985 World Championships, but gold soon hung around his neck once again in 1986.

The famed Green Unit, which consisted of the KLM Line with the additions of Alexi Kasatonov and Slava Fetisov on defense

1987 saw a return to North America, has he participated in Rendez-vous '87, the two game series which pitted the Soviet National Team against a squad of NHL All-Stars. Later that spring, he added a silver medal to his collection at the World Championships. Prior to the start of the 1987-88 league schedule, Larionov took part in the third Canada Cup of his career.

Larionov guarded by Wayne Gretzky during the 1987 Canada Cup

After the calendar changed over to 1988, he captured his second Olympic gold medal following a fine effort, which saw him score 13 points in 8 games in Calgary.

Larionov then earned his fourth gold medal at the World Championships in 1989, but despite all the undeniable success he enjoyed in both the domestic league an international competition, all was not well behind the scenes, as Larionov had grown dissatisfied with the authoritarian rule over the players by Tikhonov, which extended into the players personal lives, as they were sometimes confined to barracks for training up to 11 months out of the year.

Finally, after having been drafted by the Vancouver Canucks back in 1985, Larionov was allowed to leave to play in North America for the 1989-90 season.

His North American career would run another 14 seasons and include time spent with not only the Canucks, but the San Jose Sharks, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers and New Jersey Devils. he would even take a year away from the NHL, playing the 1992-93 season with HC Lugano in Switzerland prior to joining the Sharks.

While with Detroit, he enjoyed his greatest NHL success, winning Stanley Cups in 1997, 1998 and 2002, the first of which earned him membership in the exclusive Triple Gold Club for players who have won the World Championships, Olympics and Stanley Cup. He and long time Soviet National teammate Slava Fetisov became on the 7th and 8th members to join the club, which still numbers just 25 players, only six of which are Russians, now 15 years later.

Slava Kozlov, Slava Fetisov, Sergei Fedorov, Valdimir Konstantinov
and Larionov, known as "The Russian Five" pose
after winning the 1997 Stanley Cup

Further, he is one of only four players, along with Fetisov, Joe Sakic and Scott Niedermayer, to have won not only the three championships of the Triple Gold Club, but also either a Canada Cup or World Cup as well as gold at the World Junior Championships, and one of only two, with Fetsov, to add the Soviet League title as well.

With the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990's, Larionov's international career would resume at the inaugural World Cup of Hockey in 1996, only now for the Russia National Team.

Larionov's first appearance for the Russia National Team in 1996

With the continuing playoff success of the Canucks, Sharks and especially the Red Wings, Larionov was unavailable for the World Championships each spring, but had one final opportunity to skate on the international stage, that coming in 2002 at the Olympics in Salt Lake City, where he earned a bronze medal as team captain to close out his stellar international career, which included 8 gold medals (4 World Championship, 2 World Juniors and 2 Olympic), 2 silvers (1 World Championship and 1 European Juniors) , 2 bronze (1 World Championship and 1 Olympic) and a Canada Cup.

Larionov was inducted into both the Hockey Hall of Fame and the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2008 in recognition of his stellar career.

Today's featured jersey is a 1984-85 Central Red Army Igor Larionov jersey. Much more striking visually than the spartan Soviet National Team jerseys of the same era, the Red Army jerseys benefit from the addition of the blue shoulders and stripes as well as the red stars on the shoulders and of course the hammer and sickle contained within.

Despite the communist ideals of the Soviet Union and amateur status of it's national team players, Red Army was not above entertaining the the occasional sponsorship from time to time, as seen on the back of this particular sweater!

This beautiful jersey is finished off with Larionov's name on the back in Cyrillic lettering and the very European style #8 with it's multiple layers of outlines and drop shadowing completing the look.

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1990-91 Vancouver Canucks Igor Larionov jersey as worn during the early days of his NHL career following the domination of the Soviet portion of his career.

The Canucks had retreated from the wild jersey styles they had worn from 1978 to 1989, returning to a more conventional white jersey at home in 1989 in time for Larionov's arrival in Vancouver. They would continue to use this style throughout the 1996-97 season when a change in ownership led to an entirely new look, including not only the team logo but it's colors as well.

Today's video section begins with perhaps Larionov's best known goals, his triple overtime game winner in the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals, his second of the game.

Here is a look at Larionov's playing career, which includes footage from his early career in the Soviet Union.

Finally, not a Top 10, but a Top 15 goals scored by Larionov.

Reader Submission - 2006-07 CSKA Moscow Andrei Nikitenko Jersey

Our newest reader submitted jersey comes from Alex Fennell, and it's from the most storied club team in hockey outside of the NHL, CSKA Moscow, or as it's more commonly known in North America, Central Red Army.

Here is Alex's story about how he acquired his jersey and the details of it's unusual customization details;

My name is Alex and I have a game worn CSKA Red Army jersey from the 2006-2007 season when they were a part of the Russian Super League before joining the KHL. It was worn by Andrei Nikitenko, a forward who currently plays for Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the KHL. 

It has a captain's 'K' ('C' in English) on the front of the jersey that is sewn on. It features the normal game wear (puck marks, boards marks, fraying on the edges), but one of the things that I find unique about it is the electrical tape residue over the 'K' where a coach used the tape to put an 'A' over the 'K' to signify some sort of demotion to alternate captain. 

 

I thought it was a puck mark at first, but I found out that using electrical tape to make captain's letters on jerseys was a relatively common practice in the former Russian Super League and makes the jersey itself unique. 

I bought this jersey on ebay a few years ago simply because I enjoyed the design and wanted to research its authenticity myself since the seller did not include anything official that ensured the jersey's authenticity. I also generally enjoy picking up jerseys with captain's letters on them as well since they are harder to find than those without, especially when the jerseys are game worn. 

It's other features include a nameplate sewn on with 'Nikitenko' in Cyrillic sublimated on it, sublimated numbers, a fight strap, 'Megafon' advertisements sewn on the sleeves, and ads sublimated on both the front and the back of the jersey (one for 'Norelski Nickel' and the other for Wurth). 

 

I took some photos of the jersey and its features myself, but I also scoured the internet for pictures of Andrei Nikitenko actually wearing the jersey for proof that the jersey is indeed game worn and included them in this email as well. (Note: In some of the photos, the jersey does not have advertisements sewn on the sleeves; this is because it was in a preseason or early season game before they were added on).

Here is a profile of Andrei Nikitenko on a Russian website that shows him being the captain of CSKA Moscow with a picture and statistics: http://www.syb-nsk.narod.ru/nikitenko.htm

Thanks to Alex for taking the time to photograph his jersey and send along the action photos as well as sharing the story of his beautiful jersey. We really appreciate the efforts involved when our readers share their jerseys.

Central Red Army won championship after championship during the days of the Soviet Union, but fell on hard times with the fall of communism. No longer able to acquire any player they desired through the power of their affiliation with the Soviet Army, and suffering from a loss of funding as well, CSKA has yet to win another championship since 1989, their final one 32 total and last of 13 consecutive.

If you have a jersey in your collection that you'd like to share with us and your fellow readers, please submit your pictures and a story to go with it, no matter how brief or detailed, to spyboy1@gmail.com and we look forward to seeing your favorites.