Ebay Jersey of the Week - 1996 Slovakia Nike Jersey

From time to time we find a jersey that really catches our attention because we know just how long it took us toget one like it for our collection and can't believe that someone hasn't jumped on the "Buy it Now" option or bid it up to a higher price yet.

This week's Third String Goalie Ebay Jersey of the Week is a 1996 Nike Slovakia National Team jersey. This style was worn during the 1996 IIHF World Cup of Hockey.

This particular one looks to be in really good shape, especially for a jersey now 17 years old, and is blank on the back so you still have the option of adding a name and number on the back, such as Peter Bondra, Pavol Demitra, Ziggy Palffy, Lubomir Visnovsky or Miroslav Satan.

Peter Bondra in a later Slovakia style jersey

It's listed as a size 56, which while too big for us, could be seen by many as a positive, as this is more likely the size worn by the actual players.

This particular style jersey does have dye-sublimated cresting, which is the way Nike made them back then, especially the wild striping on the front which contains gradients. It's priced at $124.99 in a Buy it Now format, which is a bit high, but it's a rare style and these do not come up very often, as we have seen during our time collecting jerseys. If this were a 48 or 52, we'd own it already and would have sent it out for customizing as a Bondra.

Here is a link to the actual jersey worn by Bondra in exhibition games leading up to the actual 1996 World Cup which shows the colors of the name and numbers, as well as the placement of the captain's "C". Note the Slovaks did modify their game jerseys to read "Slovensko" on the front, with a somewhat crude white backing, but as to the best of our knowledge, all the retail jerseys read "Slovakia". Here is a video showing the white version in action against Canada.

In summary, if we didn't have a white 1996 Slovakia jersey in our collection already or if this jersey were a smaller size 52, we'd be thrilled to acquire this rare 1996 one. We like the fact it's blank and appears to be in great condition. Additionally, this seller has a huge amount of positive feedbacks in the last year for a 99% rating making us feel very comfortable pointing you in his direction, but, as always, we cannot warranty their future performance.