1989-90 Calgary Flames Doug Gilmour Jersey

On this date in 1989, the Calgary Flames travelled to Le Colisée to take on the Quebec Nordiques.

The 1989-90 Calgary Flames

Rick Wamsely got the start in goal for the Flames while Stephane Fiset was the starter for the home team.

Stephane Fiset got the start in goal for Quebec

The Nordiques opened the scoring at 4:26 with a goal from Darin Kimble, his first of the still early season from Claude Loiselle and Greg Adams. Just over three minutes later, Curtis Leschyshyn made it 2-0 for the Nordiques  from Marc Fortier and Daniel Dore at 7:31 on a power play. Less than one minute later Wamsley's night was over when he was pulled after Michel Goulet converted another power play opportunity from Joe Sakic and Mario Marios at 8:29. Mike Vernon then came on in relief of Wamsley, who had given up 3 goals and 6 shots.

Mike Vernon entered the game in relief

Gary Suter stopped the bleeding for Calgary at 9:44 from Joe Mullen and Doug Gilmour at even strength. Peter Stastny restored the Nordiques three goal lead when he beat Vernon at 15:03 from Michel Petit and Finland's Iiro Jarvi, also at even strength to close out a great first period for the host Nordiques, who led 4-1 at the break.

Calgary wasted little time in the second period letting the Nordiques they would not be going away quietly when Joel Otto scored after just 37 seconds from Suter and  Mullen. Joe Nieuwendyk then pulled the Flames within a goal when he beat Fiset at 6:13 from Al MacInnis and Soviet Sergei Makarov at even strength.

The Nordiques then capitalized on a five minute major and game misconduct to the Flames Theo Fleury for drawing blood while highsticking. First, Guy Lafleur scored at 14:31 from Jeff Brown and Joe Cirella followed by Stastny restoring the three goal lead for Quebec from Brown and Dore just 28 seconds later. The final five minutes passed with no additional goals, leaving the Nordiques ahead 6-3 after two.

At 7:35 of the third, Cirella put the Nordiques up by 4 before Brown made it a 5 goal lead at 11:27, with both goals being assisted by Stastny and Jarvi.

Now leading 8-3 with seven minutes remaining, things were looking good for Quebec, so there was likely little concern when Gary Roberts scored an even strength goal for the Fames from Makarov and Rick Nattress at 13:27 to cut the lead to 8-4. Eyebrows might have been raised when Roberts scored again 16 seconds later from Makarov and Nieuwendyk but when Jim Peplinski beat Fiset for the Flames third goal in just 27 seconds (from Paul Ranheim and MacInnis) to close the gap to 2, the Nordiques knew they once again had a game on their hands.

Roberts scored twice in 16 seconds

When Cirella was whistled for a penalty for Quebec at 15:07, tensions must have risen among the home 15,391 fans, but throats must have really tightened when Marois was sent off while helping kill Cirella's penalty at 16:55, creating a brief two-man advantage for Calgary. Tables then turned when MacInnis found himself in the box for the Flames just as Cirella's penalty was set to expire, negating the Calgary advantage from Marios' penalty.

As time was winding down, the Flames hopes were dealt a severe blow when Roberts was given a double minor and a game misconduct at 19:41 while the Nordiques' Cirella received a single minor for his part in the fracas - leaving Calgary shorthanded for the final 19 seconds of the game and still trailing by 2.

Right off the ensuing faceoff and with Vernon having been pulled for an extra attacker, Gilmour lit the lamp from Otto and MacInnis at 19:45 - shorthanded - to reduce the once 5 goal advantage to 1 with 15 seconds to play.

Gilmour scored shorthanded for Calgary

Then, from a center ice faceoff, somehow, Gilmour won the draw and got the puck to Ranheim who beat Fiset with a wrist shot from the top of the slot - with the Flames still shorthanded -  for the fifth time in 2:22 just four seconds after Gilmour's goal to complete the amazing Flames comeback. The two goals four seconds apart not surprisingly set an NHL record for the Fastest Two Shorthanded Goals in league history.

Ranheim's goal tied the game and set an NHL record

The overtime passed without any additional scoring, leaving each team with a point from the unfathomable 8-8 draw, which no one saw coming with the road team down by 5 with under seven minutes to play.

None of the goalies acquitted themselves very well, with Vernon finishing with 17 saves on 22 shots in 56:24 and Fiset, who somehow managed to stay in the game after giving up three in 27 seconds, made 27 saves on 35 shots.

The Flames would go on to win the Smythe division with a 42-23-15 record but were bounced in the first round of the playoffs, while the Nordiques had a dismal season at 12-61-7 for 31 points, making them the doormat of the league, finishing a full 33 points back of the second worst team.

Today's featured jersey is a 1989-90 Calgary Flames Doug Gilmour jersey. That season was the Flames 10th season in Calgary and they marked the occasion by wearing a patch on their upper left arm.

The Flames moved to Calgary from Atlanta back in 1980. They simply retained the same jerseys worn in Atlanta, only with the logo changed from a flaming A to a flaming C. This style would remain unchanged through the 1993-94 season before being replaced with a new style after a long 14 year run.

This style was then revived by the club as a throwback jersey in 2009-10 for their 30th anniversary season a pleasing and well received return tat prompted the team to make it their alternate through the 2012-13 season.

Today's video selection is a compilation of goals by Glimour when he was a member of the Flames.

1909-10 Ottawa Senators Marty Walsh Jersey

Born on this date in 1883, Marty Walsh played in the Canadian Intercollegiate Hockey Union for Queen's University from 1902 through 1906, including a league championship in 1906 which led to a challenge for the Stanley Cup during which he scored four goals in two games versus the Ottawa Silver Seven.

The 1906 Queen's University team, which challenged for the Stanley Cup

with Walsh is seated second from the right in the front row

photo courtesy of Classic Auctions

Walsh turned professional in 1906-07 when he played for the Canadian Soo of the International Hockey League. Unfortunately, his season was limited to seven of 24 games due to a broken leg, but he gave a glimpse of his potential with four goals and five assists for nine points in limited action.

For the 1907-08 season Walsh moved back east to join the mighty Silver Seven, who had defended the Stanley Cup 11 times from March 1903 to March 1906. In his first season with Ottawa, Walsh made his presence known with 27 goals in nine games, including seven in one game against Montreal on March 7, 1908, to lead the league in scoring.

The following season Walsh again led the league in scoring with an astounding 42 goals in just 12 games, an average of 3 1/2 goals a game! The club, now known as the Senators, demolished the competition with a 10-2 mark while scoring 117 goals in their 12 games, quite nearly a ten goal per game average and no game with less than five. As Eastern Canada Hockey Association champions, the Senators became holders of the Stanley Cup.

As was often the case in the formative years of professional hockey, a dispute within the ECHA led to the Senators joining a brand new league for 1909-10, the Canadian Hockey Association. The league was a failure and Ottawa ended up playing just three league games as well as a pair of defenses of the Stanley Cup. Walsh scored nine goals in the two Senators CHA games he played and then six in the first game of the Senators defense of the cup against Galt.

When the CHA disbanded, Ottawa then became a member of the National Hockey Association for their schedule of games that season. Walsh came fourth in league scoring with 23 goals in 11 games as well as adding a pair of goals in a successful defense of the Stanley Cup against Edmonton of the Alberta Amateur Hockey Association. All told, Walsh scored 40 goals in 17 games that season but Ottawa had to relinquish the Stanley Cup to the NHA champion Montreal Wanderers.

Walsh had another stellar season in 1910-11 with 35 goals in 16 NHA contests to lead the league in scoring as the Senators won the league championship to regain possession of the Stanley Cup once more.

1911 Ottawa Senators - holders of the Stanley Cup

On March 13th, Galt once more challenged for the Stanley Cup and Walsh led the defense with three of the seven Ottawa goals to win 7-4.

Three days later Port Arthur had the misfortune to face an on-form Walsh, who scored ten goals in a 13-4 win for the Senators.

In his final season of 1911-12, Walsh scored 9 times in 12 games to close out his carer. Following his playing days, Walsh moved to Edmonton and fell ill, passing away just two years later.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962.

Today's featured jersey is a 1909-10 Ottawa Senators Marty Walsh jersey. This unusual style features a departure from the signature Ottawa horizontal barberpole stripes, with the trademark red, black and white stripes running vertically before a return to the classic horizontal orientation for the remainder of the club's existence until 1934.

1934-35 St. Louis Eagles Frank Finnigan Jersey

The original Ottawa Senators were founded back in 1883 as an amateur club, later becoming a professional team. In the early years of hockey the club moved from league to league as the organization of early hockey was still finding it's feet.

Aside from the changes in leagues, the club also took some time to settle on a permanent nickname as well. Known as the Generals in the 1890's, the club was known as the Silver Seven from 1903 to 1907 before adopting the name Senators starting in 1912.

The 1885 Ottawa Hockey Club

One of the most successful teams in the early days of hockey, the club won the Stanley Cup in 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1909, 1910 and again in 1911 during the cup's "challenge era".

The 1911 Ottawa Senators posing with their Stanley Cup

By then, the team had joined the National Hockey Association, which lasted from 1910 to 1917. After the NHA dissolved, the Ottawa Senators joined the brand new National Hockey League as a charter member in 1917. They soon rose to prominence, capturing four more Stanley Cups in 1920, 1921, 1923 and 1927.

The 1919-20 Ottawa Senators

After winning the championship in 1927, the Senators began a decline in fortunes, primarily due to the small size of Ottawa when compared to the other cities in the league at the time. Ottawa's population in 1931 was 110,000, one-fifth the size of Toronto, which was the second smallest NHL city at the time. They began to sell off their best players, suffered from low attendance at home against new expansion teams, such as the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Cougars, New York Americans, New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Pirates, and the higher travel costs to play those same teams all located in the United States.

The Great Depression also affected the team and caused the sale of even more players, including King Clancy to Toronto. Things got so bad that the team suspended operations for the 1931-32 season and returned to finish with the worst record in the league two years in a row in 1932-33 and 1933-34. Finally the owners of the franchise announced that it would not return to Ottawa for the 1934-35 season due to losses of over $60,000 since resuming play and that he would be relocating the team.

The franchise was then moved to St. Louis, the seventh largest city in the US at the time, for the 1934-35 season and was named the Eagles, which was inspired by the St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch beer logo.

While attendance was good, the team fared little better financially in St. Louis however, with long, expensive train trips to New York and Boston as well as a large number of games against Montreal and Toronto, as the poor Eagles were forced to take Ottawa's place in the Canadian Division of the NHL, despite being located much closer to Chicago and Detroit of the American Division.

The 1934-35 St. Louis Eagles

The club finished with a dismal record of 11-31-6 for last in the league, while they again were forced to sell players, including team captain Syd Howe, who lead the team in goals despite being traded to Detroit late in the season to help meet expenses. Finally on this date 1935 the owners of the franchise sold the club back to the NHL for $40,000 and the players were then sold off to the remaining eight clubs in the league.

It would be 32 years before the NHL would return to St. Louis when the Blues joined the league in 1967 and 58 years before the league would come back to Ottawa in 1992 with the new incarnation of the Senators.

Today's featured jersey is a 1934-35 St. Louis Eagles Frank Finnigan jersey worn by Finnigan during the St. Louis Eagles only season.

Finnigan was born in 1900 and played in the NHL from 1923 to 1937 for Ottawa, Toronto and St. Louis and was nicknamed the "Shawville Express".

He would win a Stanley Cup with Ottawa in 1927 and was team captain from 1930 to 1933, scoring a career high of 21 goals and 36 points in the 1929-30 season during 43 games played. He played in Toronto the season Ottawa suspended play, winning his second Stanley Cup with the Maple Leafs, and returned to Toronto after being one of the players sold by St. Louis in 1935. He also held the distinction of having played in the first NHL All-Star Game in 1934, which was held as a benefit for Toronto player Ace Bailey.

In 1989 Finnigan was part of the effort to bring back NHL hockey to Ottawa and made public appearances on behalf of the effort and was part of the presentation to the NHL expansion committee at the age of 90. He was scheduled to drop the puck at the first new Senators game in October of 1992, but passed away the previous December at the age of 91, the last surviving member of the 1927 Stanley Cup champions. Finnigan's son, Frank Jr., was chosen to drop the ceremonial first puck in his place.

On the night of the first game new Senators game, Finnigan's number 8 was retired by the club, still the only number retired by the team other than the league-wide retirement of Wayne Gretzky's #99.

In addition to having his jersey number retired, the street in front of the Senators arena, Scotiabank Place, was named Frank Finnigan Way in his honor.

Here is video from the first game of the new Ottawa Senators on October 8, 1992, including the opening of Hockey Night in Canada on that day and the first Senators goal of the new era.

Here is a brief recap of the original Senators history and how it influenced the branding of the newly reborn Senators.

2006-07 Toronto Maple Leafs Mats Sundin Jersey

On this date in 2006, the Calgary Flames traveled to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs. Darcy Tucker opened the scoring at 8:09 of the first period with assists from Kyle Wellwood and Mats Sundin on a power play to give Toronto a 1-0 lead. Sundin extended the Toronto lead to 2-0 at 15:28 from a beautiful cross-ice pass from Brian McCabe with a second assist going to Jeff O'Neill.

The second period saw the Flames roar back with three goals in less than 12 minutes, as Mark Giordano scored at 4:52 followed by a shorthanded goal by Matthew Lombardi at 7:53 followed by Giordano's second of the period at 11:26 to give Calgary a 3-2 lead.

Alex Steen tied the game for Toronto at 17:38 from Matt Stajan and Chad Kilger. Sundin then restored the lead for the Maple Leafs lead for the second time with a goal at 18:48 from Tucker and Ian White after a drop pass from Tucker, which Sundin gathered up and quickly fired a laser shot over Miikka Kiprusoff's left shoulder and into the upper corner of the net.

The Maple Leafs lead would not hold up however, as Calgary's Daymond Lankow tied the game once more with a goal at 7;15 of the third period. The remainder of regulation passed with plenty of chances, as the Flames took 15 shots in the period while Toronto had 13 of their own, but
Kiprusoff and Toronto's Andrew Raycroft held firm and regulation ended in a 4-4 tie, but not before Tucker took a hooking penalty with just eight seconds remaining in the period.

Overtime then began with Toronto a man down, but a turnover by Alex Tanguay led to a rush by Mats Sundin, who skated down the left hand side and, once over the blueline, fired a shot from a long way out, which eluded Kiprusoff to not only win the game for the Maple Leafs, but also made Sundin the first Swedish player, and 35th of all time, to score 500 goals in the NHL, and in style too, as his milestone 500th goal came not only both shorthanded and unassisted, but also completed a hat trick in front of the delirious home fans at the Air Canada Centre!

"It's a special way to get it. I'll remember this day throughout my whole life," Sundin said following the game.

Combined with his assist on the first Toronto goal, his hat trick gave him four points on the memorable night. The winning goal was his 15th overtime goal of his career, the most in NHL history at the time.

Even Flames captain Jarome Iginla had to admire Sundin on the night. "He was really going tonight. It was an amazing shot on that last goal. Not many people would have stopped that. He got a screen and he got it all. You don't want to call it a nice goal, but it was impressive," said Iginla.

Today's featured jersey is a 2006-07 Toronto Maple Leafs Mats Sundin jersey, from the season he scored his 500th career goal and 900th point as a Maple Leaf.

This particular jersey features the Teammates for Kids patch, as worn by Sundin and his Maple Leafs teammates on January 6th, 2007.

As part of the program, each player on every team would play one game with the patch on their jerseys, which would then be auctioned off for chairity to raise money for the Garth Brooks Teammates for Kids Foundation. This would result in over 600 game worn jerseys entering the market in a single go.

Today's featured video is Sundin scoring four points in the game on October 14th, 2006, concluding with him scoring his milestone 500th career goal shorthanded in overtime to complete his hat trick and defeat the Calgary Flames 5-4, sending the home crowd into euphoria.

2015 Minnesota Hockey Collectors Expo Report

This past Sunday was one of the highlights of the jersey collecting calendar, the 14th Annual Minnesota Hockey Collectors Expo at Tom Reid's Hockey City Pub near the Xcel Energy Center, home of the Minnesota Wild.

It's the largest gathering of game worn jerseys in Minnesota each year and you can count on seeing some amazing and varied collections in a great hockey environment with collectors bringing favorites from their personal collections for some good old "show and tell". While there is naturally an emphasis on jerseys related to the Minnesota Wild, Minnesota North Stars and Minnesota Gophers, there are always many other interesting jerseys from throughout the hockey world and this year was no exception.

It's great opportunity to see some great game worn jerseys up close, meet some new people and perhaps add a new jersey to your collection, as there are always deals to be made plus an annual raffle of great prizes from the collections of many of those in attendance in an effort to raise money for the Minnesota NHL Alumni Association, who will receive 100% of the raffle proceeds. 

Al Benson showing off the game worn Pierre-Marc Bouchard Minnesota Wild game worn jersey, which highlighted the items available in the charity raffle

Here is a sampling of who was in attendance and some highlights of their collections.

Brian Vesall brought his collection, which features jerseys from former University of Minnesota Golden Gopher hockey players, such as Johnny Pohl, Erik Westrum, Tom Chorske, Lance Pitlick, Erik Rasmussen and Danny Irmen.

Paul Doruska certainly had one of the most unique collections this year, which was focused on southern minor league teams, as he used to live in the south.

While many of his interesting jerseys had intricate details to the crests of the jerseys from some of hockey's more obscure outposts, a real highlight was a Columbus Cottonmouths jersey where the numbers were comprised of snakes!

Chris Groth has a hall of fame worthy collection which focuses on NHL stars. He brought some real gems, including game worn jerseys from Luc Robitaille and Theo Fleury, but his Niklas Lidstrom game worn rookie jersey was certainly an Expo highlight.

Next up is Chris Jerina with his Milwaukee Admirals "Bob Uecker Night" jersey, modeled after Uecker's infamous plaid sport coats and is one of our all-time favorites and a highlight of his Admirals themed collection.

Above is Scott Janvrin's impressive Ben Clymer collection. Collecting one player, such as Clymer can be a challenge when they make multiple stops in the NHL and the AHL, but that challenge increases exponentially when a player extends his career by playing in Europe, so this collection was all the more impressive with the addition of game worn jerseys from the German DEL.

Chris and Riley Meade brought their large collection of jerseys, which has two main themes. Chris is working on a collection of Minnesota state high school jerseys, sometimes driving great lengths to acquire them, as well as a collection of international jerseys, such as the Norway jersey he is displaying from Per-Age Skroder, a frequent member of Norway's World Championships and Olympic teams.

We interrupted John Lindberg, who was in the middle of sharing his collection with a couple of young fans in attendance. John, in addition to being a Neal Broten collector, has an interesting collection jerseys from Minnesota Wild first round draft picks from prior to joining the Wild, which means tracking down jerseys from the Canadian juniors or European club teams, which certainly must present some challenges. He also keeps an eye out for jerseys from players from northwest Minnesota, who hail from near his hometown of Kennedy, Minnesota.

Kyle Oen brought his amazing game worn Minnesota high school jersey collection that rivals the one on display at the Xcel Energy Center. He also has other Minnesota based teams in his collection, such as the Minnesota Moose and Minnesota Gophers, including some museum quality vintage pieces. Kyle's love of all things Minnesota hockey related is expressed in his website, VintageMinnesotaHockey.com.

Zdenek Kuhn brought his collection of Czech NHLers to to the expo for the first time, and had jerseys on hand from Petr Svoboda, Robert Lang, Jiri Hudler and Marek Zidlicky in addition to the signed Dominik Hasek jersey he is displaying. Our favorite jersey of his was actually the late 1980's Czechoslovakia Tackla jersey he was wearing, one we would love to have in our collection.

Can't make it to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto? Then having the opportunity to see Jon Bakke's collection of vintage jerseys can save you the trip! Jon went with a theme, bringing all his old Montreal Canadiens jerseys, the centerpiece of which are some vintage wool sweaters, like the Yvan Cournoyer jersey he is holding up.

Jon can be easily spotted at Minnesota Wild games wearing his rotating collection of gamers, as he doesn't just hang them in a closet, he wears his regularly to Wild games.

Finally, the collection of event organizer Dave Frechette, without whom the Expo would not exist. Dave's collection now focuses primarily on game worn Minnesota North Stars jerseys, but he also has some Minnesota Fighting Saints jerseys from the 1970's as well.

Dave is also able to attract some local hockey players to the event every year, with this year being no exception, as here he is shown with former Minnesota Wild captain Wes Walz and his old Calgary Flames jersey.

Also in attendance this year was former NHLer, United States Olympic silver medalist and Minnesota high school hockey legend Henry Boucha, who was on hand with a display of his personal memorabilia, including his 1972 Olympic jersey, as well as copies of his book.

We really look forward to the annual hockey expo and hope you will be able to join us for next year's event, wether you have jerseys to share or not. All are certainly welcome to come on down to St. Paul and have a look at all the great jerseys on display, talk with their extremely knowledgeable owners, take in the hockey atmosphere at Tom Reid's and enjoy some of their great menu items while watching games on their endless supply of TV's.

We hope you can make it for the 15th annual event next October!

2004 Team Canada 1920 Winnipeg Falcons Throwback Mario Lemieux jersey

Although it has been an annual celebration dating back to 1879, following a parliamentary declaration in 1957, the second Monday in October has been celebrated as Thanksgiving Day in Canada.

In honor of this long-standing Canadian tradition, we present the oldest Canadian National Team sweater we could find, which also happens to belong to the world's first Olympic hockey champions, dating back to 1920.

The Winnipeg Falcons were founded in 1911 with a roster of players of Icelandic decent because they were not welcomed on other teams due to racial prejudice. The Falcons originally played until 1917 and the team was then reorganized in 1919 after a number of their players returned from service in World War I.

The Falcons were then chosen to represent all of Canada at the Olympic Games by virtue of having won the Allan Cup as the 1920 Canadian National Senior Amateur Champions.

During the 1920 Olympics, the Falcons first defeated Czechoslovakia 15-0, then the United States 2-0 followed by a 12-1 victory over Sweden to capture the first Olympic gold medal for Canada.

On their return to Canada, they were celebrated with a parade, given gold pocket watches and honored with several banquets.

On April 29th, 2006 the Winnipeg Falcons were inducted into Canada's Olympic Hall of Fame and there is now an exhibit in honor of the Falcons at the MTS Center in Winnipeg.

For further reading, there are now several books available about the Falcons, When Falcons Fly: The Story of the World's First Olympic Gold Hockey Team, Long Shot: How the Winnipeg Falcons won the first Olympic hockey gold and Falcons Gold : Canada's First Olympic Hockey Heroes. We also recommend WinnipegFalcons.com, which proved invaluable in researching this entry.

 

When the North American pool of the World Cup of Hockey began in 2004, the United States traveled to Montreal on August 31, 2004 to take on Team Canada, who wore 1920 Winnipeg Falcons throwback jerseys. Team Canada won the contest by a 2-1 score on goals by Martin St. Louis and Joe Sakic. It would be the only time Team Canada's senior team would wear the Falcons jerseys.

The Falcons jerseys were worn one once more, this time in an exhibition game between Canada's World Junior Team and Team Finland on December 20th, 2004 at the MTS Center in Winnipeg. The game ended in a 6-0 win for Canada, a precursor to the domination they would display at the 2005 World Junior Tournament in Grand Forks, North Dakota with an impressive team of future NHL stars that included Sidney Crosby. The full roster of players from that exhibition game can be found here.

Crosby the only time he ever wore the Winnipeg Falcons jersey

Today's featured jersey is a 2004 Team Canada 1920 Winnipeg Falcons Throwback Mario Lemieux jersey as worn on August 31st, 2004. One unique aspect of the Falcons throwbacks is that all the jerseys had "CANADA" on the back instead of each individual player's name, similar to the 1972 Canada Cup jerseys.

The jersey also features the 2004 World Cup of Hockey logo patch on the upper left chest, along with Mario Lemieux's captain's "C".

While the original Falcons normally wore blue and green "barberpole" striped jerseys, it's uncertain why the Falcons' Olympic jerseys were old gold and black, a choice of colors that proved unpopular with fans in 2004 and earned them a spot in our "Curious, Weird and Ugly" Collection.

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 2005 Team Canada 1920 Winnipeg Falcons Throwback Sidney Crosby jersey as worn during the World Junior Team's exhibition game in Winnipeg on December 20th, 2004 at the MTS Center in a 6-0 win over Finland.

The Canadians would not wear this jersey during the 2005 World Junior Championships in Grand Forks, North Dakota, making this the second and last time this style would ever be worn and the only time this jersey would be worn by future NHLers such as Crosby, Brent Seabrook, Dion Phaneuf, Shea Weber, Jeff Carter, Ryan Getzlaf, Mike Richards, Corey Perry, Clarke MacArthur and Patrice Bergeron.

Here is Team Canada in action wearing their Winnipeg Falcons jerseys during the 2004 World Cup of Hockey versus the United States - the only time they would wear them.

2015 Minnesota Hockey Collectors Expo

Today, October 11th, is one of the highlights of the jersey collecting calendar, the 14th Annual Minnesota Hockey Collectors Expo. Anyone who can make it to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul should stop by Tom Reid's Hockey City Pub near the Xcel Energy Center from 11 AM to 6 PM.

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It's the largest gathering of game worn jerseys in Minnesota each year and you can count on seeing some amazing and varied collections in a great hockey environment. This event is free and features collectors bringing favorites from their personal collection for some good old "show and tell", with an emphasis on jerseys related to the Minnesota Wild, Minnesota North Stars and Minnesota Gophers, as well as many other interesting jerseys from throughout the hockey world. It's great opportunity to see some great game worn jerseys up close, meet some new people and perhaps add a new jersey to your collection, as there is an annual raffle of great prizes and always deals to be made.

To further entice you to attend, here are some photos from one of the previous editions.

Above is Scott Janvrin's impressive Ben Clymer collection. Collecting one player, such as Clymer can be a challenge when they make multiple stops in the NHL and the AHL, but that challenge increases exponentially when a player extends his career by playing in Europe, so this collection was all the more impressive with the addition of game worn jerseys from the German DEL.

Kyle Oen brought his amazing game worn Minnesota high school jersey collection that rivals the one on display at the Xcel Energy Center. He also has other Minnesota based teams in his collection, such as the Minnesota Moose and Minnesota Gophers. Kyle's love of all things Minnesota hockey related is expressed in his website, VintageMinnesotaHockey.com.

Above is John Lindberg's take on a Minnesota theme. Where Kyle collects teams from Minnesota, John is more about former Gophers NHL jerseys as well as Minnesota Wild prospects jerseys before they reach the NHL in addition to being a Neal Broten collector.

Can't make it to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto? Then having the opportunity to see Jon Bakke's collection of vintage jerseys can save you the trip! Jon went with a theme, bringing all his old Quebec Nordiques jerseys, the centerpiece of which are his Stastny brothers. Awesome!

Jon can be easily spotted at Minnesota Wild games wearing his rotating collection of gamers, as he doesn't just hang them in a closet, he wears his regularly to Wild games.

Here is Jon sharing his collection with former North Star Maxwell, who probably had a few intense battles with the Nordiques before becoming one himself at one point in his career.

Speaking of Hall of Fame worthy collections, Dan Erspamer's Minnesota North Stars collection is highlighted with not only a first year North Stars jersey, but one belonging to the tragic Bill Masterton - a true gem of the expo.

Chris Groth (right) has his own hall of fame collection underway and goes for whatever catches his eye. He brought some real gems, including game worn jerseys from Luc Robitaille, Joe Sakic and Theo Fleury, but his Alexander Ovechkin game worn jersey was certainly an Expo highlight.

Eric Bodamer, who designed all the jerseys Nike supplied for the 1998 Olympic hockey tournament in Nagano, Japan, brought with his collection of game worn jerseys from his hometown Buffalo Sabres.

This collection with a Minnesota and Minnesota Wild theme was really impressive, particularly the Mikael Granlund jersey from HIFK Helsinki. Just how do people track these things down?! You have to appreciate dealing with the differences in time zone, language and currency when it comes to obtaining European jerseys.

Yes, you are seeing that right, it's a Milwaukee Admirals "Bob Uecker Night" jersey modeled after Uecker's infamous plaid sport coats! That jersey, and the rest of the collection on the table belong to Chris Jerina. The Uecker jersey, along with the Masterton jersey, was easily our favorite of the event.

Here was our contribution to the proceedings, our history of patches worn by the Minnesota Wild in their 10 years of play. We also brought our collection of game worn German National Team jerseys, which date from 1989 to 2009.

Another great person to meet was certainly Dan Schafer, who was the former equipment manager for the Minnesota Moose of the IHL. His Nordiques jersey from the late Stephane Morin was one of our personal favorites.

The walls of Tom Reid's are just dripping with hockey memorabilia and create the perfect environment to hold such an event.

Who says the event is just for guys?

Finally, the collection of event organizer Frechette, without whom the Expo would not exist. Dave's collection focuses primarily on Minnesota Wild players jerseys, only before they joined the Wild. Examples in his collection are Wild prospects jerseys from their college and junior team as well as European born players jerseys from their European club teams. He is shown with his new pride and joy, Dany Heatley's Ak Bars Kazan game worn jersey from Heatley's time in Russia during the lost NHL season of 2004-05.

How he is consistently able to track down jerseys from such a wide variety of sources is one of the more impressive things to take in at the Expo and his appreciation of hockey history is evidenced by the rare and wonderful Minnesota Fighting Saints WHA jersey seen here as well as his North Stars game worn jersey on display behind him.

This year's Minnesota Hockey Collectors Expo will again feature a raffle, with some great prizes up for grabs from the collections of many of those in attendance in an effort to raise money for the Minnesota NHL Alumni Association, who will receive 100% of the proceeds from the raffle.

For details of the the 14th annual expo, including notable players who plan on attending, check out the event's facebook page. It's a can't miss event and we certainly hope those of you who can, will take the time to come on down to Tom Reid's today!