1998 Czech Republic National Team Dominik Hasek Jersey

The Olympic hockey tournament changed like never before in 1998 when the the National Hockey League players were allowed to compete for the first time. Prior to the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, professional players were allowed to participate, but with the Games taking place in February, the highest caliber players obligated to their ongoing NHL seasons, preventing them from even dreaming of taking part in the Olympics.

Starting in 1920, the Olympic gold medal was essentially the property of Canada, winning 6 out of 7 possible gold medals through 1952. With the arrival of the Soviet Union on the scene in 1956, the balance of power was radically changed. Through 1992, when the Soviet trained players skated together one final time as the Unified Team, the Soviets won 8 to of 10 golds, with only the Americans winning twice at home preventing a clean sweep over the course of 4 decades by the Soviets.

Sweden took the gold in 1994 over Canada, but the form charts needed to be thrown away with the sudden availability of the stars of the NHL, who were now going to be on hand for the first time since their formative years, if not the first time ever for some, most notably Wayne Gretzky of Canada. With the NHL season on hold, interest in the tournament was tremendous.

Jaromir Jagr would be making his first Olympic appearance in 1998

The tournament began with Kazakhstan winning Group A and Belarus taking Group B, with the two former Soviet states advancing to the First Round at the expense of Slovakia, Italy, Austria, Germany, France and Japan, whose tournaments were now over after just three games of the Preliminary Round.

The tournament format now called for two groups of four teams to play a round robin schedule to determine their seeings when they all would advance to face an opponent from the opposite group in the single elimination Final Round playoffs.

Kazakhstan was placed in Group D along with the Czech Republic, Finland and Russia, who were all placed into the First Round directly based on their IIHF world ranking prior to the tournament, the same as Canada, Sweden and the United States in Group C, who were joined by Belarus.

In Group C, Canada finished first with a perfect 3-0 record to give them hope of returning to the top place on the medal stand for the first time since 1952 now that the controversy between their best amateurs versus the Soviet "amateurs" had now been finally removed, leveling the playing field on the Olympic stage for the first time in decades.

Canada's opponent as the first seed in Group C was the fourth place finisher in Group D, Kazakhstan. Sweden finished second thanks to a 4-2 win over the Americans, which paired them with Finland in the quarterfinals.

Group D winning Russia drew overmatched Belarus from Group C, while the Czech Republic's second place in Group D saw it facing the United States.

Group winners Canada and Russia held serve with a pair of easy 4-1 wins over Kazakhstan and Belarus as expected. The under achieving United States ran afoul of the Czech Republic, also by a 4-1 score. The only upset in terms of seeding came with Finland's exciting 2-1 defeat of Nordic rivals Sweden in a tense game that was scoreless after two periods.

The parings for the semifinals saw Canada drawing the Czech Republic. The Canadians were armed with some of the finest firepower in all of the world, including forwards Wayne Gretzky, Theo Fleury, Paul Kariya, Eric Lindros, Joe Nieuwendyk, Joe Sakic, Brendan Shanahan and Steve Yzerman, boasted a defensive hall of fame with Rob Blake, Ray Bourque, Al MacInnis, Chris Pronger and Scott Stevens, with the legendary Patrick Roy in goal. Amazingly, the Canadian team General Manager Bobby Clarke chose Rob Zamuner to be on the Canadian roster over Mark Messier and Lindros as captain rather than Gretzky, Bourque or Yzerman!

Going into their game against Canada, the Czechs had won three and lost one, but goaltender Dominik Hasek was in top form, having surrendered only 5 goals in 4 games, with their only loss being a 2-1 decision to Russia in the First Round.

The Czech Republic losing to Russia 2-1 in Group D play

The first two periods passed without a goal by either side, as Roy and Hasek traded saves. Finally halfway through the third period, Jiri Slegr beat Roy with an assist from the veteran Pavel Patera. The Canadians pressed hard for the equalizer, but the Czech defensive system stood tall and Hasek took care of the rest as time would down. Finally with just 1:03 remaining in the game, Trevor Linden solved Hasek with an assist from Lindros.

Jaromir Jagr battles Joe Niewendyk of Canada

Following a scoreless overtime, the game went to a shootout to determine who would advance to the gold medal final. Fleury, Bourque, Nieuwendyk, Lindros and Shanahan were all stopped by the on-form Hasek, while Robert Reichel's opening goal in off the pipe proved to be enough to win the game for the Czechs.

Hasek stops Shanahan to seal the victory for the Czech Republic

Russia advanced to face their long-time rivals with a dominant 7-4 win over Finland, setting up a rematch of their earlier First Round game, which was won by the Russians 2-1.

The championship final, held on this date in 1998, was a predictably low scoring affair, as each team looked to exploit any mistakes by their opponent, while both teams kept their game simple and looked to avoid any unnecessary mistakes. Just like in their first meeting, the opening period passed with no scoring and moved on to the second.

Action from the second meeting between Russia and

the Czech Republic, only this time for the gold medal

Again, Hasek in goal for the Czechs and Mikhail Stalenkov stood tall in goal for the Russians as both teams failed to solve the other. As the game approached the midway point of the third period, a faceoff took place in the Russian zone to the right of Stalenkov. Martin Prochazka won the draw back to his winger Patera, who simply slid the puck back to Petr Svoboda on the point, who teed up the puck and fired it on goal. It passed through a tangle of traffic still hooked up following the faceoff and flew past Stalenkov and into the net for a 1-0 Czech Republic lead with 11:52 still remaining.

Hasek holding off the Russian attack

The goal was enough for Hasek however, as he and his teammates finished off the shutout to capture the first gold medal of the full participation Olympic hockey tournament, making Hasek a household name around the world and Svoboda an instant and unlikely hero, as in 1,028 NHL games, the defensive defenseman had only scored 58 goals, less than 3 1/2 per season, with a career high of 8.

Jagr's gold medal earned him a meeting with Czech President Vaclav Havel

Today's featured jersey is a 1998 Czech Republic National Team Dominik Hasek jersey as worn when the Czech Republic captured the Olympic gold medal in Nagano, Japan. This bold style of jersey was first worn in the 1998 Olympics and is associated with a golden era of Czech hockey, having been worn not only for the Olympic gold in 1998, but also for three consecutive World Championship gold medals in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

Extra bonus jersey: Today's extra bonus jersey is a 1998 Czech Republic Jaromir Jagr jersey as worn during the Olympics in Nagano, Japan. This style of jersey was first introduced for the 1998 Olympics by Nike, who produced new uniforms for each of the participating teams in that year's Games.

The Czech Republic jerseys, while somewhat similar to Canada and Belarus, with it's arched striping from the collar to the armpits, employed a unique font for the numbers as well as the bold color blocks inspired by the flag of the Czech Republic to set it apart from the others, but left no doubt as to who it belonged to with the ultra bold CZECH emblazoned across the lower back.

Our first video today are quick highlights from the Czech Republic's gold medal performance at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano. Gooooooaaaaaaallllllll!!!!

Up next is the tense shootout between Canada and the Czech Republic in the semifinals, highlighting the sprawling, twisting, unorthodox style used by Hasek to full effect.

This next video contains highlights from the goal medal final, won by the Czech Repbulic 1-0 over Russia, focusing on Svoboda's goal.

2000-01 Pittsburgh Penguins Jaromir Jagr and Mario Lemieux Alternate Jerseys

Just three days after his dramatic return to the ice after a three and a half year layoff, Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins took to the ice against the Ottawa Senators at The Igloo in Pittsburgh, which was then known as Mellon Arena.

When Lemieux retired following the 1996-97 season, he had appeared in eight NHL All-Star Games, had been named the winner of the Hart Trophy as league MVP three times, the Art Ross Trophy six times as league scoring champion, the Conn Smythe Trophy twice as playoff MVP, the Pearson Award four times, won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year, the Bill Masterton Trophy, won two Stanley Cups, had his number retired, been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and defeated cancer, which included scoring a goal and an assist on the day of his last radiation treatment, and then going on to win the 1992-93 scoring title by 12 points despite missing two months of the season and playing two dozen less games than the remainder of the players who finished in the top five in league scoring, Pat Lafontaine, Adam Oates, Steve Yzerman and Teemu Selanne.

At the time of his 1997 retirement, Lemieux had appeared in 745 games with 613 goals and 881 assists for 1,494 points. 

While Lemieux was in retirement, the Penguins fortunes took a nosedive, and the club was some $90 million in debt. The situation became so bad that the club declared bankruptcy and was in danger of relocating or folding altogether. With Lemieux's deferred salary amounting to over $32 million, he was the club's largest creditor and made the unusual proposal to convert the debt the club owed him into equity in the franchise, a proposal approved by the NHL Board of Governors on September 1, 1999. Two days later a U. S. Bankruptcy Court approved the plan, making Lemieux the Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Penguins and the first former NHL player to become majority owner of his former team.

Lemieux is introduced as the Penguins new owner

When the 2000-01 season began, the Penguins were playing average hockey over the course of the first two months of the season, but on December 9th, Lemieux announced his intention to come out of retirement and return to active play.

Several factors led the decision, as he young son Austin was too young to remember having seen him play when he first retired. Additionally, Lemieux was now fully recovered from the back injuries which had plagued his final few seasons when he last played. Also, there was the reality that Lemieux the player was Lemieux the owner's greatest asset.

18 days later, Pittsburgh's record was 15-14-6-1 as Lemieux took to the ice for the first time since April 26, 1997, three years and eight months prior.

During his first game back with the Penguins on December 27, 2000, Lemieux electrified the fans in Pittsburgh with an assist just 33 seconds into the game on a goal by Penguins captain Jaromir Jagr.

Jagr would return the favor, as he would assist on Lemieux's first goal of his comeback followed by Lemieux feeding Jan Hrdina, who converted on a nice play for Lemieux's second assist and third point of the night.

Lemieux acknowledges the fans after his dramatic return

His three point night upon his return would leave Lemieux at 1,497 career points, while teammate Jagr now stood at 999 points.

The game on this date in Pittsburgh had barely settled in when Peter Schastlivy scored for the Senators just 1:36 into the game when he beat Penguins goaltender Garth Snow.  

At 5:36 of the period, Lemieux hammered a shot from a near impossible angle from the left wing corner. After it hit Senators goaltender Jani Hurme, it somehow squeezed through Hurme and the post and over the goal line, but not before referee Don Van Massenhoven blew the play dead, having lost sight of the puck as it burrowed its way through the Senators goalie, denying Lemieux another point.

Lemieux argues the quick whistle that cost him a goal

Robert Lang countered for Pittsburgh from Martin Straka and Lemieux on a power play at 10:15. Alexei Yashin put the Senators back on top from Shawn McEachern a little over two minutes later but Janne Laukkanen made sure the first period ended even at 2-2 when he put back a rebound just six seconds before the end of the period following a dazzling effort by Straka with the second assist to Hans Jonsson.

Martin Havlat put the Senators back on top when he converted a power play opportunity just 3:49 into the second period from Karl Rachunek and Jamie Rivers.

Lemieux then centered the puck from the left side and Jagr fired the rebound past Senators goaltender Hurme for the 1,000th point of Jagr's career. The assist was Lemieux's second counted point of the night and put him at 1,499.

 

There was no more scoring in the second period and the game entered its final 20 minutes tied at 3-3.

1:28 into the third period, Lemieux fed Jagr again, who converted for his second goal of the night and Lemieux's milestone 1,500th career point.

Lemieux was not finished, however, as he completed the scoring with an empty net goal with just 12 seconds remaining for a final 5-3 margin with assists credited to linemates Jagr and Hrdina.

"That was something special for both of us," Lemieux said about the duo each reaching a career milestone on the same night. "Because we've played so many years together, and accomplished so much."

His four point night gave Lemieux a head shaking seven points in his first two games back after his three and a half year layoff. 

The scary part for the rest of the NHL was, in spite of the apparent chemistry between Jagr and the returning Lemieux, he felt there was more to come. "I think we can get better," Lemieux said. "I think we're still, at times, not sure, especially with [Hrdina]. I'm still not sure what he's going to do. The more we play together, the more we practice ... I think we can be a lot better. And the more conditioning I can get in the next couple of weeks, to take my game to the next level, I think it will help the line a little more."

To put the excellence of Lemieux into perspective, only 11 players in league history reached 1,000 points faster than Jagr's 763 games, while Lemieux only required 747 games to reach 1,500 points!

Lemieux would eventually play 43 games that season, scoring 35 goals and 41 assists for 76 points (1.77 points per game) while Jagr would win the Art Ross Trophy for the fourth consecutive season with 52 goals and 69 assists for 121 points in 81 games (1.49 ppg), one of only two players, along with Joe Sakic (118), to surpass 100 points that season.

Today's first featured jersey is a 2000-01 Pittsburgh Penguins Jaromir Jagr jersey as worn the night Jagr scored his 1,000th NHL point. In Lemieux's absence, Jagr became the Penguins captain and wore the "C" from 1998-99 to 2000-01.

Pittsburgh, in a classic case of messing with success, introduced a brand new pair of jerseys immediately after winning back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992. The "Robo Penguin" jerseys were never fully embraced by the Penguins fans, as the team failed to return to the Stanley Cup Finals while wearing it. Despite the fact it was not viewed as fondly as it's championship winning predecessor, this style would be used for ten seasons through the 2001-02 season.

After hearing the fans longing for a return to the classic "Skating Penguin" logo, the team introduced a new black alternate jersey for the 2000-01 season, only with an altered color palette, as a pale shade of gold rendered in shiny fabric replaced the classic shade of bright gold used by the Penguins as well as the Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL and Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball. The new shade of gold was dubbed Las Vegas Gold.

After two seasons of use as the team's alternate third jersey, it was promoted to being the team's primary road jersey and a new white version became the home jersey. While the main crest was once again the classic Skating Penguin logo, the Robo Penguin remained as the secondary shoulder logos through the 2006-07 season when both jerseys were replaced as the league switched to the new Reebok Edge jerseys for the 2007-08 season.

Today's second featured jersey is a 2000-01 Pittsburgh Penguins Mario Lemieux jersey as worn during his second game back from his three and a half year retirement when he scored his 1,500th NHL point, making this the first time he had worn this new style Penguins alternate jersey.

This was one of the rare times a Lemieux jersey did not feature the captain's "C" or at least the assistant captain's "A" once Lemieux was named team captain back in 1987. Lemieux would return to the captaincy for the 2001-02 season through the remainder of his career.

Today's great video are classic Lemieux moments, focused on his return to the ice in 2000, including highlights from the night he and Jagr both hit their milestone point totals.

Vaclav Havel and the Velvet Revolution

Born in Prague in 1936, after serving in the military, Vaclav Havel began to work in the theater and soon was writing plays, which were ultimately banned by the communist Czechoslovakian government in 1968 following the suppression of the Prague Spring uprising. Unfortunately for those in power who banned his works, now no longer able to freely pursue his passion for the theater, Havel became more active in the realm of politics, helping create Charter 77 in January of 1977, which called for the Communist Government to adhere to international standards for human rights.

Vaclav Havel

Havel continued to write however, with his works critical of the government now being distributed via underground channels across Czechoslovakia, and his reputation as a leading voice among dissident revolutionaries was now on the rise. He was the bold and brave enough to co-found the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted in 1979, which led to constant government surveillance, questioning, arrests and multiple incarcerations. His longest stay in prison was from June of 1979 to January of 1984, 4 years and 7 months. As a writer, he naturally documented his confinement as a book of letters he wrote to his wife, "Letters to Olga".

In 1989, Havel, a passionate supporter of non-violent resistance, was a leading figure in the Velvet Revolution, which occurred from November 17th to December 29, 1989, during which student and citizen demonstrations against the ruling Communist Party took place, first in Prague and then later all across Czechoslovakia.

On November 17th, International Students Day, a peaceful demonstration of 15,000 students chanting anti-communist slogans was suppressed by riot police, spawning false rumors that one student had been killed. Students and theater employees and actors went on strike in protest of the violence, as posters were used to spread the word since the government controlled media would suppress any such stories.

Student demonstrators on International Students Day

The inaccurate reports of a student death having occurring on the 17th added to the unrest among the general population and the strike began to spread to other cities beyond Prague. Havel and other leaders of opposition groups established the Civic Forum on the 19th to unify the protestors and then call for the dismissal of those responsible for the violence of the 17th as well as the release of all political prisoners.

On the 20th, the Civic Forum added the abolition of the guarantee that the Communist Party would hold the ruling position of Czechoslovakia from the nation's constitution. At the same time, non-communist newspapers began publishing information which differed from that of the government controlled newspapers and the first mass demonstration, attended by 200,000 people, occurred in Prague, while other demonstrations began in Bratislava.

The first mass demonstration of the growing Velvet Revolution

On the following day, November 21st, the Prime Minister had his first official meeting with the Civic Forum and personally guaranteed no violence would be used against the demonstrators, which had now swollen to 500,000, but he went on to assure the group that he would also protect socialism without debate.

Organizers of the protests began to spread the word to factories to attract even more participants as the mass demonstrations, which were now becoming a daily occurrence in not only Prague, but in other cities as well. Calls for a nationwide, two-hour general strike were being called for on November 27th, as was the demand for the release of political prisoner Ján Čarnogurský. That night, hard line government officials called in a 4,000 member paramilitary organization to crush the protests, but called them off at the last moment, likely losing their last, best opportunity to remain in power.

The daily protests continued, now aided by increasing media coverage of the events which depicted the government in an unfavorable light. On the 23rd Čarnogurský was released and he would later go on to become the Prime Minister of Slovakia. Also on that same day, the Minister of Defense issued a statement in which he stated that the army would never undertake action against the Czechoslovak people, despite the military informing the communist leaders of it's readiness to do just that.

Demonstrators giving policemen flowers as the protests stayed non-violent

On the 24th the entire executive committee of the government resigned with a more moderate communist named the new General Secretary. Meanwhile, Havel appeared on television for the first time, addressing details of the planned general strike, which was now to be joined by Czechoslovak TV and Radio, which led to the editorial staff of various newspapers now joining the growing movement.

The 25th saw 800,000 protestors and the 26th saw the first meeting between the Prime Minister Ladislav Adamec and Havel, as the demonstrations continued to swell.

The anti-government protesters in Wenceslas Square

The planned two-hour general strike was supported by 75% of the population, which solidified the Civic Forum as the representative of the people in its dealings with the government. Also on the 27th, the Ministry of Culture released anti-Communist literature in libraries, effectively ending government censorship.

Two days later on the 29th, the demand for the removal of the declaration of the Communist Party's leading role from the constitution was met when the Federal Assembly abolished that particular constitutional article.

On December 10th, President Gustáv Husák swore in a new government, the first in 41 years not dominated by the Communist Party. 19 days later Havel was elected as the new president of Czechoslovakia in a unanimous vote of the Federal Assembly, bringing to an end the bloodless downfall of the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia. It was a role he insisted was more duty than aspiration.

Havel greeting the masses following his election in 1989

Havel's presidency was confirmed in a free election by the people in 1990 and one of his first acts was to grant a wide ranging amnesty which set many political prisoners free.

Havel and his supporters had peacefully brought to an end over four decades of communism in Czechoslovakia in a matter of a couple of weeks, but still had decades of communist rule to un-weave from the fabric of the country, as they converted the country into a free market society and integrated Czechoslovakia into the European and world community from which that had been so isolated.

In 1992, forces in the Slovak parliament adopted a Declaration of Independence of the Slovak nation, which would lead to the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which Havel opposed. This opposition led to his resignation on July 20, 1992, as he did not want to preside over the breakup of his country. The peaceful separation into two distinct nations, known as the Velvet Divorce, occurred on January 1, 1993, giving birth to the new nations of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

25 days later Havel was elected as the first president of the Czech Republic, a post he would hold until early 2003 after serving two terms in office, during which his health began to be an issue, having previously had two bouts with lung cancer in the late 1990's.

In 1998, the Czech Republic, following their 1-0 win over Russia on a lone goal by Petr Svoboda, emerged victorious from the first Olympic Games to feature the stars of the NHL competing for their home countries.

Dominik Hasek stole the show in Nagano

Following the gold medal game, Havel, in attendance in Japan, visited the locker room of the victorious team to invite them all to his home for a party in celebration.

"He was there and after the game, we all flew to his house," Jaromir Jagr recalled. "He wanted all the team there. It was fun. Big house."

Jagr is congratulated by Havel following the 1998 Olympic victory

"If you look at the big picture, he was the main guy. Without him, nobody would play in the NHL from the Czech unless you defect. After the revolution, which he started, the borders were open and there was freedom. You could go anywhere you want." Jagr said.

Martin Rucinsky presents Havel with a jersey after the 1998 Olympic victory

Jagr had been to the White House with Havel on three occasions, including the time Havel was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2003.

Havel, President Bill Clinton and Jagr at the White House

After leaving the presidency, Havel continued his humanitarian works as well as staying active in the theater, which included the first complete festival of his plays, which was held in New York City in celebration of his 70th birthday. He also wrote his first new play in 18 years, "Leaving", which was published in November of 2007, later directing a film version of it which premiered in March of 2011.

Havel passed away on December 18, 2011, which elicited numerous tributes from leaders all over the globe.

Today's featured jersey is a 1991-92 Czechoslovakia National Team Richard Král jersey. Tackla was the sole supplier of jerseys to IIHF tournaments in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Their dye-sublimation process allowed for bright colors and bold designs not seen before. This is a surprisingly vibrant a flashy design, particularly for a staid communist country generally known for it's spartan and utilitarian designs. This waving flag effect was a foreshadowing of the bold Nike jerseys later worn at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.

This was the final style of jersey worn by Czechoslovakia before the the division of the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. For the 1993 international season, the Czechs wore an identical jersey, only now with the main crest replaced by the Czech coat of Arms.

Czechoslovakia was founded at the conclusion of World War I and was divided up during World War II essentially between Germany and Hungary. The country was re-established at the conclusion of World War II and in February of 1948, power was seized by the Communists. During a brief period of liberalization in 1968 known as the Prague Spring, five countries, led by the Soviet Union, invaded Czechoslovakia to restore and maintain the Communist system and ideals. It is because of this invasion in 1968, also the year in which his grandfather died in prison, that Jagr wears #68.

Czechoslovakia played their first game of international hockey at the 1920 Winter Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, a 15-0 loss to Canada. The program would improve quickly, as they would record their largest margin of victory ever by 1939 in a 24-0 defeat of Yugoslavia, later matched several times in a 24-0 win over Belgium in 1947, a 27-3 drubbing of East Germany in 1951 and a 25-1 win over Japan in 1957.

Czechoslovakia would win the Olympic silver medal four times, in 1948, with gold going to Canada, and then again in 1968, 1976 and 1984, each time as runner up to the powerful Soviet Union. When they weren't winning silver, they were generally in contention, with bronze medals in 1920, 1964, 1972 and 1992.

They would also participate in five Canada Cups, with their best showing being second in the inaugural 1976 tournament.

They also had a long and successful history of competing at the World Championships, dating back to 1930, with six gold medals to their credit, which they won in 1947, 1949, 1972, 1976, 1977 and 1985 with 10 silver and 14 bronze to go along with their championships. They were the only country to break the stranglehold of the Soviet Union during the 24 years from 1963 to 1986, taking great delight at defeating their main rivals four times during the main era of Soviet dominance.

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1996 Czech Republic National Team Robert Reichel jersey as worn when the Czech Republic captured their first gold medal as an independent nation in 1996, in only their fourth year of play.

The Czechs won Group 2 with a 4-0-1 record, defeating Sweden and Finland in the process. They defeated Germany in the Quarterfinals 6-1 before dominating the United States 5-0 in the Semifinals. They drew Canada in the final and a dramatic goal by Martin Prochazka with 19 seconds remaining gave them a 3-2 lead before an empty net goal made for a 4-2 final score and their first World Championship as the Czech Republic.

This classically styled jersey was worn only once by the Czech Republic and resulted in a World Championship, making it a great combination of being both rare and historically desirable. Following the World Championships, the Czechs changed to the new "waving flag" style for the 1996 World Cup of Hockey later that fall.

Extra bonus jersey: Today's extra bonus jersey is a 1998 Czech Republic National Team Dominik Hasek jersey as worn when the Czech Republic captured the Olympic gold medal in Nagano, Japan. This bold style of jersey was first worn in the 1998 Olympics and is associated with a golden era of Czech hockey, having been worn not only for the Olympic gold in 1998, but also for three consecutive World Championship gold medals in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

The Olympics in 1998 were the first with the full participation of NHL players, as the league suspended it's regular season schedule for the occasion, but the Czechs had the fewest NHL players on it's roster among the top six nations with 11.

They got off to a good start by shutting out Finland 3-0 in their first game before demolishing Kazakhstan 8-2. They lost to Russia 2-1 in group play, but then bounced back with an easy 4-1 win to eliminate the Americans.

The semi-finals saw them matched up against Canada, a hard fought game that ended with a memorable shootout, as Hasek stonewalled all five Canadian shooters to advance to the gold medal game and a rematch against Russia.

Defenseman Svoboda scored the only goal of the contest at 8:08 of the third period as Hasek shut out the Russians to conclude the tournament with an amazing 6 goals allowed in 6 games against the top professionals from Finland, the United States, Canada and Russia - twice - to finish with a goals against average of 0.97.

After the medal ceremony, Hasek said, "When I saw the flag go up, I saw my whole career flash before my eyes from the first time my parents took me to a hockey game until now."

Today's video section begins with Amnesty International's Steve Crenshaw paying tribute to Havel.

Next are news reports aired during the Velvet Revolution.

2004 Finland National Team Teemu Selanne Jersey

On this date in 2004, the World Cup of Hockey got underway with the opening game of the tournament featuring Finland hosting the Czech Republic in front of 11,407 in Hartwall Arena in Helsinki.

Tomas Vokoun got the start in goal for the Czechs, while the Finns countered with Miikka Kiprusoff.

Miikka Kiprusoff

The first period ended with Finland on top thanks to a goal at 6:33 by Jukka Hentunen from Niko Kapanen.

Jukka Hentunen opened the tournament scoring in the first period

The second period went by with no scoring despite a power play for the Czechs and three times on the man advantage for Finland.

The third period could not have begun any better for Finland, as Saku Koivu converted from Jere Lehtinen at the thirty second mark to double the Finnish lead to 2-0. With Martin Skoula off for holding at 4:09, Finland converted the power play opportunity when Kapanen scored at 4:56 from Sami Salo and Ville Peltonen to put the Finns up 3-0.

Niko Kapanen gave Finland a 3 goal lead

The final nail in the coffin arrived at 11:09 when Mikko Eloranta beat Vokoun for a 4 goal lead with assists from Kimmo Timonen and Mikko Koivu.

Mikko Eloranta scored the fourth Finnish goal

Kiprusoff would complete the all to easy shutout, as the Czechs only managed a mere 12 shots for the entire game, while Finland nearly tripled that with 34 against Vokoun. Finland's 13 first period shots were more than the Czechs manged for the entire game.

Kiprusoff finished off the shutout for Finland

Finland would go on to a 2-0-1 record for 5 points in the European Pool and would win the group over Sweden, who they tied at 4-4 on September 4th, thanks to a +7 goal differential versus Sweden's +4 thanks to their opening game 4 goal win over the Czechs, as Sweden would only edge the Czechs by one, 4-3, two days later. Both teams had defeated Germany by the same three goal margin.

All four teams from the European Pool would advance to the Quarterfinals. Finland again defeated Germany in Helsinki, but by a much closer 2-1 score. The Czechs rebounded with a rather surprising 6-1 thrashing of Sweden in a game held in Stockholm.

Finland then advanced to face the United States in St. Paul, Minnesota, where they advanced to the final after coming from behind 1-0 with 15 minutes left to play by scoring twice in the third period to win 2-1 in front of 18,064 disappointed American fans.

Kiprusoff outdueled American Robert Esche

to send Finland to the World Cup final

The Czechs had a tough task, as they were paired with Canada in Toronto, but acquitted themselves well, taking the Canadians to overtime before falling 4-3.

The Finns would finish as runners-up following a 3-2 loss in the final to the Canadians.

Today's featured jersey is a 2004 Finland National Team Teemu Selanne jersey. Finland first wore this style for the 1998 Oympics in Nagano, Japan with the crest reading "Suomi". For the 2002 Olympics, the crest was altered to read "Finland" with Suomi now printed boldly across the waist. This would be the final appearance for this jersey, as Nike would introduce a new style for the 2005 World Championships.

 

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 2004 Czech Repbulic National Team Jaromir Jagr jersey. This jersey features not only the 2004 World Cup of Hockey logo patch, but also the #21 memorial patch for Ivan Hlinka, one time head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins who was to have been the head coach for the Czechs at the 2004 World Cup, but he was killed in a car accident on August 16th, two weeks before the start of the tournament.

As a player, Hlinka was a three time World Champion who also won five silver and two bronze World Championship medals as well as silver and bronze Olympic hockey medals

In addition to wearing the #21 Hlinka memorial patch, Czech team captain Robert Reichel, who normally wore #21, changed to #22 for the tournament in Hlinka's honor.

This striking Czech jersey arrived in 2003 and was worn through the 2005 World Championships until being replaced for the 2006 Olympic games with the arrival of the new Nike Swift jerseys.

 

Today's video section is highlights of the opening game of the 2004 World Cup of Hockey between Finland and the Czech Republic on this date in 2004.