2004-05 Ak Bars Kazan Ilya Kovalchuk Jersey

The first jersey to be featured in "The Lockout Collection" is a gorgeous jersey from the Russian Superleague.

With no NHL season to compete in because of the 2004-05 lockout, many NHL players looked to Europe for competition and paychecks, and no team came close to doling out the cash like Ak Bars Kazan of the Russian Superleague.

Ak Bars, which means "Snow Leopards" and is taken from the Tartarstan coat of arms, signed 11 NHL players, including Russians Alexi Kovalev, Ilya Kovalchuk, Darius Kasparitits, Nikolai Khabibulin, Alexi Morozov and Alexei Zhitnik, plus Canadians Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards, both fresh off of winning the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning and the World Cup of Hockey with Canada, Dany Heatley and goaltender Fred Brathwaite in an attempt to win the championship to celebrate the city of Kazan's 1000th anniversary.

We highly recommend reading both of the following articles about Lecavalier and his adjustment to life in Russia during the lockout. The first is from the St. Petersburg Times titled "Rough Translation" and the second from Sports Illustrated called "Tampa Bay to Tatarstan".

Ak Bars would post a 37-17-5 record, good for fourth place in the Superleague, one point behind Metallurg Magnitogorsk who fielded a team that included future NHL star Evgeni Malkin and current NHLers Peter Sykora, Sergei Gonchar, Patrik Elias and goaltender Evgeni Nabokov.

With the top eight clubs making the playoffs, Kazan drew fifth seeded Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, who had finished nine points behind them in the regular season. The best-of-five series was decided in four games, as Lokomotiv took the first two games 2-1 and 4-3. Ak Bars won the third 1-0 before falling 2-1 in Game 4, ending the hopes of bringing the championship to Kazan during it's anniversary celebration.

Today's featured jersey is a 2004-05 Ak Bars Kazan Ilya Kovalchuk jersey, complete with Kovalchuk's name on the back in Cyrillic. The jersey is beautiful example of the state of the art dye-sublimation, accented with a equally beautiful embroidered main crest. This jersey features the #71 that Kovalchuk commonly uses while playing for the Russian National Team, as well as during his time with Spartak Moscow prior to coming over to play in the NHL, as Kovalchuk's more familiar #17 is retired by the Russian National Team in honor of Soviet legend Valeri Kharlamov.

This is one of our favorite jerseys in the Third String Goalie collection with it's vibrant colors and bold striping along with the Cyrillic lettering, which never fails to attract attention.

Lutch jerseys such as today's featured jersey are easily obtained from ProRussianJerseys.com in a variety of teams and players. Quality-wise, they are very nice jerseys, equal to the Tackla jerseys worn by international teams in the early 90's. The printing quality is first rate and the jerseys are quite durable and make a fine, and unique, addition to any jersey collection sure to elicit comments whenever you wear one.

Here are some video clips of Ak Bars Kazan from the lockout season. The first one features Kovalchuk, while the second has both Kovalchuk and Lecavalier.

This next clip shows an outstanding tic-tac-toe passing play that is a joy to watch unfold.

This final one features just Lecavalier in a variety of action while playing for Ak Bars.

2004-05 Ak Bars Kazan Ilya Kovalchuk Jersey

The first jersey to be featured in "The Lockout Collection" is a gorgeous jersey from the Russian Superleague.

With no NHL season to compete in because of the 2004-05 lockout, many NHL players looked to Europe for competition and paychecks, and no team came close to doling out the cash like Ak Bars Kazan of the Russian Superleague.

Ak Bars, which means "Snow Leopards" and is taken from the Tartarstan coat of arms, signed 11 NHL players, including Russians Alexi Kovalev, Ilya Kovalchuk, Darius Kasparitits, Nikolai Khabibulin, Alexi Morozov and Alexei Zhitnik, plus Canadians Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards, both fresh off of winning the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning and the World Cup of Hockey with Canada, Dany Heatley and goaltender Fred Brathwaite in an attempt to win the championship to celebrate the city of Kazan's 1000th anniversary.

We highly recommend reading both of the following articles about Lecavalier and his adjustment to life in Russia during the lockout. The first is from the St. Petersburg Times titled "Rough Translation" and the second from Sports Illustrated called "Tampa Bay to Tatarstan".

Ak Bars would post a 37-17-5 record, good for fourth place in the Superleague, one point behind Metallurg Magnitogorsk who fielded a team that included future NHL star Evgeni Malkin and current NHLers Peter Sykora, Sergei Gonchar, Patrik Elias and goaltender Evgeni Nabokov.

With the top eight clubs making the playoffs, Kazan drew fifth seeded Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, who had finished nine points behind them in the regular season. The best-of-five series was decided in four games, as Lokomotiv took the first two games 2-1 and 4-3. Ak Bars won the third 1-0 before falling 2-1 in Game 4, ending the hopes of bringing the championship to Kazan during it's anniversary celebration.

Today's featured jersey is a 2004-05 Ak Bars Kazan Ilya Kovalchuk jersey, complete with his name on the back in Cyrillic. The jersey is beautiful example of the state of the art dye-sublimation, accented with a equally beautiful embroidered main crest. This jersey features the #71 that Kovalchuk commonly uses while playing for the Russian National Team, as well as during his time with Spartak Moscow prior to coming over to play in the NHL, as Kovalchuk's more familiar #17 is retired by the Russian National Team in honor of Soviet legend Valeri Kharlamov.

This is one of our favorite jerseys in the Third String Goalie collection with it's vibrant colors and bold striping along with the Cyrillic lettering, which never fails to attract attention.

Lutch jerseys such as today's featured jersey are easily obtained from our sponsors ProRussianJerseys.com in a variety of teams and players. Quality-wise, they are very nice jerseys, equal to the Tackla jerseys worn by international teams in the early 90's. The printing quality is first rate and the jerseys are quite durable and make a fine, and unique, addition to any jersey collection sure to elicit comments whenever you wear one.

Here are some video clips of Ak Bars Kazan from the lockout season. The first one features Kovalchuk, while the second has both Kovalchuk and Lecavalier.

This next clip shows an outstanding tic-tac-toe passing play that is a joy to watch unfold.

This final one features just Lecavalier in a variety of action while playing for Ak Bars.

2004-05 Ak Bars Kazan Ilya Kovalchuk Jersey

The first jersey to be featured in "The Lockout Collection" is a gorgeous jersey from the Russian Superleague.

With no NHL season to compete in because of the 2004-05 lockout, many NHL players looked to Europe for competition and paychecks, and no team doled out the cash like Ak Bars Kazan of the Russian Superleague.

Ak Bars, which means "Snow Leopards" and is taken from the Tartarstan coat of arms, signed 11 NHL players, including Russians Alexi Kovalev, Ilya Kovalchuk, Darius Kasparitits, Nikolai Khabibulin, Alexi Morozov and Alexei Zhitnik, plus Canadians Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards, both fresh off of winning the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning and the World Cup of Hockey with Canada, Dany Heatley and goaltender Fred Brathwaite in an attempt to win the championship to celebrate the city of Kazan's 1000th anniversary.

We highly recommend reading both of the following articles about Vincent Lecavalier and his adjustment to life in Russia during the lockout. The first is from the St. Petersburg Times titled "Rough Translation" and the second from Sports Illustrated called "Tampa Bay to Tatarstan".

Ak Bars would post a 37-17-5 record, good for fourth place in the RSL, one point behind Metallurg Magnitogorsk who fielded a team that included future NHL star Evgeni Malkin and current NHLers Peter Sykora, Sergei Gonchar, Patrik Elias and goaltender Evgeni Nabokov.

With the top eight clubs making the playoffs, Kazan drew fifth seeded Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, who had finished nine points behind them in the regular season. The best-of-five series was decided in four games, as Lokomotiv took the first two games 2-1 and 4-3. Ak Bars won the third 1-0 before falling 2-1 in Game 4, ending the hopes of bringing the championship to Kazan during it's anniversary celebration.

Today's featured jersey is a Lutch 2004-05 Ak Bars Kazan Ilya Kovalchuk jersey, complete with his name on the back in Cyrillic. The jersey is beautiful dye-sublimated, the same as used by the players in Russia. This jersey features Kovalchuk's #71, as he commonly uses while playing for the Russian National Team, as well as during his time with Spartak Moscow prior to coming over to play in the NHL.

This is one of our favorite jerseys in the Third String Goalie collection with it's vibrant colors and bold striping along with the Cyrillic lettering, which never fails to attract attention.

Lutch jerseys are easily obtained from online shops, as well as ebay, in a variety of teams and players. Quality-wise, they are very nice jerseys, and we'd rate them a step down from CCM 550 replica jerseys and equal to the Tackla jerseys worn by international teams in the early 90's, as they are a bit lighter weight mesh than a CCM and do not have the names and numbers sewn on, but the printing quality is first rate and the jerseys are quite durable and make a fine, and unique, addition to any jersey collection sure to elicit comments whenever you wear one.

Here are some video clips of Ak Bars Kazan from the lockout season. The first one features Kovalchuk, while the second has both Kovalchuk and Lecavalier.

This next clip shows an outstanding tic-tac-toe passing play that is a joy to watch unfold.

This final one features just Vincent Lecavalier in a variety of action while playing for Ak Bars.

2000-01 Spartak Moscow Ilya Kovalchuk Jersey

It was on this date that the Atlanta Thrashers selected Ilya Kovalchuk with the first pick of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, making him the first Russian ever chosen first overall.

The first Russian ever drafted by an NHL team was Viktor Khatulev, who was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in the ninth round, 160th overall, of the 1976 NHL Amateur Draft. He never even learned he was drafted until 1978 and never had the chance to play in North America. He was eventually banned for life from the Soviet hockey league in 1981 for hitting a referee during a fight with another player.

The first Russain in to play in the NHL was Sergei Priakin, the first Soviet player granted permission to do so. Priakin, already a nine year veteran in the Soviet League, lined up for two games for the Calgary Flames at the end of the 1988-89 season after the conclusion of Soviet League season. He was carefully chosen by the Soviet authorities at the time. He was good enough to play in the NHL, but not so good that they could not afford to lose him from the national team. He would represent Soviet hockey and at the same time be used to dangle the carrot of possibly being allowed to play in the NHL in front of the other Soviet players back home. Priakin would play an additional 44 games over the next two seasons for the Flames, before moving back to Europe where he would continue to play another nine seasons in the Swiss, Russain, Finnish and even the Japanese leagues.

Other early Soviet players in the NHL included Viacheslav Fetisov, Igor Larionov and Valdimir Krutov, the first true Soviet stars to fight for the opportunity to play in the NHL. While Krutov did not pan out as an NHLer, Fetisov and Larionov would go onto win the Stanley Cup five times between the two of them, all with the Detroit Red Wings.

Sergei Makarov would also compete in the NHL, and well enough to inspire a rule change. He was named the Calder Trophy winner, given "to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the NHL" at the age of 31. The rules for eligibility were were changed so that only players 26 or younger now qualify for the award.

While Fetisov, Larionov and Krutov would be granted permission to play in the NHL, others would take a different route. Both Alexander Mogilny and Sergei Fedorov would defect in order to play in North America. Both chose the year of their escape from the Soviet Union as their jersey numbers, with Mogilny taking #89 and Fedorov #91.

Mogilny would become the first Russian to lead the NHL in goals and reach the 100 point plateau in 1992-93, the year of his amazing 76 goal season, which still stands as the record for most goals in a single season by a Russian player. He would later become not only the first Russian, but the first European of any nationality, to captain an NHL team in 1993-94 with the Buffalo Sabres.

Fedorov would become the first Russian to capture the Hart Trophy, the Selke Trophy and the Pearson Award. He is currently the all-time leading Russian scorer in NHL history with 1179 points.

Prior to Kovalchuk being selected first overall, the three highest drafted Russians were Alexi Yashin, selected by the Ottawa Senators (1992), Oleg Tverdovsky by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1994) and Andrei Zyuzin by the San Jose Sharks (1996), all of whom were selected with the #2 pick overall.

A significant event in the acceptance of Russian players by the North American hockey community was the 1989 election to the Hockey Hall of Fame of long-time Soviet National Team goaltender Vladislav Tretiak, the first European born player without any NHL experience and the first Russian player ever elected to the Hall.

When the New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1994, Sergei Nemchinov, Alexander Karpovtsev, Alexi Kovalev (the first Russian taken in the first round of the draft at #15 overall) and Sergei Zubov became the first Russians to have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup.

Just this year Evgeni Malkin became the first Russian to win the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Today's featured jersey is a Lutch 2000-01 Spartak Moscow Ilya Kovalchuk jersey. Spartak was the team Kovalchuk last played for in Russia before being drafted first overall. The team name across the waist is in Cyrillic as is the city name and Kovalchuk's name on the back. The jersey is dye-sublimated, as are most good quality authentic Russian jerseys.

It's been explained to me that Spartak (named for "Spartacus" the gladiator) was very popular with the Soviet citizens due to the fact that the Spartak hockey and soccer teams were part of the Spartak Moscow sports society, a physical culture and sports society of the workers, compared to rivals Dynamo Moscow, the sporting arm of the Soviet secret police, the KGB, and Central Red Army, the sports club of the Soviet Army. This made Spartak "the people's club" and cheering for them at games was the one chance Soviet fans had to cheer openly against the government in public without fear of reprisals.