1992-93 Los Angeles Kings Wayne Gretzky Jersey

It was on this day in 1993 that Wayne Gretzky scored his record eighth career hat trick as the Los Angeles Kings won the Campbell Conference title with 5-4 victory in their hard fought seventh game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, making the Kings the last of the "second six" expansion teams to make the Stanley Cup Finals. His first goal of the hat trick was shorthanded.

Prior to that, Gretzky also scored the overtime goal to win Game 6, forcing the seventh game of the series.

Gretzky's hat trick broke a tie at seven with Maurice Richard and Jari Kurri. He ranked it as his second most memorable game behind Game 2 of the 1987 Canada Cup versus the Soviet Union and called it "The best NHL game I ever played."

Be sure not to miss Barry Melrose's mullet at it's peak form in the video highlights from that famous Game 7 between Los Angeles and Toronto.

Today's featured jersey is a 1992-93 Los Angeles Kings Wayne Gretzky jersey featuring the attractive Stanley Cup Centennial patch. Kings jerseys from this era can be a bit tricky to get right and we highly recommend doing your research when getting one customized and patched.

For example, during Gretzky's first season in Los Angeles, 1988-89, the Kings used two color names and numbers, silver outlined in black, with the name sewn on a nameplate. Gretzky also wore the "A" that season since Dave Taylor was captain when he arrived.

In 1989-90, Gretzky was made captain and the jerseys remained the same through the following season, 1990-91.

In 1991-92, the jerseys sported the NHL 75th Anniversary patch and evolved to have three color numbers and names - silver trimmed in white and outlined in black, the only season to have this exact combination. It was also the year that the nameplates disappeared from this style jersey for good.

For the next season, 1992-93, change was once again the order of the day as the back numbers were finally changed to a more contrasting black, trimmed in white and outlined in sliver. The names on the other hand were now a single color for the first time, also in black, still without any nameplate. Why the white jerseys ever had silver numbers is a mystery to me, only exceeded by the fact they lasted four full seasons in that low contrast form. This final combination of three color black numbers with one color names lasted for the rest of the life of this style through 1997-98.

An interesting note about the Stanley Cup Centennial patch is that while all the other teams wore the English language version of the patch, the Montreal Canadiens and the Quebec Nordiques wore a French version of the patch, reading "Coupe Stanley • 1893-1993" and the shield logo on the players chest read "LNH", which stands for "Ligue Nationale de Hockey". The French variation of the patch is quite difficult to come by in it's original form, but has subsequently been reproduced, although a sharp eye can spot the thinner lettering among other subtle differences to an original.

1998 Team Canada Patrick Roy Jersey

It was on this date in 2003 that Patrick Roy announced his retirement from the NHL after 19 seasons, four Stanley Cups and three Conn Smythe Trophies, the only player to have ever won more than two. In addition, he was named winner of the Vezina Trophy three times, in 1989, 1990 and 1992, and played in eleven NHL All-Star Games. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2006 and his #33 has been retired by both the Montreal Canadiens and Colorado Avalanche.

Roy retired as the all-time leader in wins with 551, since surpassed by Martin Brodeur, and currently holds the record for most games played by a goaltender, most playoff games by a goaltender, most playoff wins and playoff shutouts. Before joining the Canadiens, he also led his team to the Calder Cup as champions of the American Hockey League in 1985. He was ranked as #35 on The Hockey News list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.

After winning two Stanley Cups in Montreal, he later did not get along with coach Mario Tremblay and was traded to the Colorado Avalanche, leading the Avalanche to the Stanley Cup in the Av's first season in Colorado, a trade we believe never would have happened if the team had remained in Quebec as the Nordiques, the Canadiens greatest rival at the time.

Today's featured jersey is a 1998 Team Canada Patrick Roy jersey as worn in the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, an unusual jersey for Roy. Never having played in the World Juniors and rarely, if ever, eligible for the World Championships in the spring due to his annual appearances in the Stanley Cup playoffs, Roy made the only Team Canada appearance of his entire career in 1998 with the first inclusion of NHL professionals in the Olympics.

This jersey's most unique feature has to be the font "Copperplate Gothic" chosen for the numbers, a font only used by Team Canada at the 1998 Olympics, despite many countries using the same striping template for their Nike jerseys in the 1998 and 2002 Olympics.

During the Olympics Roy went 4-2, with the two losses coming in a semi-final shootout loss to eventual Gold Medal winners The Czech Republic and the Bronze Medal Game to Finland.

When Roy announced that he would not be part of Canada's Olympic Team at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics, it left his time in Nagano as his only Team Canada appearance of his long and storied career.

Dasherboard: You certainly can't fault Cristobal Huet for the end of the Blackhawks season last night as he put in a gutty performance after his previous sieve-fest. Chicago can hold their heads high after taking the Red Wings to overtime three times in five games this series. Look for them to take this year's playoff run as a great learning experience and accelerate their maturation, as they are still quite a young team that will be heard from in the later rounds of the playoffs for the foreseeable future.

The series winning goal for Detroit was yet another example of the lively, quirky boards at Joe Louis Arena. Believe me, We've seen them in person and they are the most unpredictable of any arena in the league in my opinion. It was in 1987 at the NCAA Championships when a puck ringed around behind the net, only to hit the edge of the Zamboni door and carom out into the slot for a Michigan State goal into an unguarded net while the Minnesota goaltender was standing at the back boards waiting for the puck to continue it's journey behind the net, ruining the Gophers season and our trip to Detroit.

Last night's game was a fun one to watch, played at a high tempo with lots of chances at both ends. Chris Osgood, the Trent Dilfer of NHL Goalies, has once more made it to the Stanley Cup Finals with a chance to add to his trophy case. He certainly is the least-regarded, most successful goaltender in the league, as he has three Stanley Cups, two as the starter in 1998 and 2008.

Detroit now moves on to the finals where a rematch with the Pittsburgh Penguins awaits. Look for a better prepared, more mature and highly confident Penguins team, who are playing at their peak to give the Red Wings all they can handle.

The schedule for the finals has the series opening in Detroit on Saturday, May 30th at 7 PM CST, followed by Game 2 the very next day, Sunday, May 31st, with both games on NBC. Sunday's game time is listed as "TBD - night". Game 3 & 4 are Tuesday, June 2nd & Thursday, June 4th in Pittsburgh.

The remainder of the series, if needed, is scheduled for Saturday, June 6 (DET), a break until Tuesday, June 9th (PIT) and if a Game 7 is needed, it will be on Friday, June 12th in Detroit, with all games scheduled for 7 PM CST.

We wonder why the two days between Games 5 & 6 and 6 & 7? Are they trying to avoid going head to head with the NBA?

We better get this one in while we still can

Dasherboard: We better get this one in while we still can.

The only hope that Kane and Toews have to keep their playoff beards going in tonight's Game 5 in Detroit is the return of Nikolai Khabibulin after the dismal performance put in by Cristobal Huet in Game 4. The reappearance of Martin Havlat, knocked out of the last two games, the first time quite literally, is also something the Chicago faithful should be pulling for. If he can make it back onto the ice, one has to wonder at what sort of effectiveness level he will be operating at.

The Red Wings seemingly have the ability to answer any Chicago goal at will and will no doubt be looking to end the series as quickly as possible to get some rest and recuperation for Lidstrom, Datsyuk and Draper before the finals.

As for the Penguins game versus the Hurricanes last night, we don't think that an experienced team like the Hurricanes are going to pack it in, but the fluky, fluttering goal that eluded Cam Ward for Pittsburgh's second goal is exactly the kind of thing to make you believe it's not going to be your night.

Pittsburgh really looks like a team on a mission and we will fully admit that the last thing we expected was a four game sweep. We really expected this one to go six, if not seven. As mentioned on the broadcast last night, the Penguins have become a team that will severely punish mistakes similar to the Red Wings, although we believe the Red Wings punish more than just mistakes. It's like they are on an even higher level, and will punish poor execution, that ordinarily wouldn't even result in a turnover, like a semi-whiffed pass that would usually find it's mark against most teams.

Finally, it was certainly sad to hear of the passing of Peter Zezel at age 44.

2000-01 University of Minnesota Duluth Junior Lessard Jersey

It's time for our first foray into the world of college hockey here at Third String Goalie, as today's featured jersey is a 2000-01 University of Minnesota Duluth Junior Lessard jersey from his freshman year.

Duluth changed jersey styles for the 2001-02 season, adding New York Rangers style stripes to the shoulders and a large "UMD" arching over a reduced in size bulldog head logo, but we preferred this much cleaner style with the larger bulldog head as Lessard wore in his first season of college hockey.

In 2003-04, Lessard would lead the NCAA in goals with 32 and points with 63, earning the prestigious Hobey Baker Award, as the United States top collegiate hockey player, the fourth player for UMD to earn the award, joining Tom Kurvers (1983), Bill Watson (1984) and Chris Marinucci (1994).

Lessard, born on this date in 1980, signed with the Dallas Stars as a free agent and played 8 games with them over 3 seasons, spending most of his time with their American Hockey League affiliate the Iowa Stars. He was subsequently traded to the Tampa Bay Lighting, getting 19 more NHL games in Tampa in 2007-08 before signing a free agent contract with the Atlanta Thrashers organization. He was assigned to the AHL Chicago Wolves, only to be traded to the New York Islanders and spending the remainder of the 2008-09 season with their AHL team in Bridgeport, CT.

This jersey is was produced by Koronis Sports Apparel and features a large, very nicely executed Bulldog head logo as well as the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) logo on the chest. We also really like this color combination of maroon and gold and wonder why more professional teams don't use it to set themselves apart from all the red and blue teams.

Dasherboard: Tonight the Hurricanes try to stay alive at home vs. the Penguins at 6:30 CST on Vs. We fully expect the Hurricanes, backed by their "Caniacs" fans, to give the Penguins a tough battle to keep their season going.

Cam Ward has never lost a playoff series in his career and certainly hopes to keep that statistic intact. It's going to be a long shot for that to happen to be sure, but more than Ward, the Hurricanes hopes lie with Eric Staal, who led the team in the regular season with 40 goals, but has not scored a goal in six games now. Staal, with just 1 assist this series, and Ray Whitney, the team's regular season points leader, with only 2 assists in this round, must find their scoring touch in a true do-or-die situation to prevent the Penguins from returning to the finals for a second year in a row.

If having their leading scorers shut down wasn't bad enough for Carolina, the Penguins' Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are on fire, with a combined 8 goals and 6 assists in this series three previous games. Even if Staal and Whitney start scoring more, it won't do them any good unless they can find some way to slow those two down some way.

1990-91 Pittsburgh Penguins Mario Lemieux Jersey

In their 24th season, the Pittsburgh Penguins were finally able to win the Stanley Cup on this date in 1991 by crushing the Minnesota North Stars 8-0 to win in 6 games. The Penguins were led by superstar Mario Lemieux and a deep lineup featuring Joe Mullen, Mark Recchi, Kevin Stevens, rookie Jaromir Jagr, Larry Murphy, Paul Coffey and goaltender Tom Barasso. As if that roster weren't strong enough on it's own, the Penguins also added Bryan Trottier, a veteran of the New York Islanders recent dynasty to provide veteran leadership. Coaching this deep lineup of talent was "Badger" Bob Johnson in his first year behind the Penguins bench.

The Penguins started the season without Lemieux, who missed the first half of the season recovering from a back injury suffered in February of the previous season. The team got off to a slow start, but with the return of Lemieux, their fortunes improved to the point that they were in playoff contention in 3rd place in their division when March rolled around and they pulled off a big trade that would put them over the top, acquiring Ron Francis from Hartford. With the addition of Francis, the Penguins finished the season 9-3-2 and won their first Division Championship.

In the playoffs they would defeat the New Jersey Devils in 7 games after being down 3 game to 2. They next defeated the Washington Capitals and then the Boston Bruins in 6, after falling behind 2-0 to start the series, to earn the right to face the surprising Minnesota North Stars in the finals.

Minnesota had actually finished the regular season with a dismal 27-39-14 record (14 ties! How odd does that now look in the age of the shootout?) but came out of nowhere in the playoffs to defeat the President's Trophy winning Chicago Blackhawks in a huge upset, St. Louis and defending champions the Edmonton Oilers to reach the finals.

Minnesota continued their hot streak and won Game 1 on the road, but the Penguins came back to win game 2 as the series shifted to Minnesota where the Penguins earned a split, tying the series at 2-2. Pittsburgh then won Game 5 at home and slaughtered the North Stars 8-0 to win their first Stanley Cup.

On a personal note, we grew up as North Stars fans, and the first time in our lives that our team makes the Stanley Cup Finals, we were in Italy on vacation. In the pre-internet days of the early 90's (which now seems like a lifetime ago), the only way we could "follow" the series was to buy the European edition of the USA Today and look for the game scores - 2 days later due to the time difference - in the agate type in the scoreboard section. No photos, no game story, not even a boxscore! Probably just as well, since being there in person (having gone to a game in the previous round vs. Edmonton, you have no idea how easy it was to buy tickets for the best seats in the house for the finals at the time) for an 8-0 pasting in your own building probably would have had us in a depression for days.

Today's featured jersey is a 1990-91 Pittsburgh Penguins Mario Lemieux jersey featuring the 1991 Stanley Cup Finals patch, as worn on May 25th, 1991 when the Penguins won the Stanley Cup and Lemeiux was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP. This reissue of the older Penguins jerseys is one of our favorites. The newer version has a very large, well constructed crest, probably 50% larger than the crests originally put on the replica jerseys back when the Penguins originally won the cup.

This jersey was purchased blank and is nicely customized with the proper font for the sleeve numbers in particular, as the ones sold by CCM with the name and numbers already on them used an incorrect, tall and narrow font for the sleeve numbers rather than the Penguins squat, nearly square shaped numbers.

Incorrect customization brings up an interesting point. Just because a jersey comes with a name and number already on it from the manufacturer, don't always assume that it is correct. Starter was known to put wildly incorrect fonts on their jerseys, such as our least favorite font "Machine", The First Font of Choice by People Who Have No Idea What They are Doing™ on a New Jersey Devils jersey.

We can't tell you how thrilled we were when our local club, the Minnesota Wild, chose to use this very font on their retro styled alternate red jerseys when they first came out. What a completely crap font.

Another utterly maddening example is the retro green North Stars CCM Mike Modano jerseys that permeate the hobby. We don't know what dipshit originally screwed up this one, but once it was made wrong, it apparently became The Gospel Truth.

Take a look at it. Notice the drop shadow, the key word here being "drop", on the N crest on the front goes down and to the right, but the "drop shadow" on the number goes... up and to the left! What they have done here is located the top white layer in the bottom left corner of the yellow layer of twill, instead of the upper right as it should be.

The effect can also be described as a "6" being sewn on upside down, because if you rotate the number 180º, it becomes a 6 with the drop shadow correctly oriented down and away from the white layer. How hard was it to get that right when every photo of the North Stars jerseys from this era has the same treatment and there's a big, fat clue as to how it should look right there on the front of the jersey!

While we're at it, notice the star on top of the N. It's backwards! It should lean to the right, following the same trajectory as the arrow part of the N below it. Later production runs of this jersey did have the star corrected, but we've never seen a factory customized jersey ever have the proper style number on the back and sleeves. Why they could fix the specs for the crest and never the numbers is beyond us.

Here's a challenge for you. Search for "Modano North Stars Jersey" on ebay any time you want. Go ahead. We promise you that 19 out of 20 will be wrong. Guaranteed.

The Mike Modano North Stars jersey. It's easily The Most Frequently Screwed Up Jersey of All Time™.

Dasherboard: The Blackhawks really missed an opportunity at home with Lidstrom, Datsyuk and Draper all out of the Red Wings lineup last night. Detroit really stamped their authority on this series as Cristobal Huet proved no substitute for Nikolai Khabibulin, getting yanked at one point during the game. He really needed to stop the first Detroit shorthanded goal to give the Blackhawks a lift and a reason to believe they were in the game. Letting that one in, which was no easy tap-in and did hit him in the glove was a real body-blow to Chicago.

Franzen's very stoppable shot was an upper-cut to the head. Another huge rebound led to the third Filppula goal and at that point it was really over for the Blackhawks. Toews got one back, but Campbell going for a hit and missing, which allowed Hossa a to beat Versteeg literally 12 seconds later just took away any hope that Blackhawks may have felt or possible momentum gained from getting on the scoreboard.

With the next game back in Detroit, it's likely Octopus Throwing Season again. Clearly the return of Khabibulin seems to be Chicago's only lifeline at this point.

1989-90 Edmonton Oilers Mark Messier Jersey

It was on this day in 1990 that the Edmonton Oilers, led by captain Mark Messier, captured their 5th and final Stanley Cup of their dynasty, which began in the early 80's. With the departure of Wayne Gretzky to Los Angeles in the summer of 1988, many thought that would be the end of the Oilers reign as champions.

The 1988-89 season was in fact, a disappointment, with the Oilers finishing 7th overall in points and losing in the first round of the playoffs - against Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings of all teams. Worse, their arch rivals the Calgary Flames won the Stanley Cup that season.

But in 1989-90, it all came right again for the Oilers. Led by league MVP Messier, who scored a career high 129 points, and Bill Ranford in goal, the Oilers would defeat the Winnipeg Jets, get their revenge on Gretzky and the Kings by eliminating them in a second round sweep, and come from behind to beat the Chicago Blackhawks to return to the familiar territory of the Stanley Cup Finals once more.

There, they would face the Presidents' Trophy winning Boston Bruins, led by Cam Neely and Ray Bourque, who they would defeat 4 games to 1 to reclaim the Stanley Cup, with Ranford winning the Conn Smythe trophy.

Today's featured jersey is a 1989-90 Edmonton Oilers Mark Messier jersey as worn on May 24th, 1990 as he was awarded the Stanley Cup after a 4-1 defeat of the Bruins in Boston. It was the first and only time that the Oilers would win the cup in their blue road jersey.

This jersey also features the 1990 Stanley Cup Finals patch on the left chest. This was only the second time that the finals patches were worn, and the first time in it's now traditional location on the jersey.

After one more season in Edmonton, Messier would be traded to the New York Rangers, where he would famously lead them to the 1994 championship to end their long Stanley Cup drought.

Along with his six Stanley Cups, Messier would also play for Team Canada in three Canada Cups, one World Championship and one World Cup. He would finish his NHL career with the second highest total for career points in league history with 1,887, including 694 goals.

Dasherboard: What happened to our closely fought, exciting 3-2 game in the third period?

Pittsburgh won going away to take a 3 games to none lead over the Carolina Hurricanes last night. Even when it was 4-2, Carolina had some hope and was still pressing, but that rather fluky, empty net goal directly off a face off on the other side of the red line certainly let the air of the game and the arena. Guerin's goal 40 seconds later sent the fans for the exits and us for the remote control.

We expected the 'Canes to come out energized by their terrific home crowd and pull a game back from the Penguins. They even scored first four minutes into the game and seemed to be ready to keep the fans rocking. The problem was there was a storm warning for the Carolinas and Hurricane Malkin hit Raleigh and hit it hard with two more goals and an assist, his sixth straight multi-point game in this year's playoffs. And even if Carolina can slow Malkin down, Sidney Crosby is only 2 points behind him for the playoff scoring lead, 28-26.

The schedule for this series suddenly slows down, with Game 4 scheduled for Tuesday and a possible Game 5 not until Friday the 29th back in Pittsburgh.

1991-92 Hartford Whalers Kevin Dineen Jersey

It was on this date in 1979 that the New England Whalers changed their name to the Hartford Whalers. A charter member of the World Hockey Association in the 1972-73 season, the New England Whalers actually started out life in Boston, Massachusetts in the backyard of the mighty Boston Bruins, who were fresh off a Stanley Cup winning season.

The Whalers gave it their best shot and not only finished with the best record in the new WHA with a 46-30-2 record that year, but also captured the inagural Avco World Trophy by winning three rounds of the playoffs by identical 4 games to 1 totals.

The Whalers lasted 2 1/2 seasons in Boston, but sagging attendance led the owners to relocate the team to Hartford - in mid season! The Whalers were successful in Hartford, still playing as the "New England" Whalers, never missing the playoffs in it's seven years in the WHA.

Easily the most recognizable names to play for the New England Whalers in their WHA days were hockey legend Gordie Howe and his sons Mark Howe and Marty Howe.

With the "merger" of the WHA and NHL, the Whalers were one of the four teams to survive the end of the WHA, but because of lobbying by the Boston Bruins, one of the conditions of the Whalers being allowed into the NHL was the dropping of "New England" from the team's name.

Today's featured jersey is a 1991-92 Hartford Whalers Kevin Dineen jersey. Since the Whalers jerseys were never reproduced as part of the CCM Vintage Line, with a more generous cut and current fabrics, this is an original CCM replica from the late 80's/early 90's (as indicated by the small white rectangular neck tag) featuring many standard "perks" of the old replicas - ultra lightweight, relatively see-through materials, crooked cresting and incorrect customization, with the font for the numbers on the back being the one used by the Chicago Blackhawks! Life in those days for the average collector buying replicas was one of settling and compromises...

This is another jersey featuring the beautiful NHL 75th Anniversary patch from our favorite year of NHL jerseys ever.

Kevin Dineen's number 11 was retired by the Hartford Whalers, but has subsequently been put back into circulation by the Carolina Hurricanes after the team's relocation in 1997, which we personally feel is just plain wrong, but seems to be a common practice when franchises move, as was the case with Peter Stastny's #26 which was retired by the Quebec Nordiques but worn by Stephane Yelle in Colorado. Seriously, if Peter Stastny's number isn't going to stay retired, then no one is safe when your club relocates.

Brass Bonanza, also known as the "Whalers Victory March" was adopted by the Whalers as their theme song during their days in the WHA, and remained so through their years in the NHL. Gordie Howe was once quoted as saying that he loved to hear it as a visiting player for the Houston Aeros, but hearing it every night with the Whalers "began to drive me nuts."

Dasherboard: Just when you thought the Blackhawks just might be having everything going their way last night,with a 3-0 lead over Detroit, the Red Wings put their foot on the gas and tie the game in a 4 1/2 minute span of the second period. The Blackhawks however, did not fold up their tent in a critical game for their survival and held off the Wings for the remainder of regulation, allowing them just 6 shots on goal in the third after allowing them 18 in the second peroid.

Chicago's efforts were rewarded by an early goal in overtime by Patrick Sharp off a great pass by Sammy Pahlsson, giving them, and their fans, a much needed boost going into Game 4 on Sunday.

In other NHL news, Mike Keenan was fired yesterday by the Calgary Flames. Now as much as we're not fans of Keenan's, it seems like Flames failure in the playoffs this year, and down the stretch of the season, was due to injuries and very poor salary cap management by Darryl Sutter more than anything Keenan did or did not do. We suppose losing a playoff series to the San Jose Sharks last year was a pretty horrid blotch on any coach's record though.

Still, Keenan had been the Flames coach for two years now, which historically appears to be his "sell by date", as Calgary was his eighth team he has coached in the NHL, with his longest tenure being just four years. He hasn't even lasted that long since 1992 though, with two years and 15 games being his longest stay at one place in the last seventeen years with his deepest "playoff run" being but a single first round win back in 1996 with St. Louis - a team had Brett Hull, Al MacInnis, Chris Pronger and Wayne Gretzky!

What really gets us is the quote from Sutter that said "expectations were not met". The thing with Keenan is, more than perhaps any other coach in the league, you know exactly what you are going to get with Keenan. Just what expectation wasn't met? Not enough internal strife, power struggles and general turmoil? Perhaps a public feud with Jarome Iginla? Surely you didn't expect a coach with but a single playoff round victory in seventeen years to pull a Stanley Cup out of his hat, did you?

1994-95 Buffalo Sabres Dominik Hasek Jersey

It was on this date in 1970 that the Buffalo Sabres were granted their NHL franchise, for a fee of $6 million. The owners, wishing to avoid another "bison" related name held a "Name the Team" contest. "Sabres" was chosen by the owner because he felt a sabre was a weapon carried by a leader, also noting that a sabre is swift and strong on offense, as well as defense.

Through a spin of a wheel, the Sabres won the right to pick first in the draft, taking Gilbert Perreault, who would go onto win the Calder Trophy. The next season, 1972-73 would see the arrival of first round draft pick Rick Martin and Rene Robert, who was obtained in a late season trade. The three would form The French Connection Line. The trio would lead the Sabres to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1975, a series that included the infamous "Fog Game", and would stay together until 1979. All three of them would be honored by having their numbers retired by the Sabres, the first three players so honored by the club.

Many star players would be on the Buffalo roster in the years after making the Stanley Cup Finals, like Mike Ramsey, Phil Housley, Dave Andreychuk, Tom Barasso, Pierre Turgeon, Alexander Mogilny, Dale Hawerchuk and Pat Lafontaine, but a return to the finals would have to wait until the 1998-99 season following the emergence of Czech goaltender Dominik Hasek.

Hasek would win six Vezina Trophies in Buffalo during his nine seasons there. In addition, he would win both the Hart Trophy and the Pearson Trophy in 1997 and again in 1998. He also would help the Czech Republic capture the Olympic Gold Medal in February of 1998, catapulting him to world wide recognition.

Today's featured jersey is a 1994-95 Buffalo Sabres Dominik Hasek jersey in the Sabres original blue and gold colors. Legend has it that the blue and gold colors were chosen by the original owners because those were the colors of their polo club.

The jersey also features the attractive Sabres 25th Anniversary patch on the right chest, as worn by Hasek during his second Vezina Trophy winning season. The Sabres would continue to wear the blue and gold for another season before changing to the black and red colors they would wear throughout the next 9 seasons before changing back to a blue and gold scheme with the arrival of the unfortunate "Buffaslug" logo.

While the Sabres colors may have changed, one constant throughout nearly the entire history of the Sabres history has been announcer Rick Jeanneret, who joined the club for their second season. His distinctive voice, excited calls and player nicknames have made him one of the best known announcers league wide.

Dasherboard: Wow. Another exciting playoff game last night between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes. 11 goals scored in a 7-4 Pittsburgh victory, giving them a 2-0 series lead. This is clearly not your father's playoffs, as it has literally been 10 years since that many goals were scored in a conference final game.

Carolina showed great tenacity, coming back to quickly tie the game three separate times after falling behind, the longest of which took only 2:43, before Evgeni Malkin took control of the game in the third, scoring twice to complete his hat trick. Malkin's hat trick was the result of hard work, skill and tenacity, as all the goals came from in close, two of which were when he was closely guarded.

While we think Chicago is in a world of hurt being down 2-0 to Detroit, we think the Hurricanes, with many more playoff experienced veterans can still claw their way back into this series with their rabid fans behind them when they return home for the next game on Saturday. Having the last change at home will allow them to put the players on the ice they want and should allow them better defensive matchups against the Penguins top players.

1989 West Germany National Team Udo Kiessling Jersey

Born on this day in 1955, one of the best players in German hockey history, Udo Kiessling set a new record in 1992 with his 5th consecutive Olympic tournament appearance. Kiessling's record shows he played a single game in the NHL, in 1982 on a tryout after his German club team was an early exit from the playoffs, but returned home to play in the World Championships, never to return to the NHL again. But just because a player is not in the NHL, doesn't mean he doesn't exist, as Kiessling would go onto have a 24 year career, ending in 1996 at the age of 40.

He made his first appearance in the Olympics at Innsbruck in 1976, winning a Bronze Medal. In addition to his five Olympics, Kiessling also participated in 15 World Championships and the 1984 Canada Cup, as well as winning six national titles in Germany, where he was named the top player three times.

Today's featured jersey is a 1989 West German National Team Udo Kiessling jersey which a was part of a set a collector had made of various team captains from the 1989 World Championships. The jerseys were sold individually in an online auction, and while we were able to win the Germany, Czechoslovakia, Soviet Union, Sweden and USA jerseys, we were unfortunately outbid on the Dale Hawerchuk Canada jersey, sadly breaking up the set. We were unable to determine if there were jerseys made for Finland and Poland, the other participants in the 1989 World Championships.

This beautiful jersey features the vibrant colors of the dye-sublimation process and the arresting graphics of the era with the colors of the tri-color German flag streaking across the chest, as well as the distinctive Tackla diamond logos on the shoulders and drop shadow block font for the numbers. Easily one of our favorite jerseys in the Third String Goalie collection.

If you happen to be the owner of the Dale Hawerchuk Canada jersey from this set, distinguished by the notation on the lower left hem "Team replica Stockholm - 89", we would always be interested in reuniting this wonderful set of jerseys. If you happen to be the collector who had them produced, we'd also be interested in knowing if there were ever Finland and Poland jerseys made and what their availability might be. We can always be contacted by leaving a comment at the bottom of the day's post or through the email address in our "wantlist" section on the right side of the page.

Dasherboard: Did someone say "Dale Hawerchuk"?

Red Wings vs. Blackhawks Game 2 Reaction

Dasherboard: The Red Wings defeated the Blackhawks 3-2 last night in a close game that went into overtime. Unfortunately for Nikolai Khabibulin, the 'Hawks game up a 3 on 1 in overtime, leaving him little chance to fend off the Red Wings and allow the game to continue. That game was a real missed opportunity for Chicago that they dearly needed to take advantage of.

The Blackhawks now face this very uphill situation: they must now beat the Red Wings in four of the next five games, with a maximum of just three games at home at the United Center. This against a team that already has a 6-2 record vs. Chicago this season.

Clearly, the Blackhawks have to win the next game at home to keep themselves in the series. A loss in game 3 would put them in a hole they would just not be able to climb out of.

1983-84 Edmonton Oilers Wayne Gretzky Jersey

On this date in 1984 the Edmonton Oilers would win their first of five Stanley Cups, four of which were with Wayne Gretzky as Captain.

The Oilers started life in the late, great World Hockey Association in 1972 where they would compete until becoming part of the NHL in time for the 1979-80 season. When the WHA teams were allowed to enter the NHL, the old WHA teams were permitted to protect only two goaltenders and two skaters, as the NHL teams raided their rosters in the 1979 Expansion Draft, seeking a return of players whose rights they once held. The WHA teams were also each required to pay a $6 million expansion fee for the privilege of having their team decimated. This was a far different scenario than a "merger" between the leagues, in which case the incoming WHA teams would have been able to keep their rosters intact and not pay an expansion fee.

The Oilers thus stared life in the NHL with a roster consisting of goaltenders Dave Dryden and Eddie Mio, plus skaters Bengt Gustafsson and Wayne Gretzky. Although no NHL team held Gretzky's rights, and under existing rules he would have been removed from the Oilers and placed into the Entry Draft, the Oilers were allowed to keep him but were forced to pick dead last in each round of the 1979 NHL Entry Draft of incoming new players, behind even current Stanley Cup champions the Montreal Canadiens.

The WHA teams then selected unprotected players from the current NHL teams to fill out their rosters, but only after the NHL teams were allowed to protect two veteran goalies and seventeen skaters. Think about that for a second. In the best case scenario, a WHA team would get the 20th best player from any NHL team. The results were predictable, as the WHA teams all finished in the bottom eight of the standings. However, a ridiculous 16 of 21 teams made the playoffs back then, so Edmonton and Hartford did manage to qualify for the postseason, with the Oilers being swept in three games by Philadelphia.

Amazingly, within just three years, coach and GM Glen Sather had a team that included Gretzky, but also Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Kevin Lowe and goaltenders Grant Fuhr and Andy Moog, that made it to the finals for the first time in 1983, losing to the Islanders, before winning the Stanley Cup in 1984, ending the Islanders dynasty and beginning one of their own.

Today's featured jersey is a 1983-84 Edmonton Oilers Wayne Gretzky jersey. Interestingly, each of the four times the Oilers would win the cup with Gretzky as captain, it would be at home in their white jerseys. This run of success was prior to teams wearing a special patch during the Stanley Cup Finals, which was not introduced until 1989, so this jersey carries no additional patches - a rarity for our collection.

The Oilers would go onto win three more cups with Gretzky as Captain, in 1985, 1987 and 1988 before Gretzky's famous departure for Los Angeles. Before leaving, the Oilers would change the game of hockey, putting up astounding offensive numbers never seen before. For example, Gretzky led the league in scoring for seven consecutive years, with his lowest point total being 164, followed by 183, 196, 205, 208 and 215. Prior to that, only one player had ever topped 150 - once, as Phil Esposito tallied 152 in 1970-71.

Dasherboard: The Penguins/Hurricanes played an exciting game last night and this series looks like it could easily go six or seven games. Both goalies played very well, but Miroslav Satan could have not only put the puck behind Cam Ward on his breakaway goal, but perhaps a Chevrolet. His move froze Ward so effectively he had one of the widest open nets I've seen for some time.

Tonight it's back to the Red Wings hosting the Blackhawks. We just have the feeling that Chicago needs to take the game tonight to give themselves a chance in the series, otherwise Detroit could easily end the series in as few as five games. The Red Wings really had the look the other night of being able to answer any Chicago goal practically at will.

1988-89 Edmonton Oilers Jari Kurri Jersey

Born on May 18th, 1960, Jari Kurri played 3 seasons for Jokerit Helsinki before joining the Edmonton Oilers and being paired up with linemate Wayne Gretzky. Kurri would go onto win five Stanley Cups in a 17 year career, play in 8 All-Star Games, win the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy and score a career high 71 goals in 1984-85. He finished his career as the highest scoring European player in NHL history with a total of 601 goals, 797 assists and 1,398 points, having now only been surpassed by Jaromir Jagr. He was ranked #50 in The Hockey News list of the 100 Greatest Players in 1998.

Today's jersey is a 1988-89 Edmonton Oilers Jari Kurri jersey and features the Edmonton Oilers 10th Anniversary patch. We were very happy when CCM released the Vintage Collection Throwback Series. Seeing how much money collectors were spending for old Minnesota North Stars and Quebec Nordiques jerseys, CCM smelled blood and knew there was an opportunity to make some cash from the throwback craze, first introduced when the Original Six teams wore Turn Back the Clock jerseys during the NHL's 75th Anniversary season of 1991-92.

Much better quality than the original, undersized and lightweight (to the point of being see-through) replica jerseys of the 80's, many retired styles were remade with the current-for-the-time 550 Series replica model, which provided the consumer a very high quality replica for the price.

This jersey also features the Edmonton Oliers 10th Anniversary patch, which is odd since the Oilers were founded in 1972 as one of the original members of the WHA, making 1988-89 the Oilers 16th Anniversary season. This patch was clearly meant to commemorate the anniversary of the Oilers 10 seasons in the NHL following the demise of the WHA in 1979, a league the NHL chooses to pretend never actually existed.

There is also an image of a single Stanley Cup in the patch, but the Oilers had actually won four cups at that point, something most teams would have probably driven home by putting a 4 on the cup or picturing multiple images of the cup, as the Islanders would do 3 seasons later.

Kurri's #17 has been retired by not only the Edmonton Oilers, but also by Jokerit Helsinki and the Finnish National Team. He is currently the General Manager of the the Finnish National Team.

Dasherboard: The Eastern Conference Finals start tonight at 7:30 PM EST on Vs. with the Pittsburgh Penguins hosting the Carolina Hurricanes. The defending Eastern Conference Champion Penguins now have last year's playoff experience to draw upon, and will look to return to the finals for a second year in a row.

The Hurricanes are not lacking in playoff experience either, having won the Stanley Cup as recently as 2006 with players Brind'Amour, Cullen, Staal, Whitney, Cole, LaRose, Kaberle, Wallin, Babchuk and most importantly, Conn Smythe Trophy winner Cam Ward all still on the roster.

It's really going to come down to a matchup between goaltenders in my mind. Can Ward hold off Crosby and Malkin long enough for Staal and Whitney to get the needed goals past Marc-Andre Fleury? The real key to that is the health of Sergei Gonchar, injured during the last round of the playoffs. He did return in time for Game 7, and Pittsburgh's surprising large lead allowed coach Dan Bylsma the opportunity to cut his ice time significantly. The four days off will give him additional time to heal, tipping the scales in our minds to favor the Penguins.

Syttende Mai

Norwegian Constitution Day, commonly known as Syttende Mai ("17th of May") is a celebration of the 1814 signing of Norway's constitution in the town of Eidsvoil, declaring Norway as an independent nation. In Oslo, children parade past the Royal Palace as the Royal Family looks on as part of the celebrations.

Norway has been a member of the IIHF since 1935 and currently participates at the top level of the World Championships, and have done so since being promoted by winning Division 1 in 1995 with their best finish being a 4th place in 1951.

Today's jersey is a 1992-93 Norway National Team jersey. This is one of the most striking designs of any jersey we have ever seen and we were thrilled to add it to our collection years after first seeing it in action at the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics.

We really love the Tackla jerseys made in Finland from this time period, as will become apparent over time as you get used to seeing the diamond shapes on the shoulders again and again, along with the distinctive drop shadow font Tackla favored for their numbers.

One thing that makes high quality European-made jerseys different from what we are used to in North America is that the jerseys are dye-sublimated. This is a process where the full design of the jersey, including the main body color, is made by injecting dye into the fabric of the jersey, a process very different from silk screening. If you turn a dye-sublimated jersey inside out, you will see that they all start life as a blank white "canvas". This allows for some wild designs not possible by weaving or sewing color together. Another benefit is long-lasting vibrant colors, as you see in this jersey that is now over 15 years old.

Perhaps the most familiar name to North American fans is Espen Knutsen, a veteran of 5 NHL seasons and the only Norwegian to have played in the NHL All-Star Game.

Currently there are two Norwegians in the NHL, left winger Patrick Thoresen of the Philadelphia Flyers and defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

As for the following video featuring the 1989 Norway National Team, you just can't make this stuff up.

Dasherboard: The Western Conference Finals kick off today at 3:00 PM EST on NBC as the Detroit Red Wings host division rivals the Chicago Blackhawks. The defending Stanley Cup Champion Red Wings won the season series between the two teams 4-2. This is Chicago's first time this deep into the playoffs since 1995 where they lost to the same Detroit Red Wings.

This will be the 15th time the two Original Six teams have met in the playoffs dating back to 1934, with Chicago holding an 8-6 edge. One interesting fact to consider is long-time Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman is now Senior Advisor of Hockey Operations for the Blackhawks.

Will this series be seen as a passing of the torch to the young Blackhawks or the Red Wings asserting their position as defending champions? Our personal feeling is that "old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill" and the Red Wings will advance. However, this could very well be one of those series where people look back as the one where the Blackhawks learns the lessons and gains the hunger needed to achieve greater things in the future.