1991-92 San Diego Gulls Denny Lambert Jersey

Born on this date in 1970, Denny Lambert played three seasons with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League from 1988-89 to 1990-91, which was his best season with 28 goals and 67 points.

Undrafted, Lambert signed with the San Diego Gulls of the International Hockey League for the 1991-92 season. He would play four seasons with the Gulls, including the Gulls finest season when they made it to the Turner Cup Finals in 1993. While with the Gulls, he would average 260 penalty minutes a season, with a high of 314 in 1993-94, third in the league by less than 10 minutes.

Lambert had a fine 1994-95 season, scoring 25 goals and 60 points, double his average from the previous three seasons, which caught the attention of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, who signed him for the remainder of the season, which made for a long year for Lambert, as combined he played in 88 regular season games that season, which must rank as one of the highest totals ever. Lambert scored his first NHL goal that season on his way to 4 points

He split the following season between the Baltimore Bandits of the American Hockey League and the Mighty Ducks, playing 44 games with Baltimore and 33 with Anaheim.

For the 1996-97 season, Lambert was signed by the Ottawa Senators as a free agent, playing 80 games his first season and another 72 games in 1997-98, setting a NHL high of 250 penalty minutes that season, as well as scoring a career best 9 goals.

Now established as a full-time NHLer, Lambert was chosen by the Nashville Predators in the 1998 NHL Expansion Draft, where he would play the entire 1998-99 season.

Lambert battles Kelly Chase while with the Predators

Lambert was then traded to another new expansion club, the first year Atlanta Thrashers for the 1999-00 season, where he would play for two seasons.

It was back to Anaheim for the 2001-02 season for his second stint with the Mighty Ducks. There Lambert yet again finished with between 213 and 219 penalty minutes for the fifth time in six seasons, with only his 250 minutes in 1997-98 tampering with his amazing consistency.

Lambert wrapped up his career with the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL in 2002-03 before retiring as a player. After some time as an assistant, Lambert would become head coach of the Soo Greyhounds, his junior club, for three seasons from 2008 to 2011.

Today's featured jersey is a 1991-92 San Diego Gulls Denny Lambert jersey. This iteration of the Gulls were members of the IHL for five seasons, a team name that dates back to a previous Western Hockey League franchise which began play in the mid 1960's.

After their five seasons in San Diego, the IHL franchise relocated up the coast to become the Long Beach Ice Dogs, and were immediately replaced by a new franchise in the WHL, also known as the Gulls. Their membership would become part of the ECHL and last through 2006. Two seasons later, the San Diego Gulls name would once again resurface, now used by a Junior A team in the Western States Hockey League, now the fourth franchise to use the Gulls name in San Diego!

The Gulls stellar 1992-93 season saw them finish with a 62-12-8 record for a league record 132 points, but fell short in the finals. Notable players for the Gulls were Ron Dugay, Glen Hanlon, Charlie Simmer, Ray Whitney, Sean Burke, Lindy Ruff and IHL scoring champion Dimitri Kvartalnov.

While the Gulls history was a brief one, they left behind a legacy of attractive jerseys with classic styling and a very sharp logo.

In today's video section, Lambert does what he does best, as he throws haymakers with Paul Kruse of the Salt Lake Golden Eagles during the 1991-92 IHL season.

1987-88 Minnesota North Stars Dino Ciccarelli Jersey

On this date in 1994, Dino Ciccarelli of the Detroit Red Wings scored his 500th goal in a 6-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings.

Ciccarelli was an undrafted free agent due to suffering a severely broken leg in junior hockey. The North Stars had noticed him the year before when he was too young to be eligible for the draft, so when he went through the 1979 draft with out being selected, the North Stars had him checked out by a doctor and signed him to a contract.

"I broke my femur badly enough in my second year of junior hockey that the doctors didn't give me much chance of ever being able to play professionally. I had scored 72 goals the previous season, but my injury wiped me off everyone's draft list in 1979. I wasn't going to let that stop me. I had to go through a year and a half of rehabilitation, but I was determined to do everything I could to live out my dream and play in the National Hockey League. I was totally frustrated when I recovered from the injury, scored 50 goals in my last season of junior and was passed on for the second time at the 1980 draft." recalled Ciccarelli.

"Lou Nanne of the Minnesota North Stars finally gave me an opportunity when he signed me as a free agent. He sent me to Oklahoma City to see how I'd fare in the minors. Things went well, and three-quarters of the way through the season, I was called up to Minnesota for a few games." said Ciccarelli.

After proving himself in the minors, Ciccarelli would play in 32 regular season games with the North Stars, doing quite well for a rookie scoring 18 goals and 30 points, but would really catch fire during the playoffs. Teamed with fellow rookies Neal Broten and Brad Palmer, Ciccarelli would set the rookie playoff scoring records for goals, with 14, and points, with 21, in 19 games as the North Stars would reach the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history. Ciccarelli quickly became a fan favorite with the North Stars fans for his willingness to stand in the crease and absorb all manner of abuse from defenders and goalies alike and they responded by waving inflatable dinosaurs during home games at Met Center.

He would follow up his outstanding playoff performance of the previous year by leading the 1981-82 North Stars in goals with 55 and penalty minutes with 138. He would also surpass the 100 point mark, finishing with 106, the highest single season total of his career. He would also put any doubts about his leg to rest by playing 76 games or more his first three seasons.

He would play nine seasons for Minnesota, leading the team in goals five times while totaling 332 regular season goals for the North Stars, including another season of over 50 goals with 52 and 103 points in 1986-87, before being traded to the Washington Capitals late in the 1988-89 season.

In Washington, Ciccarelli would continue to park himself in front of the net, absorbing all manner of abuse in the days when the defense was allowed to cross-check him at will. Still, he would score 112 goals for the Capitals in the three plus seasons in Washington, leading the team in scoring in 1989-90 with 79 points.

In the summer of 1992, Ciccarelli was traded to the Detroit Red Wings, where he would proceed to score 41 goals during his first season in Detroit, his sixth and final season scoring 40 goals or more. 

After four seasons in Detroit, which included scoring his 500th goal on this date in 1994, just the 19th player in NHL history to do so, he was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in time for the 1996-97 season as part of a youth movement in Detroit.

Ciccarelli played one full season in Tampa, scoring 35 goals and was dealt to the Florida Panthers half way through the 1997-98 season. It was with Florida that Ciccarelli would score his 600th NHL goal on February 3rd, 1998, only the ninth player ever to reach the 600 mark, in a 1-1 tie with the Red Wings.

He would be limited to just 14 games of the 1998-99 season, due to chronic back problems from a career absorbing punishment while camped out in front of the opposing goal, scoring 6 goals and 1 assist to finish his career with exactly 1200 points from 608 goals and 592 assists. In addition, he scored 73 goals and 118 points in 141 playoff games. His 608 goals are the most ever scored by a draft-eligible player who was not drafted by an NHL team and he retired ranked ninth in league history in goals scored.

Internationally, Ciccarelli appeared for Canada in the 1980 World Junior Tournament, and the 1982 and 1987 World Championships, with his opportunities for more participation limited by his team's frequent qualification for the Stanley Cup playoffs each spring. In the first 16 of his 19 NHL seasons, his teams reached the playoffs 14 times.

Ciccarelli was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2010

Today's featured jersey is a 1987-88 Minnesota North Stars Dino Ciccarelli jersey. This jersey features the "JM" patch worn in honor of John Mariucci, "The Godfather of American Hockey".

The North Stars added the black trim to their white jerseys back in 1981, but did not update their green road sweaters to include black until the 1988-89 season, seven years after "toughening up" their home whites!

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1989-90 Washington Capitals Dino Ciccarelli jersey worn following Ciccarelli's trade to the Capitals.

The Capitals wore their star-spangled jerseys from the time of their NHL debut in 1974 through the 1994-95 season when they stopped wearing their classic red, white and blue jerseys and changed to a new blue and black color scheme. Names would not arrive on the back of the Capitals red jerseys until 1977-78.

What really sets the authentic version of the Capitals jersey apart from the replica jerseys is that each letter of the Capitals logo on the front is a separate piece of material, rather than the entire crest being embroidered in a smaller size onto a patch, which would then be sewn onto the jersey. Each of the 16 stars on the chest and sleeves are also separate pieces of material which are sewn on. If you can get an old game worn or authentic Capitals jersey, do so, as it is one of the largest differences in quality between the authentic and the replica of any jersey.

Extra Bonus Jersey: Today's extra bonus jersey is a 1982 Canada National Team Dino Ciccarelli jersey as worn during one of only three international tournaments he participated in during his lengthy NHL career.

This seldom seen Canada style came at a time when Canada returned to the international stage following their refusal to compete with amateur players in the face of the full time "amateurs" of communist Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia.

photo courtesy of Classic Auctions

Here is a prime example of the kind of treatment Ciccarelli received throughout his career standing in front of the opposition's goal.

Here arch-rivals the North Stars and Chicago Black Hawks, both of the "Chuck" Norris Division engage in a bench clearing brawl in 1983 at the 2 second mark you see Denis Savard up close as he challenges the Minnesota bench and Ciccarelli responds at the 6 second mark, emptying both benches.

1984-85 Hartford Whalers Mike Liut Jersey

While attending Bowling Green University from 1973-74 to 1976-77, goaltender Mike Liut was named to the CCHA First All-Star Team twice and named the CCHA Player of the Year in 1977. Also while at Bowling Green, Liut was drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the 1976 NHL Amateur Draft.

Liut, born on this date in 1956, chose instead of join the Cincinnati Stingers of the rival World Hockey Association for the 1977-78 season and played in 27 games as a backup.

For 1978-79 he took over as the number one goalie for the Stingers and won 23 games in 54 appearances in what was the last season of the WHA.

His rights were reclaimed by the Blues as part of the provisions of the merger between the NHL and WHA and Liut was immediately installed as the Blues starter, a position he held down for the next five seasons. He introduced himself to the NHL with 32 wins in his first season to lead the league and 33 wins the next, which led to a runner-up finish in the Hart Trophy voting for league MVP. He was however, awarded the 1981 Lester Pearson Award for league MVP as voted by the players. He also appeared in the 1981 NHL All-Star Game where he was named the game's MVP.

On the heels of his outstanding regular season, Liut was named the starting goaltender for Team Canada for the 1981 Canada Cup, where he led Canada to the finals with a 4-1-1 record in six games.

For the next three seasons with the Blues Liut played strongly and averaged 25 wins per season. He was on his way to a repeat of those numbers when he was traded to the Hartford Whalers midway through the 1984-85 season.

As the Whalers lead goaltender Liut continued his solid play, leading the league in shutouts with four in 1986-87, no mean feat during the high scoring 1980's. In his first season with the Whalers, Liut recorded 27 wins and then topped 30 for the third time in his career with 31, followed by 25 more in 1987-88.

In the 1989-90 season Liut led the league with the lowest goals against average of 2.53 despite a late season trade to the Washington Capitals. For the final two seasons of Liut's career he shared time with incumbent Don Beaupre before being forced to retire due to back problems.

Throughout his career he became recognized for both his #1 sweater he wore during his entire career, as well as his distinctive snow white mask, which remained unadorned throughout his NHL career despite his flashy mask worn while in the WHA.

Liut finished his career with 294 wins and 25 shutouts in 14 NHL seasons in addition to the 31 wins and 4 shutouts he recorded in the WHA.

Today's featured jersey is a 1984-85 Hartford Whalers Mike Liut jersey. This would be the only season Liut would wear this specific style of jersey, as the next season Pucky the Whale would disappear for good from the shoulders of the jerseys and the green stripe at the bottom of the jersey would also vanish, making the bottom of the sweaters white from then on.

Today's video selection is a run down of the 1988-89 Hartford Whalers and their many pornstaches.

Next is video tribute to Liut upon the occasion of his being inducted into the Connecticut Hockey Hall of Fame.

Setting the Record Straight - The 1911-12 Montreal Canadiens

On the Montreal Canadiens website, there is an extensive history section, unlike any other NHL team's website, which is in fact it's own separate dedicated website.

Naturally, one of the features of the Canadiens history website we refer to from time to time is the "Jerseys and Logos" section, which begins back in 1909 with the birth of the franchise, and not just the start of the National Hockey League, which did not arrive until 1917, by which time the Canadiens had supposedly worn eight different sweaters.

The Canadiens jersey history from their pre-NHL days

on their dedicated history website

Fans who remember the Canadiens centennial celebrations will recall four of these jerseys from the franchise's early development having been worn as throwback jerseys from October of 2008 through November of 2009, especially the negative reaction to the 1912-13 barberpole jerseys, before a change in ownership led to the end of wearing the throwback jerseys prior to the final two scheduled dates in early 2010.

The Canadiens centennial throwback jerseys

Of those early sweaters, we have seen evidence of the blue 1909-10 sweaters in both hockey cards and player portraits, as well as being worn as a throwback, the red 1910-11 in hockey cards and as throwbacks, the 1912-13 barberpole jerseys as throwbacks and in a vintage team photo as well as the 1915-16 style in vintage player portraits taken back then and again as a throwback jersey.

The Canadiens polarizing barberpole throwbacks were certainly

a topic of conversation and have made regular appearances

on numerous "Worst Jersey" lists ever since

The 1913-15 "CA" style appears in vintage team photos, as does the 1916-17 sweater, the first with the iconic "CH" logo, which leaves us with two sweaters with little documentation, the first being the 1912-13 listed on the Canadiens website as having been a mid-season addition as an alternate to avoid confusion when playing the Ottawa Senators and their red, black and white barberpole sweaters.

One point to clarify before continuing. There were so few clubs in the early days of hockey that teams did not wear separate home and road sweaters, as each club had but a single sweater style which was different enough from the other clubs that they were able to wear them for all games, both home and road, without any confusion regarding being able to tell the teams apart.

From 1917-18 to 1926-27, each NHL club had just a single style for all games and it wasn't until the league expanded from it's original four franchises to ten that teams began to double up on colors. The Toronto Maple Leafs were the first team to introduce a second sweater style when they began to wear a plain white sweater with their blue maple leaf logo in games against the upstart New York Rangers in 1927-28, who became the second team to wear a blue sweater.

For the 1911-12 season in question, the NHA was comprised of four member clubs, the Quebec Bulldogs (white sweaters with blue bands across the chest), Ottawa and their red, black and white barberpoles, the Montreal Wanderers (white jerseys with a red band across the chest) and the Canadiens also with their barberpoles. Research shows Montreal meeting Ottawa for the first time on January 4, 1913 (a 7-3 Ottawa win) and again on January 18th, a 6-0 win for Montreal, which would have likely been the game to generate complaints of confusion by the Senators, looking for an explanation for their lopsided loss.

If our assumption is true, this would have necessitated the Canadiens wearing their new change jerseys, the Canadiens first ever with a blue band across a red sweater, on February 1st, a 2-1 win for Ottawa. The clubs would meet again on February 15th for the final time that season, meaning the alternate sweater would have been worn perhaps just twice, no more than three times in the unlikely event of Ottawa complaining of confusion following their original meeting back in early January when the Senators dominated with a 7-3 win.

Still, we have managed to find photographic evidence of the Canadiens alternate 1912-13 sweater, a studio portrait of Alphonse Jettè, a defenseman for Montreal from 1911 to 1915. While there are not many photos of Jettè online, there is a large one which clearly shows the red change sweater worn during clashes with the Senators with a single color, rounded "C" logo on the front.

Additionally, we have found a photo online of an original Montreal Canadiens 1912-13 alternate worn by Hyacinthe Guévermont on display at the Canadiens own Hall of Fame at the Bell Centre in the "Century of Greatness" exhibit.

With evidence of the exceedingly rare 1912-13 sweater confirmed, this now brings us to our point of contention - the white Montreal Canadiens 1911-12 sweater.

The illustration of the Canadiens 1911-12 jerseys from the

history section of their own website

As shown above, the white sweater is depicted with blue and red stripes around the cuffs and waist, but also with a bold diagonal sash of the blue and red stripes from the upper right shoulder sweeping down to the lower left waist, topped off with an old English "C" logo on the upper left chest, for which we can find no evidence of. There appears to have been no team photos, nor any apparent action shots of The Habs from the 1911-12 National Hockey Association season, which technically did not begin until January 3, 1912.

The Canadiens played in 18 games that campaign, but we have yet to find any evidence of a white jersey with a diagonal sash of any kind, the only suggestion of it being the illustration on the Canadiens web site.

The Canadiens jersey history poster shown below indicates the barberpole sweater immediately followed the red 1910-11 sweater for the 1911-12 season, with no time for the white sash sweater to appear in between as the primary sweater for a full season. The defunct HockeySweaterMuseum.com website also had no documentation of a white sweater between the two well known styles. There are no team composites of portraits, which were popular in the day, no hockey cards we know of which picture the Canadiens from the 1911-12 season - nothing to confirm exactly what the Canadiens wore that season that we can find.

The Canadiens jersey history poster

The C56 (1910-11) hockey cards show the original Canadiens blue sweaters, which pre-date the 1911-12 season, and the 1910-11 Sweet Caporal postcards and both the C55 (1911) and C57 (1912-13) hockey cards all depict the green maple leaf Canadiens sweaters of 1910-11, even though one would expect the 1912-13 cards to show the previous 1911-12 season in question.

A Google image search of the entire 1911-12 roster, one player at a time, reveals not one image of any player, particularly star players Jack Laviolette, Didier Pitre or Georges Vezina in a white Canadiens sweater with a diagonal sash despite numerous photos of their inaugural 1909-10 "C", 1910-11 "maple leaf" and 1912-13 "barberpole" jerseys available online.

A Google image search of the illustration from the Canadiens website of the 1911-12 sash jersey, using both the url method and uploading the image method, returns nothing more than copies of the exact same illustration. Not one other variation of the illustration, or especially any photographic confirmation, of the sash jersey was found.

Until…

A single photo of a lone player, Hector Dallaire, again appears on the Canadiens own history site.

But there is clearly no sash evident in this photo!

So we must question the illustration of the sash jersey on two fronts.

First, if the photo of Dallaire is the one and only photo of the 1911-12 Montreal Canadiens sweater, there is clearly no sash as part of the design and the Canadiens illustration is incorrect. This photo plainly documents that there is only the striping on the neck, which is not indicated in the illustration, and the waist. The stripes on the cuffs of the sleeves cannot be confirmed due to Dallaire's gloves covering his wrists for this portrait.

Second, is this in fact, a Montreal Canadiens sweater at all?

While the old English "C" matches precisely that worn in the center of the leaf from the season before, the apparent #7 on the sleeve causes confusion, since the Canadiens history site lists Dallaire as having worn both #8 and #9 during his four seasons with the club, but not #7. Was perhaps this photo of Dallaire taken when he was playing for a different team?

If it truly is a 1911-12 Canadiens sweater, why isn't there a single photo of a single one of Dallaire's teammates, especially star players such as Laviolette, Pitre or Vezina, whose popularity would have dictated at least one of the three being photographed at least once over the course of an entire 18 game season in some manner, be it in the studio for a portrait such as the one above, a team photo or even in action? Where are the rest of the shots from the photo session when Dallaire's picture was taken? It just doesn't add up.

Dallaire has been described as "a part time player", having played 13 games out of 16 games in 1910-11, 12 games out of 18 in the 1911-12 season in question and but a single game in 1912-13 and 5 final ones in 1913-14, just 31 in all, so perhaps this is a sweater given to the players to wear, but not for use as a game uniform, such as these Renfew Creamery Kings sweaters, admittedly of a heavier weight and with buttons.

Perhaps Dallaire's sweater is even from a team in the Montreal City Hockey League during the same time period he could have skated for while not with the Canadiens as a full time player, either the Montreal Astor-Canadians or the Montreal Champetre, and attributed as a Canadiens sweater.

Another pair of suggestions: Perhaps the Canadiens wore their 1910-11 red sweaters with the green maple leaf and this jersey, with it's matching old english "C", was used as an alternate during either 1910-11 against the red clad Creamery Kings, also known as the "Millionaires".

Or, the barberpoles actually debuted for the 1911-12 season as several have listed, and not 1912-13, and this white sweater was worn against Ottawa once before the red alternate sweater with the blue band debuted at a later game. As Charles L. Coleman has it on page 813 of "Trail of the Stanley Cup" Vol. 1, the red maple leaf sweater was worn in 1910-11 immediately followed by the barberpole sweaters in 1911-12 with no additional style worn in between the two. Similar to the Hockey Sweater Museum, Coleman does not show the white style having existed in between the red maple leaf and barberpole sweaters, making the white sweater perhaps a scarcely documented alternate or not even a Canadiens game sweater at all, as we theorized.

Regardless, if this white sweater with the "C" crest was worn by the Canadiens for all or part of the 1911-12 season, we feel certain that the illustration found online incorrectly depicts it as having a diagonal sash as indicated on the Canadiens history site, which was likely a modern interpretation of this newspaper cartoon of the team published back in 1912.

We suggest, based on the lack of any photographic proof to date, and the photo of Dallaire's white sweater without any sash, that the illustrator took creative liberties when making this drawing, either due to a faulty memory of the actual sweater or just simply wanting to make his illustration more visually interesting regardless of the actual design of any sweaters worn by the Canadiens.

If any historians, savvy internet searchers or owners of any hockey history books which may have some vintage photos which are not accessible online can shed any light on the sweaters worn by the Canadiens during the 1911-12 season, we'd sure like to have our theories proved or disproved in an effort to set the record straight.

1942-43 Chicago Black Hawks Reg Bentley Jersey

Chicago Black Hawks left winger Reg Bentley scored on this date in 1943 in a 3-3 tie against the New York Rangers with assists by his brothers Max and Doug Bentley.

It was the first goal in NHL history where all three points were awarded to the same family and it turned out to be the only goal of Reg Bentley's NHL career.

The brothers would repeat the feat 18 days later on the 21st of January, this time with Doug scoring with assists from Max and Reg in another tie, this time a 4-4 contest against the Montreal Canadiens.

While Max Bentley would play 12 NHL seasons, score over 500 points, be named the winner of the Lady Byng Trophy in 1943, win the Art Ross Trophy as the winner of the league' scoring title twice, in 1946 and 1947, be named the winner of the Hart Trophy as the league's MVP in 1947, win the Stanley Cup three times with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1948, 1949 and 1951 and be named to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966 and Doug Bentley would play 13 NHL seasons, score over 500 points and also win the Art Ross trophy in 1943 and be named to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1964, Reg Bentley's NHL career was limited to just 11 games in the 1942-43 season with the Black Hawks.

Reg, the oldest of the three brothers, would play ten years of senior hockey in Canada before turing pro with Kansas City of the American Hockey Association (AHA) in 1941-42. His time with the Black Hawks would come the following season at age 27 and he would total his one record setting goal, plus two assists, in his 11 NHL games.

After playing minimal hockey for two seasons due to World War II, he would resume his career and play seven more seasons beginning in 1945-46 with the New Westminster Royals of the Pacific Coast Hockey League (PCHL). He would score 30 goals and 57 points in 57 games in his first season with the Royals and 41 goals and 71 points in 60 games the following season.

The next four seasons of Reg's playing days were mainly spent with the Saskatoon Quakers of the Western Canada Senior Hockey League (WCSHL), winning the championship in 1951.

Today's featured jersey is a 1942-43 Chicago Black Hawks jersey, as worn by the Bentley brothers on the date they made league history by becoming the first family to garner all three points for a goal.

The Black Hawks barbepole style was originally adopted in 1937 and went through a few minor revisions in striping and logo before arriving at this design in 1941 which remained unchanged until 1947 before there were some additional tweaks to the logo. The Black Hawks would continue to wear this basic barberpole style jersey until 1955 before changing to the original version of their jerseys which remain in use today.

This jersey was revived as the Blackhawks Turn Back the Clock jersey for the NHL's 75th Anniversary season when the Original 6 teams all wore throwback jerseys in 1991-92 on occasion.

As you might guess, searching for 1940's Black Hawks highights on YouTube is a long shot. Here's one we found, but I don't think it's the right Bentley Brothers...

Now, this on the other hand, is at least the right Blackhawks, and an interesting look at how the current Blackhawks official logos are made for their jerseys. That chain stitching machine looks like it's on the verge of attacking the operator at any time! That thing is out of control. We really, really need to learn French after seeing this one.

Dasherboard: Results from yesterday's Quarterfinals in the 2014 IIHF World Juniors in Sweden saw the United States bow out early with a bad second period that saw the US give up two quick power play goals to Russia, losing their 3-2 first period lead in the process. Following the first period the Russian defense held strong and the US never scored again, eventually falling 5-3.

In the second game, Finland continued their strong play by eliminating the Czech Republic 5-3. Canada took care of business with a 4-1 win over Switzerland, who have historically been a thorn in Canada's side internationally over the last decade.

In the final game of the day, host Sweden delighted the home fans with a dominating 6-0 cruise over Slovakia, who had been playing very well this year, which is a testament to how strong Sweden is this year.

Saturday sees Sweden facing Russia for the second time, with Sweden having taken their first meeting 3-2 on New Year's Eve. The second game has Canada facing Finland for the right to go to the gold medal game.

In the Relegation Round, Norway surprised with a 3-0 blanking of Germany to open their best-of-three Relegation Round series, which sees the second game being played today, the only one on today's schedule.

1977-78 Cincinnati Stingers Robbie Ftorek Jersey

Born on this date in 1952, Robbie Ftorek got his career off to a memorable start after playing high school hockey in is native Massachusetts and one year of junior hockey, he was recruited for the United States National team which went on to represent the US at the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo, Japan just past his 20th birthday and without having played a single game of college or minor league hockey.

Needham High's Robbie Ftorek

Once in Japan, the United States defeated Switzerland in an all-or-nothing playoff game to advance to Group A to compete for a medal. After a loss to Sweden, the US shocked Czechoslovakia 5-1. They then lost to the dominant Soviet Union but followed that with another upset win, this time over Finland 4-1. They completed their schedule with a 6-1 win over Poland, and when Czechoslovakia lost to the Soviet Union and Finland dropped Sweden by a goal, suddenly the United States found themselves elevated from fourth place to second, giving them the silver medal!

American Olympian Robbie Ftorek

He remained with the national team long enough play in the World Championships where the US went 5-1 in Group B where he was selected to the tournament all-star team.

With the good fortune to have been born in the early 1950's, he came of age in the early 1970's, which gave him the option of joining the NHL or theWHA, and despite being drafted by the New England Whalers of the WHA, he chose instead to sign as a free agent with the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL. He played the majority of the 1972-73 season with the Virginia Wings of the AHL , but did make his NHL debut with 3 games with Detroit.

The following season of 1973-74, Ftorek scored his first NHL points with 2 goals and 5 assists in a dozen games in Detroit, but once again played most of the year with Virginia, where he impressed with 24 goals and 66 points in 65 games.

His 1974-75 season was again split between the minor and the pros, only this time out he was with the Tulsa Oilers of the CHL for 11 games and played 53 games with his new club, the Phoenix Roadrunners of the WHA, where he had his first 30 goal season with 31, as well as another 37 assists for 68 points in just 53 games.

Ftorek now in the WHA with Phoenix

He returned to Phoenix for the 1975-76 season where he led the Roadrunners in points with 113, which was good for fifth in the league, thanks in part to his 41 goals. He then posted similar numbers in year three in Phoenix, upping his totals to 46 goals and 117 points to finish fourth in the WHA. Before the 1976-77 season began, Ftorek laced up his skates for the United States for the inaugural Canada Cup tournament. In five games for the US, he scored 3 goals and 2 assists to lead the Americans in scoring.

Ftorek's heroics in Phoenix were not enough to save the struggling franchise however, and the club folded after the season. This allowed him to sign with the Cincinnati Stingers for 1977-78, leading to one of the more unusual jersey stories in hockey history. Stingers veteran Claude Larose had worn #8 for the past two seasons and Ftorek had also been wearing #8 as a tribute to former Boston Bruin Fleming Mackell. Neither wanted to relinquish their favorite number, so they had the team petition the league and permission was granted for both players to wear #8 during the season!

The 1977-78 Cincinnati Stingers

Ftorek went on to lead the club in scoring by a wide margin with 109 points, well clear of Rick Dudley's 71. Ftorek's 59 goals were third overall in the WHA. In the standings, the Stingers finished seventh in the one-division now shrinking WHA, two points out of the playoffs.

Ftorek again led the team in points in 1978-79 with 116, now second overall in the WHA. The Stingers were eliminated from the playoffs in Round 1, two games to one by the New England Whalers, but not before winning their one and only playoff game in team history 6-3 at home in Game 2.

Following the season, the WHA agreed to a one-sided merger plan with the NHL, which allowed Winnipeg, New England, Quebec and Edmonton to join the NHL as expansion franchises, while the owners of both Cincinnati and the Birmingham Bulls were given a cash payment of $3.15 million as a buy-out, putting an end to the Stingers franchise after just four years on the ice.

Once again a free agent, Ftorek signed with the Quebec Nordiques for their inaugural NHL season. With established scorers Real Cloutier, Marc Tardif and Michel Goulet already on the roster, Ftorek's numbers suffered as he was no longer the "go to" guy. His point totals dropped to 18 goals and 51 points, as the Nordiques sank to 61 points in the standings, 19th out of 21, as they were heavily affected by the terms of their entry into the NHL.

Nordiques Captain Ftorek

In 1980-81 he raised his totals back up to 24 goals and 73 points, thanks in part to the arrival of Peter and Anton Stastny, which bolstered the Nordiques offensive attack. Ftorek would play for the United States one final time during the 1981 Canada Cup prior to playing just 19 games with Quebec in 1981-82, which included being named the team captain, before being traded for the first time in his career. His destination was the New York Rangers, where he would play 30 games during the remainder of the season, 61 in 1982-83 and 31 the following season before coming full circle as he found himself back in the CHL with the Tulsa Oilers for a second time.

Ftorek finished his time in the NHL with the Rangers

He was back with the Rangers in 1984-85 for 48 games, as well as 17 in the AHL with the New Haven Nighthawks. He would play just a single game for New Haven in 1985-86 before retiring as a player, ending his career with 707 combined WHA and NHL games, 293 goals and 750 points. He would eventually make his way back to the NHL as a head coach with the Los Angeles Kings, New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins.

Today's featured jersey is a 1977-78 Cincinnati Stingers Robbie Ftorek jersey. Or is it a Claude Larose jersey?

In a story that could only come from the wacky WHA, LaRose was the Stingers leading scorer at the time they acquired the league MVP Ftorek, formerly of Phoenix - and both wore the #8. The Stingers appealed to the league and were granted permission to have both players wear #8 - at the same time!

Since the nameplate was removed from this jersey, there's no way to be certain short of photomatching, which one of Ftorek or Larose wore this particular #8 jersey. Larose was traded to the Indianapolis Racers after 51 games of that season, leaving Ftorek's to wear #8 all by himself for the remainder of his time in Cincinnati.

With the Stingers name lending itself to a multi-stripe theme, it's a wonder the Stingers jerseys were as reserved as they were. The Stingers logo is a wonderful piece of graphic design and looks as modern today as it did when it was first conceived, and has always been a favorite of ours.

NHL Winter Classic Alumni Game History

As time has past and the NHL Winter Classic has evolved into a bigger and longer event over the last six years, with the addition of multiple games for local high schools, colleges, minor league teams, the second most popular event on the schedule is the alumni games featuring legendary players from the franchises involved.

During the first Winter Classic in 2008, the Sabres hosted a "house party" at their home, the HSBC Arena. Fans who did not get tickets to the actual outdoor Winter Classic could come and watch the game on the arena's scoreboard video screens. Prior to the Winter Classic, the Sabres Alumni Team played a game as part of the House Party.

In 2010 at Fenway Park, Bruins Alumni, wearing the Bruins gold Winter Classic jerseys, took part in "The First Skate at Fenway" on the rink, a pleasure skate for Bruins veterans, local youth teams, family members and other Boston area celebrities, such as members of the Boston Red Sox.

Bobby Orr, Milt Schmidt and Terry O'Reilly

at the First Skate at Fenway

The first Winter Classic NHL Legends Game took place in 2011 in Pittsburgh between alumni from the Penguins and Capitals, with the Pittsburgh alumni wearing the same light blue jerseys the Penguins would wear while the Capitals alumni wore Washington's current home red jerseys.

Mario Lemieux skates for the Penguins in 2011

For the game hosted by Philadelphia in 2012, the Flyers alumni, wearing orange Flyers home jerseys, took on the Rangers alumni, who wore blue Rangers home jerseys.

Mark Messier and Bernie Parent in 2012

For 2014, the Red Wings and Maple Leafs both had so many players from the past willing to participate that a double header of Alumni Showdown games were scheduled in Detroit at Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers.

Unlike past alumni games, both teams wore unique jerseys that were neither one of their team's current jerseys, nor that season's Winter Classic jerseys either.

For both games, the Maple Leafs wore their 1978-92 blue road jerseys. Detroit took yet a different approach, as their squad for the first game wore the same 1926-27 Detroit Cougars jerseys from the franchise's debut season. These were the jerseys the Red Wings wore for their first Winter Classic in Chicago back in 2009.

Red Berenson for Detroit and Brad Marsh take part

in the first of two alumni games in 2014

Today's featured jersey is a 2014 Winter Classic Detroit Red Wings Alumni Showdown Game 2 jersey. In order to be on the Detroit roster for the second game of the Alumni Showdown, a player needed to have won a Stanley Cup, an individual NHL award or have been enshrined into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

For this special lineup of legendary Red Wings, a special jersey was created for the first time in the history of the Winter Classic legends games. This unique jersey was the reverse of the 2009 Winter Classic jersey, now red with a white band around the chest, and is today's featured jersey. 

Slava Fetisov and Chris Chelios wearing the red jersey

worn by the Detroit alumni in Game 2 of the Alumni Showdown

Here is a preview of the Alumni Showdown, showing just how much the players were looking forward to the event.

Here are extended highlights of Game 1 of the Alumni Showdown.

Finally, the standout moments from Game 2 of the Alumni Showdown, featuring Chris Chelios' amazing goal celebration!