2000-01 Manitoba Moose Johan Hedberg Jersey

Prior to coming to North America, goaltender Johan Hedberg played five seasons for Leksands IF in Sweden's Elitserien, appearing in 116 games. He also was chosen to play for the Sweden National Team at the 1994 World Championships, the 1996 World Cup of Hockey and the 1997 World Championships during the early stages of his career.

Despite being selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the late rounds of the 1994 NHL Entry Draft, he never was invited by the Flyers to participate in a training camp and came to North America as a free agent in 1997. He started in the lower reaches of the minors, first with the Baton Rouge Kingfish of the ECHL. He then joined the Manitoba Moose of the IHL for 14 games, going 8-4-1-1.

Hedberg, born on this date in 1973, also made the roster for Sweden at the 1998 Olympics in February and the World Championships in May.

He returned to Leksands for the 1998-99 season as their number one goaltender, playing in 48 games, as well as a return to the World Championships following the domestic season.

Hedberg was back in North America once again, playing the entire 1999-00 season with the Kentucky Thoroughblades of the AHL, going 18-9-5-3.

He began the 2000-01 season with the Manitoba Moose in the IHL, where he recorded a 23-13-7-1 mark prior to being traded in mid March to the Pittsburgh Penguins by the San Jose Sharks, who had acquired Hedberg's rights from the Flyers back in 1998 and were loaded with goaltending in their system the likes of Evgeni Nabokov, Miikka Kiprusoff and Vesa Toskala.

With Garth Snow dealing with a strained groin and Jean-Sebastien Aubin not playing well, Heberg was given the opportunity to see some action during the end of the regular season. He began with a 41 save performance in a 6-3 win over the Florida Panthers on March 16th, but lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning the next night. Heberg next recorded a tie with Boston before defeating New Jersey, Buffalo, Chicago, St. Louis, Tampa Bay and Carolina to finish the season 7-1-1, creating some excitement in Pittsburgh.

After losing Game 1 and winning Game 2 in Washington, while giving up only 2 goals, Hedberg shut out the Capitals back in Pittsburgh in Game 3. During that game, Hedberg, still wearing his blue mask adored with the smiling moose from Manitoba, was supported by a ever-growing chorus calls of "Moooooose", which was painted in bold letters on the side of his mask.

The Capitals would fall in six games, making "Moose" 11-3-1 in his last 15 games. In the next round, the Sabres would take a 3-2 series lead, only to have the Penguins dig deep and win the series in overtime of Game 7 as the fans in Pittsburgh were now sporting yellow foam antlers as the "Moose" calls continued to become louder and louder. At the peak of the Penguins playoff fever, one fan even altered a sign in a Pittsburgh suburb, changing the name of Heidelberg to "He d  berg"!

In the eastern conference finals against the New Jersey Devils, Hedberg did his best, but the Penguins offense could not manage much offense in support of their goaltender, losing games 1, 3 and 4 while scoring but a single goal. The Penguins would eventually fall in five games, but Hedberg had created a phenomenon in Pittsburgh over the course of an exciting two months as the goalie from nowhere with the blue mask and the cartoon moose led the Penguins into the playoffs and then on their deepest run in five years.

Hedberg would be the Penguins undisputed number one goaltender the following season in 2001-02, playing in 66 games only now with a mask in the colors of the Penguins, but there would not be another magical playoff run, as Pittsburgh sank in the standings, missing out on the playoffs entirely. That season also saw Hedberg as a member of the 2002 Swedish Olympic team in Salt Lake City.

The following season he was limited to 41 games after suffering an injury.

During the offseason, Hedberg was traded to the Vancouver Canucks, where he backed up Dan Cloutier. He would play just 14 games with Leksands, now down in the second division during the 2004-05 season when the NHL season was cancelled before returning to the NHL with Dallas during the 2005-06 season where he backed up Marty Turco.

He signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Thrashers in 2006-07, playing there for four seasons, the first three behind the often injured Kari Lehtonen and the fourth while splitting time with Ondrej Pavelec.

The next stop for Hedberg was as a backup to Martin Brodeur in New Jersey. Previously backing up Brodeur would have guaranteed a goalie splinters as he would have ridden the bench for 70+ games, but injuries and the need for more rest for the veteran Brodeur meant Hedberg played 34 games in 2010-11 and in the 2011-12 season he was back in the Devils goal for 27 games, finishing with a fine 17-7 record, which allowed him to pass the 150 career wins mark. The lockout shortened 2012-13 season limited him to 19 games, the last of his NHL career, as Hedberg was now 40 years old and he was bought out of the remaining year of his contract after the Devils acquired 27 year old Cory Schneider from the Vancouver Canucks.

Despite not playing in the NHL until age 27, Hedberg played 12 NHL seasons in 373 games with a record of 161-143-36 and a career goals against average of 2.82 and a save percentage of .901.

Hedberg became the goaltending coach for the Devils top minor league affiliate, the Albany Devils of the AHL, which  led to him playing one more game in 2013-14, where he gave up 2 goals in two periods of play.

Internationally, Hedberg was named to the Sweden National Team roster on seven occasions, including the World Championships in 1994, 1997, 1998 and 1999, the World Cup of Hockey in 1996 and the Olympics in 1998 and 2002, but each time as a backup, playing in a total of just 3 games.

Today's featured jersey is a 2000-01 Manitoba Moose Johan Hedberg jersey as worn by Hedberg during his time in Winnipeg prior to being traded to the Penguins.

The Moose were originally formed as an expansion team in St. Paul, Minnesota to fill the void created by the departure of the Minnesota North Stars to Dallas. After two seasons of play as the Minnesota Moose, speculation was that the Winnipeg Jets would be relocating to the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota and a plan was put in place to avoid competing head to head with an NHL franchise by moving to the vacated Winnipeg market.

While the Jets never arrived in Minnesota, moving instead to Phoenix, the deal was already in place to send the Moose north to Winnipeg, where they were renamed the Manitoba Moose.

While in Minnesota their dark jerseys were black with purple and forest green trim, but following their move to Canada, the green was given top billing, with black and purple as the secondary colors. In addition, perhaps the greatest font in the history of hockey jerseys was designed for the numbers, each digit incorporating an antler! The jerseys adopted by the Moose during their first season of play in Winnipeg featured a diagonal "check mark" waist stripe, which remained in use through the 2000-01 season, after which the purple color was replaced by copper and the waist stripe changed to a more conventional horizontal stripe.

For the 2000-01 season the Moose were sponsored by Molson Canadian beer and wore a patch on their upper right chest. Additionally, they wore a secondary logo of an "M" with a moose peeking through it. The left side of the M had a maple leaf coming out of it to represent Canada, while the right half of the M was a stylized map of Manitoba.

The team also wore a 5th Anniversary patch on the left shoulder, which was sewn to a large piece of jersey fabric to cover up the stock secondary logo as shown below.

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1999 Sweden National Team Johan Hedberg jersey as worn in the 1999 World Championships. Jerseys worn in the World Championships quite often  have the trademark rectangular sponsorship patches on the upper arms, unlike those worn in the Olympics, which are free from commercial sponsorship.

Photos courtesy of IIHF Jersey Collection

In today's video section, Hedberg explains how his nickname "Moose" came about.

Next up is Hedberg while playing for Leksands IF during his return to Sweden during the labor stoppage of 2005.

Finally, highlights of Hedberg in action.

Latvia Restoration of Independence Day

Today, May 4th, is Restoration of Independence Day in Latvia. On November of 1918, Latvia declared its independence, which was internationally recognized.

This lasted until August of 1939, when the Soviet Union and Germany signed a pact, which included a secret protocol dividing Eastern Europe into "spheres of influence", which assigned Latvia to the Soviet Union. On October 5, 1939 the two countries signed a mutual assistance pact, but later in June of 1940, the Soviet Union issued an ultimatum to Latvia, accusing it of not living up to the agreements of the treaty, namely forming a military alliance against the USSR with the two other Baltic nations, Lithuania and Estonia.

The three Baltic nations had formed an agreement to support each other in international affairs back in 1934 and tried to remain neutral, but the massive armies of Germany to the west and the Soviets bordering them to the east made that an impossibility. The Soviets requested a new government be formed and to guarantee the Soviet military free entrance into Latvia. The government gave in to the ultimatum and on June 17, 1940, Soviet forced entered Latvia. By July 21st, a new Soviet controlled parliament was elected and declared its consent for Latvia to become a part of the Soviet Union.

Fast forward to 1990, and Latvia, emboldened by recent developments in the Soviet Union under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev and his policies of giving the republics of the Soviet Union more control over their own affairs, Latvia issued a declaration for the Restoration of Independence on May 4th following massive public demonstrations.

The Soviet government declared the declaration void because it violated the Constitution of the Soviet Union as well as the Constitution of Latvia (which had been put in place by the pro-Soviet government). Latvia's response was to point out that it was annexed by the Soviet Union without holding a public referendum and it was not seceding from the Soviet Union, but restoring it's independence. Negotiations failed to resolve the issue and on January 7, 1991, Soviet military troops moved into the capital of Riga. 700,000 Latvians gathered on January 13th and began to erect barricades to protect likely targets for the Soviets in response to the increasing Soviet military presence in the city and an attack on a TV tower which killed 13 in neighboring Lithuania by the Soviets intending to prevent Lithuania's similar attempts to withdraw from the Soviet Union.

The barricades were manned by the citizens of Latvia, including Latvian goaltender Arturs Irbe, who left the Soviet Union National Team to join his fellow countrymen who took to the streets in protest, erecting barricades in front of government buildings and media outlets. Red Army hockey officials warned Irbe that if he did not return to the team, he would never play for it again.

Irbe did not return.

Death, or a one way trip to Siberia, was a very real possibility for Irbe who could have simply kept quiet and enjoyed life at the pinnacle of the Soviet hockey world.

A barricade in Riga

The first attacks happened the following day with the first casualty, Roberts Mûrnieks, occurring on the 16th. His funeral on the 19th resulted in a demonstration which led to more arrests and beatings.

Citizen defenders at the barricades

The danger of being in Riga at the time was very real, as 100 of the Black Berets of the Soviet Interior Ministry seized Latvia's Interior Ministry building, killing five people on January 21, 1991. They had already sized the main press building, attacked the police academy and shot out tires of vehicles at the barricades.

The Latvian government then took control of the barricades on the 24th and most of the citizen defenders were gone by the next day.

Soviet military in Riga

On August 21, 1991, hard-line party members attempted to take control of the Soviet Union from Gorbachev and his government, which ultimately failed. The following day Latvia, and Estonia, both declared their full independence, which was recognized by the Soviet Union on September 6th.

The day is celebrated annually in Latvia with special exhibitions, church services and an official state flag raising ceremony at Riga Castle. Award ceremonies, concerts, dances and other events, such as a solemn flower-laying ceremony at the Freedom Monument, parades and fireworks all take place.

The flower laying at the Freedom Monument

The Latvia National Hockey Team is currently ranked 9th in the IIHF World Rankings. They first competed in the World Championships in 1933 and then again in 1935, 1938 and 1939 and also participated in the 1936 Olympics.

Since regaining their independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, they returned to the Olympics in 2002 and again in 2006 and 2010 followed by a best finish of 8th in 2014 thanks to a Quarterfinal upset of Switzerland.

Latvia has been a regular participant in the World Championships, first being assigned to Pool C as a new country, the lowest rung of the ladder system. Right off the bat, the Lativans won Pool C, earning promotion to Pool B. Following a pair of second place finishes in 1994 and 1995, they won Pool B in 1996, earning promotion to the Top Division for 1997, where they have remained since, recording a best finish of 7th on three occasions and averaging a 10th place finish. Under the previous format, they generally avoided the relegation round. but have survived easily on the occasions they had to defend their place in the top division.

The finest moment in Latvian hockey history came with the 3-2 defeat of Russia at the 2000 World Championships held in Saint Petersburg, Russia, which had great emotional significance for the Latvians given their past political history with the Russians.

If that moment does not rank as the top moment, then the amazing comeback in the final game of Final Olympic Qualifying for the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy ranks surely must be. With both Latvia and Belarus off to 2-0 records, they were to meet in the final winner-take-all game of their group.

Belarus opened the scoring of the deciding game at 5:16 of the first and stretched their lead to two at 12:06 before Latvia answered at 18:33. The second period was played even, with each team scoring one with Belarus going back up by two at 1:49 before former Boston Bruin Grigori Panteleev scored 18 seconds later to return the margin to one in favor of Belarus.

Belarus put themselves in a good position with a goal at 9:11 of the third to make the score 4-2 for Belarus.

Now in desperation mode, Latvia pulled goalie Edgars Masalskis during a Latvian powerplay at the with just six minutes remaining in the game and down by two. The gamble paid off as Latvia scored at the 15:11 mark to reduce the margin again to one.

1:47 later the Latvians thrilled the home crowd by getting the equalizer at even strength, leaving just three minutes to decide who would claim the final remaining spot in the Olympics. Alexsandrs Semjonovs sent the home fans into rapture by finishing the comeback and punching Latvia's ticket to Italy just 33 seconds later to complete the three goal outburst in two minutes and twenty seconds in what would become known as "The Miracle in Riga".

Another notable moment for Latvia was a 3-3 tie against the United States during the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy.

The glory days of Latvian hockey was the early 2000's when they were battling Switzerland for the "best of the rest" when they boasted NHL players such as Sandis Ozolinsh, Irbe and Sergei Zholtok on a regular basis. Their national team suffered a blow when veteran Karlis Skrastins was killed in the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl air disaster in 2011.

Sandis Ozolinsh

For this past season, two Latvians played in the NHL, Zemgus Girgensons of the Buffalo Sabres and Ronalds Kenins of the Vancouver Canucks.

In addition to their national team, their main club team Dinamo Riga boasts a roster of 75% Latvians and competes in the KHL. Those players also make up the bulk of the current national team in addition to those Latvians playing in other various European and North American leagues.

Regardless of whether the team wins or loses, the Latvian fans are recognized at the loudest and most passionate in the world, regularly traveling en masse to tournaments both near and far.

Today's featured jersey is a 2000 Latvia National Team Arturs Irbe jersey as worn during the 2000 World Championships when Latvia defeated Russia in an emotional 3-2 in Russia.

Irbe was a regular member of the Lativa National Team whenever his NHL commitments would allow, and he competed in nine World Championships and two Olympic Games for Latvia following their gaining their independence from the Soviet Union, with whom he also competed in two additional World Championships, winning gold medals in both 1989 and 1990.

Bonus jersey: Todays bonus jersey is a 2002 Latvia National Team Sergei Zholtok jersey. After initially competing in blue jerseys with red trim in 1993 after regaining their independence from the Soviet Union, Latvia changed to their now customary maroon and white jerseys in 1996, an obvious choice with those being the colors of the Latvian flag.

Their jerseys would only undergo minor detail changes while remaining in use through 2004, such as collar style and sleeve number placement, and see Latvia through some of their finest moments, such as their emotionally charged 3-2 defeat of Russia at the 2000 World Championships in Russia, and defeating the Russians again 2-1 in 2003.

Today's video highlights begin with the stunning comeback by Latvia in the last four minutes of the deciding game of the Final Olympic Qualifying for the 2006 Olympics that would become known as "The Miracle in Riga".

While Latvia certainly faces and uphill task when it comes to winning gold medals, no one, and we mean no one, has a better time at the games than the fans from Latvia, often drowning out crowds that number thousands more than them while playing on the road. If you are looking for an underdog to support, get on the Latvian bandwagon. Win or lose, it's always a fun ride.

2015 IIHF World Championships - 1996 Czech Republic Robert Reichel Jersey

Today is the third day of the 2015 IIHF World Championships, which are being held in Prague and Ostrava in the Czech Republic.

In Group A action yesterday, Austria shocked Switzerland by winning 4-3 in a shootout after scoring with less than a minute to play with their goaltender pulled to score 2 valuable points in their quest to avoid relegation.

Germany pulled off a dramatic 2-1 win over France when Patrick Reimer scored on a power play with one minute to play to give the Germans a win.

The host Czech Republic defeated Latvia 4-2 to the delight of the home fans in Prague as the Czechs got 3 power play goals, including one each from NHLers Jaromir Jagr and Jakub Voracek as they came from behind twice to win in regulation.

Play in Group B saw Slovakia give away a point in the standings when they required a shootout to defeat Denmark 4-3, which does not bode well for the Slovaks, who seem more than any other country to be a "feast or famine" team in various years this century, as sometimes they finish outside the top eight (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2014) and other times they find themselves playing for a medal (2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2012).

Belarus scored a workman like 4-2 win over Slovenia, who debuted new jerseys today.

Slovenian captain Tomaz Razingar debuts

the new Slovenia jersey on Saturday

Finally, the United States won their second game in two days thanks to a narrow 2-1 win over feisty Norway, who were unlucky not to get at least a point out of their efforts.

There is a full schedule of games today, with Group A starting off with Austria, fresh off their win yesterday, taking on favorites Sweden. Canada then faces Germany and the day in Prague wraps up with France vs. Switzerland, who will be looking to take the full 3 points off the French.

Meanwhile, in Ostrava, Group B begins with the Russians against Anze Kopitar and the Slovenians, followed by what should be a highly competitive game between Belarus and Slovakia. Finally, Denmark will have to face an annoyed Finland, who lost big on opening day and will be looking to right their ship in a big way to improve their goal differential.

Czechoslovakia hosted the World Championships eight times, first in 1933 than then again in 1938, 1947, 1959, 1972, 1978, 1985 and finally in 1992, the final year of Czechoslovakia. They won gold at home in 1947, 1972 and 1985.

Following the division of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia on January 1, 1993, the Czech Republic has only hosted the World Championships once previously, that being in 2004.

The Czech Republic National Hockey Team is currently ranked 6th in the IIHF World Rankings.

The Czech Republic have participated in the Olympic ice hockey tournament six times after the division of Czechoslovakia into Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Their best result was a gold medal in 1998 in Nagano, Japan, the first Olympics with full NHL participation, thanks to the outstanding play of goaltender Dominik Hasek. In 2006, the Czechs won their second medal, a bronze in Torino, Italy.

Hasek stole the show in Nagano

Since becoming an independent nation, the Czech Republic have been regular participants in the World Championships, with a number of championship titles to their credit. Since their first independent appearance in 1993, the Czechs have won bronze five times, silver once and gold on six separate occasions, with the last being in 2010 in Germany. As hosts this year, they will be looking for their first medal since 2012.

The Czechs have also participated in the World Cup of Hockey twice, reaching the semi-finals in 2004.

The Czech Republic enters the 2015 World Championships with 7 NHLers on it's roster, beginning at the back end with Ondrej Pavelec of the Winnipeg Jets in goal. A solid defensive group should provide plenty of support for Pavelec, and will be led by Jan Hejda of the Colorado Avalanche.

The offense will be loaded, as 43 year old Jaromir Jagr returns to the World Championships at home, while NHLers Martin Erat (Arizona Coyotes), team captain Jakub Voracek (Philadelphia Flyers) and Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks) are joined by several KHL players with NHL experience, including Roman Cervenka, Jiri Novotny, Vladimir Sobotka.

The ageless Jaromir Jagr

With the format for the World Championships calling for the top four teams after the Preliminary Round to advance to the Quarterfinals, the key for the Czech Republic will be defeating Latvia, France, Austria, Germany and Switzerland without yielding any points by requiring overtime. Their two toughest matchups are Sweden, who they took to overtime before losing in a shootout on Friday, and their game on Monday versus Canada.

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

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

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

First up in today's video section, today's featured jersey in action during the 1996 World Championships against the United States. Note that the United States has already adopted the waving flag style, which makes the Czech jersey an anomaly during the 1996 Worlds.

Next are a pair of videos from the gold medal game of the 1996 World Championships, the first being the introduction of the Czech squad and the second a highlight video showing the Czechs defeating Canada to capture an emotional World Championship, their first as the Czech Republic since the division of Czechoslovakia just three years earlier.

The 2015 IIHF World Championships

The 2015 IIHF World Championships began yesterday in Prague and Ostrava in the Czech Republic.

There are 16 teams competing in two groups, a format adopted in 2012. Group A in Prague consists of Sweden (ranked #1 in the IIHF World Rankings), Canada (4), host Czech Republic (5), Switzerland (7), Latvia (9), France (12), Germany (13) and Austria(16), who were promoted from Division I Group A last year.

Group B in Ostrava has Finland (2), Russia (3), the United States (6), Slovakia (8), Norway (10), Belarus (11), Slovenia (14), who were also promoted last year from Division I Group A, and Denmark (15).

Teams will play each of the seven other teams in their group once, with the winners in regulation receiving 3 points, unlike the NHL where a regulation win is worth only 2. Winners in overtime or a shootout will receive 2 points and the OT or shootout losers 1 point. The top four teams in each group will advance to the Quarterfinals on May 14th, with the four survivors advancing to the Semifinals on May 16th, with the losers playing for bronze and the winners for gold the next day, Sunday, May 17.

While teams in the top eight will be looking to win the world championship, the goal for other nations is to rise up and be competitive beyond expectations, such as France (winners last year over Canada on opening day and later Slovakia) and hosts Belarus (victors over Switzerland and Latvia) who qualified for the Playoff Round.

For some though, the goal is to collect enough valuable points from taking the big dogs to overtime and winning games against the lower ranked teams in order to avoid relegation down to Division I Group A for 2017. Last year, 15 of the 16 teams were able to win games in regulation time and France's victory over Canada serves as a reminder that no team should be taken for granted. That said, Belarus, France, Germany, Slovenia, Austria and Denmark will be the teams expected to be fighting to avoid finishing last in their groups and be relegated.

There were four games on opening day, with Group A seeing Canada have a better opening day than last year with a 6-1 win over Latvia, with Jason Spezza leading the way with 2 goals and an assist, while Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and 3 points while captain Sidney Crosby had an assist and scored on a penalty shot late in the game.

The other game in Group A was a wild affair between the top ranked Swedes and the host Czechs. Sweden struck first and added a power play goal before Jaromir Jagr pulled one back for the Czechs before the first period ended. Sweden scored again to go up 3-1 before the teams traded goals early in the third to make it 4-2 for Sweden before the Czechs staged an electrifying rally to score three times in 5:19 to take a 5-4 lead with three minutes remaining.

The Swedes pulled goaltender Jhonas Enroth with 1:45 remaining and then went on the power play 20 seconds later when Petr Koukal was sent off for tripping, giving Sweden a 6 on 4 advantage, which they converted with under a minute to play to send the game to overtime. It would eventually require a shootout for Oliver Ekman-Larsson to win it for Sweden.

Group B action started with the United States winning convincingly over Finland and goaltender Pekka Rinne by a score of 5-1. Steve Moses (recently of Jokerit Helsinki of the KHL), captain Matt Hendricks, Dan Sexton, Nick Bonino and Hendricks again into an empty net accounted for the American scoring as goaltender Connor Hellebuyck held the Finns to a lone goal to take an important 3 point regulation win for the US.

Opening day play wrapped up with a 6-2 Russian win over Norway with Russia streaking out to a 4-0 first period lead before Patrick Thoresen got a pair for Norway, which Russia responded to before the end of the period for the final four goal margin. Denis Zaripov led the way with a goal and 3 points for Russia with Sergei Bobrovski getting the win in goal.

Games today include Switzerland vs Austria and France vs Germany in Group A and Slovakia vs Denmark and Belarus vs. Slovenia in Group B.

The United States plays next today vs Norway at 2:15 EST. but it will not be shown until 7 PM on NBCSN, while the next test for the Canadians comes on Sunday vs Germany at 10:15 AM EST on the TSN networks.

1964-65 Montreal Canadiens Jean Beliveau Jersey

Honoring Conn Smythe, the former owner, general manager and coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Conn Smythe Trophy is awarded annually to the player judged Most Valuable to his Team during the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs. The trophy depicts Maple Leafs Gardens, which Smythe had constructed in 1931 as a new home to his Maple Leafs.

In contrast to other sports leagues playoff MVP awards, the Conn Smythe Trophy is based on a players performance during the entire postseason and not just the final game or series.

The award was first announced in 1964 and the first recipient on this date in 1965 was Jean Beliveau of the Montreal Canadiens for his performance during the 1965 Stanley Cup playoffs during which Beliveau scored 8 goals and 8 assists for 16 points in 13 games as Montreal captured their 13th Stanley Cup following a seven game series against the Chicago Black Hawks.

The first winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy, Jean Beliveau

The following season Roger Crozier of the Detroit Red Wings became the first goaltender to win the Conn Smythe trophy as well as the first player to be a member of a team that did not win the Stanley Cup.

The first goaltender to win the Smythe, Roger Crozier

Subsequent winners were Dave Keon of Toronto in 1967 and goaltender Glenn Hall of Chicago in 1968. Serge Savard of the Canadiens was the first defenseman to win the Smythe in 1969, followed by another defenseman, Bobby Orr of the Boston Bruins in 1970.

Dave Keon poses with the Conn Smythe Trophy

Perhaps the most unexpected winner ever was Montreal's Ken Dryden, who was named the winner in 1971 with just 15 combined games of NHL regular season and playoff experience!

In 1972 Orr became the first player to win the trophy twice following the Bruins second title in three seasons. After Yvan Cournoyer of Montreal was named the winner in 1973, goaltender Bernie Parent of the Philadelphia Flyers became both the first goalie to win the Conn Smythe twice as well as the first player to win it in back to back seasons and ushering in an era of domination.

Reggie Leach became the second player on a losing club to win the trophy, extending the streak of Flyers winners to three. The next three seasons the trophy went to Canadiens, Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson and Bob Gainey. The New York Islander dynasty then included four consecutive Conn Smythe recipients, Bryan Trottier, Butch Goring, Mike Bossy and Billy Smith in 1983, ending a run of ten years monopolized by three clubs.

Montreal's Larry Robinson

Mark Messier of the Edmonton Oilers got his name added to the trophy in 1984, followed by teammate Wayne Gretzky in 1985. Patrick Roy of the Canadiens won his first in 1986 as a rookie, only the second one after Dryden, prior to the Flyers Ron Hextall becoming only the third player on the losing side to receive the honor in 1987.

Gretzky won his second in 1988 and Mario Lemieux matched that feat with back to back Conn Smythe trophies in 1991 and 1992. The following year Roy joined Parent, Gretzky and Lemieux as two-time winners.

Mario Lemieux with his second Conn Smythe Trophy

1994 saw American Brian Leetch of the New York Rangers be the first non-Canadian player to win the Conn Smythe, as well as the first and only Ranger.

The only American to win the Smythe, Brian Leetch

In 2001, Roy, now a member of the Colorado Avalanche, became the first, and to date only player, to win the trophy three times and the only man to have won it while a member of two different teams.

Roy with his record setting third Conn Smythe

The next year new ground was broken, as Nicklas Lidstrom of Detroit became the first European to ever be named the winner in the trophy's 38 year history.

The first European to win the Smythe, Nicklas Lidstrom

2003 saw goaltender Jean-Sebastian Giguere become the fourth player on the losing side to take home the honors and goaltender Cam Ward became the third rookie to be named the winner, all of which were goalies, when he led the Carolina Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup despite not having been the Hurricanes number one goaltender at the start of the playoffs. He finished the season having a total of 28 regular season and 23 playoff games of NHL experience.

Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg joined Red Wing teammate Lidstrom as only the second European and second Swede to be named the winner of the trophy in 2008, immediately followed by Evgeni Malkin becoming the first Russian to earn the honor for Pittsburgh in 2009 before Chicago's Jonathan Toews regained the trophy for Canada in 2010.

The first Russian to be named the winner, Evgeni Malkin

Goaltenders Tim Thomas and Jonathan Quick won in 2011 and 2012 before Toews Chicago teammate Patrick Kane became only the second American to win the Conn Smythe in 2013 after Leetch in the 50 year history of the trophy.

Just the second American winner in 50 years, Patrick Kane

Others to have won the trophy are Al MacInnis, Bill Ranford, Claude Lemieux, Joe Sakic, Mike Vernon, Steve Yzerman, Joe Nieuwendyk, Scott Stevens, Brad Richards, Scott Niedermayer and most recently, Justin Williams, the second recipient from the Los Angeles Kings in three years.

Steve Yzerman lifts the Conn Smythe in 1998

Today's featured jersey is a 1964-65 Montreal Canadiens Jean Beliveau jersey from the first man to have his name added to the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Believau was a ten time Stanley Cup champion with Montreal in his 20 years with the club. In addition to the Conn Smythe, Beliveau also won the Art Ross Trophy as scoring champion in 1956 and the Hart Trophy as MVP in 1956 and 1964. Had the Conn Smythe Trophy been in existence prior to the 1965 finals, odds are that Beliveau would have won at least one other one, particularly in 1956 when he led the Canadiens in playoff scoring with 12 goals and 19 points in just ten games.

Today's first video is a terrific find, footage of Beliveau being the first man to ever receive the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1965.

Next is the Top Ten Conn Smythe Trophy winners and a look at each of their spectacular playoff performances.