1920-21 Hamilton Tigers Mickey Roach Jersey

Reports vary as to the day and location of early NHLer Mickey Roach. Some sources list him as having been born on May 1, 1895 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Hockey Hall of Fame biography states he is "American-born" and NHL.com also favors Boston, while other sources say he was born on this date, May 7, 1895 in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, with the most convincing argument being his birth certificate from Nova Scotia! One source seems to have his story right, as it splits the difference, stating he was born in Glace Bay but moved to Boston at a young age.

Regardless of where he was born, it seems apparent he grew up in New England, as his earliest recorded hockey club was the Boston Pilgrims, with whom he played 8 games as a teen in 1913-14, scoring 4 goals.

For 1914-15 he joined the Boston Arenas of the American Amateur Hockey League where he totaled 14 goals in just 10 games to lead the league in scoring. He remained with the Arenas for 1915-16. While he was limited to just 6 games, he found the net 11 times, an average of nearly 2 goals per game. His next stop was with the New York Crescents, still in the AAHL, where he scored 5 goals in 6 games.

He remained in New York for the 1917-18 season, only now with the New York Wanderers of the USNHL where he scored another dozen goals in 10 games.

Roach moved across the border to his native Canada for the 1918-19 season when he joined the Hamilton Tigers of the Ontario Hockey Association where he had another fine offensive season, leading the league in scoring with 17 goals and 29 points in only 8 games thanks to his speed and agility. The Tigers had a successful regular season and eventually advanced the the Allan Cup playoffs for the Canadian amateur championship where they defeated Winnipeg Selkirk in the first game 6-1 and then held on after a 5-1 loss in Game 2 to win the series 7 goals to 6.

His fine season with Hamilton caught the attention of the Toronto St. Patricks of the National Hockey League, which was about to embark on only its third season of play. Playing a season twice as long as any he had before, Roach scored 11 goals and 13 points in 1919-20, which included Roach becoming only the fourth player in the NHL to score five goals in one game on March 6, 1920 as Toronto defeated the Quebec Bulldogs 11-2.

Not to diminish Roach's accomplishment, which also included an assist that night, but goaltender Howard Lockhart of the St. Patricks was loaned to Quebec for that game, allowing Roach's five goals and the St. Pats 11, which certainly must have caused the Bulldogs to question Lockhart's effort that evening!

To this date, 98 years later, only 44 men have joined the exclusive five goal club, and just two since 1997. With Roach having indeed born in Canada, Mark Pavelich in 1983 remains the only American to accomplish the feat.

Roach began the 1920-21 season with the St. Pats, but after 9 games, he was sold to the first year Hamilton Tigers of the NHL, a different Hamilton Tigers than who Roach had won the Allan Cup with in 1919. After having scored just 2 points with the St. Pats, Roach racked up 17 points in 14 games with Hamilton.

The inaugural 1920-21 Hamilton Tigers

In 1921-22, Roach, a center, scored 14 goals and 17 points prior to setting career highs in 1922-23 with 17 goals and 25 points to lead Hamilton in scoring and finish 6th overall in the NHL.

Roach in the 1921-23 "Walking Tiger" style he wore during his finest season

After never making the playoffs previously and a disappointing 1923-24 season, in which he only managed 5 goals and 8 points in 21 games while Hamilton finished dead last, the Tigers had a great regular season in 1924-25, finishing first overall in the NHL with a 19-10-1 record to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in Roach's career.

However…

The NHL had increased the season schedule from 24 games to 30 that season to accommodate two new clubs, and, on the train ride home following the final game of the season, the players demanded an extra $200 each for the extra six games they were required to play without any increase in pay. The Tigers management informed the players that their contracts ran from December 1, 1924 to March 30, 1925 regardless of the number of games played and no additional pay would be forthcoming.

The 1924-25 Hamilton Tigers team

While the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto St. Patricks were facing off in the semifinals for a chance to face Hamilton for the O'Brien Trophy and a chance to play for the Stanley Cup as NHL champions the players stated they would rather retire than be taken advantage of.

A newspaper headline about the 1925 Hamilton players' strike

The NHL took a hard line stance and warned the players they would be suspended if they did not play. After Montreal defeated Toronto, NHL President Frank Calder met with the Tigers management, declared the Canadiens champions of the NHL and fined the Tigers players $200 each!

During the offseason, "Big Bill" Dwyer bought the rights to the Hamilton players for his expansion club set to begin play in New York's Madison Square Garden for the 1925-26 season, the New York Americans. The players were more than happy with the new arrangement, as they all received raises from Dwyer, some as much as 200%!

The Hamilton franchise was then revoked at the September 22nd league meetings, bringing an end to the Tigers franchise.

The inaugural New York Americans of 1925-26

Roach managed a mere 3 goals in 25 of the Americans 36 games, but rebounded in 1926-27 with 11 goals in 44 games, second on the Americans in goals for the season, which proved to be his last in the NHL. Thanks to the Hamilton player's strike in 1925, Roach never played in a single NHL playoff game during his eight seasons in the league.

Roach in the star spangled sweater of the Americans

For the 1927-28 season, he joined the Niagara Falls Cataracts of the Canadian Professional Hockey League as a player-coach.

He would play one season with the Windsor Hornets of the CPHL before again spending a season as a player-coach, this time with the Buffalo Bisons in the same league, now renamed the International Hockey League, but with a much more limited amount of playing time, as he appeared in just 10 games. He retired for good as a player after the 1929-30 season to concentrate on coaching, a career that lasted three additional seasons.

In all, Roach played 211 NHL games with 77 goals and 34 assists for 111 points and no playoff games, thanks to the ill-fated Hamilton players' strike of 1925, costing Roach his only shot at winning the Stanley Cup.

Today's featured jersey is a 1920-21 Hamilton Tigers Mickey Roach jersey. The Tigers began play in the 1920-21 season while wearing these vertically striped jerseys with the tiger head logo. They were only worn for one season before being replaced by the "walking tiger" horizontally striped jerseys for the next two seasons. Their final two seasons were with jerseys with a capital H logo in a wide gold band and multiple striped sleeves.

As declared by Sports Illustrated in 2005 as one of "25 Lost Treasures of Sports", a game worn Hamilton Tigers jersey is a Holy Grail of hockey jerseys, as no known examples are currently known to exist, although legend has it one was sold for $500 in the 1990's in Hamilton to an unknown American collector and has never been seen since.

Today's first video is the history of the Tigers sweaters.

Next is a look at the New York Americans, of which Roach was a original member.

  

1913-14 Victoria Aristocrats Tommy Dunderdale Jersey

Born on this date in 1887 in Australia to English parents, Tommy Dunderdale moved to Ottawa, Ontario as a youth. He began playing hockey in high school and , after moving to Winnipeg in 1905, he joined the amateur Winnipeg Ramblers. He turned pro the following season of 1906-07 with the Winnipeg Strathconas of the Manitoba Hockey League during it's brief run as a professional league. He scored 8 goals in 10 games that season.

He divided his time between the Winnipeg Maple Leafs (3 games) and the Strathconas, scoring 11 goals in 5 games. For the 1908-09 season he remained in Winnipeg, only now wit the Winnipeg Shamrocks where he put up an impressive 17 goals and 24 points in nine games.

Dunderdale moved back east for the 1909-10 season to play with the Montreal Shamrocks. The club started the season in the Canadian Hockey Association where he scored 7 goals in 3 games before the league collapsed. The club then joined the National Hockey Association for the remainder of the season, and in 12 games he posted 14 additional goals.

Dunderdale during his brief time playing in the east
with the Montreal Shamrocks

He again remained in the NHA for the 1910-11 season, only now with the Quebec Bulldogs, with whom he finished second in team scoring with 13 goals in just 9 of the team's 16 games.

Dunderdale as a Quebec Bulldog in 1910-11

Dunderdale was lured west by the Patrick brothers, Frank and Lester, and their new Pacific Coast Hockey Association. He joined Lester's Victoria Senators club for the 1911-12 season. He led Victoria in scoring with 24 goals in 16 games to finish third in the league.

The 1911-12 Victoria Senators in their barberpole sweaters

 He put up similar numbers for the Senators in 1912-13 when he scored an identical 24 goals plus 5 assists for 29 points in 15 games to dominate the league scoring race, with 10 more goals and 9 more points than any other player.

The 1912-13 Victoria Senators

He remained with Victoria for the 1913-14 season, who were now rechristened the Aristocrats. His 24 goals tied for the league lead but a lack of assists left him second on the team and third in the league scoring race, but Victoria won the league title for the second consecutive year. With the PCHA now recognized as an established league, Victoria traveled east to challenge the Toronto Blueshirts of the NHA for the Stanley Cup, who defended their cup three games to none.

The Aristocrats had a poor 1914-15 season with just 4 wins from 17 games, which affected Dunderdale's scoring totals. He led the team with 17 goals and 10 assists, but dropped to sixth overall in the league.

The 1914-15 Victoria Aristocrats

For the 1915-16 season, Dunderdale moved south to the United States to play for the second year Portland Rosebuds, who promptly won the PCHA championship and traveled east to face the Montreal Canadiens for the rights to the Stanley Cup, becoming the first American team to play for the cup, a challenge won by Montreal three games to two.

For the 1916-17 season, Dunderdale scored 22 goals in 24 games an finished tenth in PCHA scoring and third on the Rosebuds. What really stood out though, was his league record 141 penalty minutes to lead the league, nearly 100 more than he had ever totaled previously!

The 1916-17 Portland Rosebuds, Dunderdale is #11

He would play one final season with Portland in 1917-18, scoring 14 goals and returning to Earth with 57 penalty minutes, still the second highest of his entire career.

For the 1918-19 season, Dunderdale was once again a member of the reborn Aristocrats following some somewhat complex franchise shifting. During Dunderdale's time in Portland, the Aristocrats lost use of the Patrick Arena when it was commandeered by the Canadian military for use during World War I. The franchise, having lost their home, moved to Spokane, Washington and played one season as the Canaries before folding. With the Patrick Arena once again available in 1918, the Victoria Aristocrats franchise was revived and stocked with players from the Rosebuds, who had ceased operations. After scoring just 9 points in his first season back in Victoria, Dunderdale regained his form with 26 goals and 33 points in 1919-20 to win his second PCHA scoring title.

He scored 9 goals and 20 points in 1920-21 to once again place in the top ten in league scoring for the Aristocrats, who changed their name to the Cougars for the 1921-22 season, during which Dunderdale racked up 19 points in 24 games, good for second on the club, which included becoming the first player to score on a penalty shot on December 12, 1921 against the Seattle Metropolitans Hugh Lehman. The penalty shot was just one of the many innovations the Patricks introduced when they ran the PCHA that have carried through to today's modern game. Oddly, in 27 games of the 1922-23 season, Dunderdale's total offensive output was a mere 2 goals, which proved to be his last with Victoria.

For the 1923-24 season, Dunderdale left the PCHA and signed with the Saskatoon Crescents of the Western Coast Hockey League, with whom he played six games before moving to the Edmonton Eskimos for the final 11 games of his career.

Dunderdale's final combined career totals are 320 games with 279 goals and 71 assists for 350 points, well over a point per game for his career. His 194 goals made him the all-time PCHA leader and he was named a PCHA all-star six times and became the only Australian-born player elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1974.

Today's featured jersey is a 1913-14 Victoria Aristocrats Tommy Dunderdale jersey. After starting out life wearing barberpole jerseys at the Victoria Senators, the club changed to the unique sash style jerseys as the Aristocrats. In 1922, the franchise changed names once again, this time to the Cougars, and adopted the colors of light blue and yellow.

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.