2004 Belarus National Team Ruslan Salei Jersey

After beginning his career with his hometown Russian Superleague club Dynamo Minsk of Belarus in 1992-93, defenseman Ruslan Salei, born on this date in 1974, played two more seasons with the club, then renamed Tivali Minsk, until taking the opportunity of the recently changed political landscape to come to North America and try to gain the attention of NHL scouts.

He signed with the Las Vegas Thunder of the International Hockey League for the 1995-96 season. While never an offensive force, he did surpass any offensive output he managed in Russia, thanks in part to the longer North American professional season, when he scored 7 goals and 30 points, five times more than the high of 6 he managed the year before in 51 games. In addition, he also showed his rugged side by accumulating 123 penalty minutes. All of this led to his being drafted 9th overall in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

His next season was divided between the Thunder (8 games), the Baltimore Bandits of the American Hockey League (12 games) and making his NHL debut with Anaheim (30 games), which included Salei scoring his first NHL point with an assist.

For 1997-98, Salei spent the vast majority of his season with the Mighty Ducks, which included his scoring 5 goals and 15 points in 66 games. He also skated for the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks of the AHL in six games that same season.

He would spend the entire 1998-99 season with Anaheim, playing in 74 games as well as seeing his first playoff action in three games during the postseason. While certainly not a flashy offensive defenseman, he became a fan favorite for his grit, nastiness and determination.

After four more seasons, the Mighty Ducks would go on their first extended playoff run, making it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, thanks to their solid defensive corps, consisting of Niclas Havelid, Keith Carney, Sandis Ozolinsh, Salei, Vitali Vishnevsky and Kurt Sauer playing in front of Conn Smythe Winner Jean-Sebastien Giguere. The Mighty Ducks gave up just 6 goals in 4 games while sweeping Detroit in Round 1, eliminated Dallas in six, miraculously gave up just a single goal to Minnesota as they were swept in four and took the New Jersey Devils to seven games in the finals as Giguere finished the postseason with five shutouts.

The highlight of not only the playoffs, but perhaps his entire career, was Salei winning Game 3 of the finals for the Mighty Ducks with his overtime goal in Game 3 against Martin Brodeur.

After the 2003-04 season with Anaheim, Salei would travel to Russia to play with Ak Bars Kazan of the Russian Superleague during the NHL lockout of 2004-05. He returned to Anaheim for one final season when the NHL resumed play in 2005-06, which included his setting a new NHL high with 19 points.

Salei left the Mighty Ducks after nine seasons to sign a free agent contract with the Florida Panthers. The change in scenery led to a change in Salei's game, as he immediately surpassed his previous offensive totals by a large margin, setting career highs with 6 goals and 26 assists for 32 points, the only time in his NHL career he would exceed 23 points.

After a second season in Florida, he was dealt at the trading deadline (for former teammate Ozolinsh) to the Colorado Avalanche for the final 17 games of the season.He would play another season for Colorado, surpassing 20 points for only the third time, the other being his second season in Florida.

He suffered a serious back injury early in 2009-10, which limited him to just 14 games for the season. The 2010-11 season saw him reunited with his former Mighty Ducks coach Mike Babcock, this time with the Detroit Red Wings. Showing his back issues were behind him, he competed in 75 regular season games as well as 11 playoff contests.

His final NHL totals after 14 seasons of play were 917 games played with 45 goals and 159 assist for 204 points and 1,065 penalty minutes.

Internationally, Salei was a stalwart on the Belarus blue line. The Belarusians first competed internationally at the 1994 World Championships at the Group C level, where they came second to fellow newcomers Slovakia. The won Group C in 1995 with a 4-0 record (while outscoring their opponents 19-8) and were promoted to Group B.

Salei returned to the national team in 1996 and 1997 to help them qualify for the 1998 Olympics in Japan, the first to feature NHL stars, which included a record 21-0 win over Lithuania. Once in Japan, Salei and Belarus won their preliminary round group to advance to the first round, only to be grouped with powerhouses Canada, Sweden and the United States. He also scored his first Olympic goal during

Later that same spring, Belarus, now having been promoted to the top level Group A, advanced to the second round, having finished second to the Czech Republic in Group 1 thanks to wins over Germany and Japan.

He made his next international appearance at the 2000 World Championships, which was highlighted with wins over Ukraine, a shocking 1-0 shutout of Russia and a 5-3 win over Switzerland. Salei and Belarus did not fare as well in 2001, as they finished 14th, usually enough to avoid relegation, but with Japan being protected as the Far Eastern qualifier despite finishing dead last, Belarus were relegated to Division I.

Salei made his second Olympic appearance in 2002 and scored 2 goals in 6 games as Belarus became the Cinderella story of the games. First, they needed to win Group B of the Preliminary Round to advance to the First Round, where they lost three straight games to the United States, Finland and Russia. Still, all eight remaining teams advanced to the Quarterfinals where Belarus shocked the world with their stunning 4-3 defeat of Sweden thanks to Vladimir Kopat's shot from center ice which careened off of Swedish goaltender Tommy Salo's head and into the net with less than 2 and a half minutes remaining.

In 2004, Salei helped Belarus steamroll the opposition in Division I Group A with 3 goals and 7 points for his highest scoring international tournament ever, as they went 5-0 while outscoring their competition 34-9 to return to the Top Level, where they remain to this day.

After two games in an unsuccessful Olympic qualification attempt in 2005, Salei returned to the World Championships in 2008 and again in 2009 where he scored 2 goals and 5 points while serving as team captain.

Salei participated in the third Olympics of his long international career in 2010 in Vancouver. Three months later, Salei made his final international appearance as he took part in his 9th World Championships in Germany, where he scored a goal, the 13th of his career for Belarus. In all, he would play in 69 games and score 31 points in 14 tournaments.

For the 2011-12 season, Salei signed with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League.

As the team were leaving to play their first game of the season, scheduled back in Salei's hometown of Minsk, Belarus, their plane crashed on takeoff, killing Salei and all but one of his 25 teammates, who then died five days later. Additionally, 11 team staff members and 7 of the 8 of the plane's crew also perished. The crash resulted in Lokomotiv bypassing their participation in the KHL season and a moving tribute to Lokomotiv on the ice in Minsk the following day.

This season, tributes to Salei include former Detroit teammate Pavel Datsyuk wearing Salei's #24 during the preseason, the Red Wings honoring Salei on their patch which also includes Brad McCrimmon and Stefan Liv and the Ducks wearing Salei's #24 all season long.

At his funeral, Salei's coffin was draped with his Mighty Ducks jersey.

Today's featured jersey is a 2004 Belarus National Team Ruslan Salei jersey as worn in Salei's participation at the World Championships B Pool tournament when Salei had his highest offensive output in an international tournament with a career high 3 goals and 4 assists for 7 points.

Belarus' National Team first began play in 1994 in the C Pool. It took them two tries to elevate themselves to the B Pool and two more to rise to Group A in 1997. After being relegated in 2001, the earned immediate promotion back to the Top Level in 2002. They were again relegated in 2003 thanks to Japan being exempt from relegation. Once gain they earned an immediate promotion back to the top in 2004 and have remained there ever since, which included an all-time high finish of 6th in 2006, thanks to wins over Slovakia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Switzerland on their way to finishing with a 4-3 record.

The original version of today's featured jersey was crested with "Belarus" in English, which was later changed to Cyrillic in 2002.

Bonus Jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 2002-03 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Ruslan Salei jersey in which he scored the game winning goal in overtime of Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals, as evidenced by the 2003 Finals patch on the upper right chest.

Today's video highlights begin with Salei winning Game 3 of the 2003 finals for Anaheim with his goal in overtime, just one of 5 playoff goals he would ever score with the Mighty Ducks.

Here are a pair of tributes to Salei, which include footage from his various NHL teams as well as playing for Belarus.

2002 Belarus National Team Vladimir Tsyplakov jersey

Born on this date in 1969, Vladimir Tsyplakov made his debut in the Soviet Hockey League with Dynamo Minsk in the 1988-89 season at the age of 19. That same season he also appeared for the Soviet Union at the 1989 World Junior Championships. He would play three more seasons for Minsk in the Soviet League before moving to North America to continue his career.

His first stop in North America was with the Detroit Falcons of the Colonial Hockey League, who he led in scoring with 76 points in 44 games. He also played that same season with the Indianapolis Ice of the IHL in 11 games.

The 1993-94 season saw him move to the Fort Wayne Komets, still in the IHL. With the Komets, Tsyplakov averaged a point per game over 63 games. He maintained that average over 14 playoff games as the Komets made it to the Turner Cup Finals.

He returned to the Komets in 1994-95, leading the club in scoring with 38 goals and 78 points in 79 games, a performance which caught the eye of the Los Angeles Kings who drafted Tsyplakov in the 3rd round of the 1995 NHL Entry Draft at the somewhat advanced age of 25.

The 1994-95 Ft. Wayne Komets

For the 1995-96 season, Tsyplakov would play 9 games with the Las Vegas Thunder and make his NHL debut with the Kings, appearing in 29 games, scoring his first 5 NHL goals and 10 points.

In his first full season with Los Angeles in 1996-97, Tsyplakov put up 39 points in 67 games before setting a career highs with 18 goals and 52 points in 73 games during the 1997-98 season.

Also that same season, Tsyplakov made his debut with the Belarus National Team, which came into being only six years earlier in 1992 following the breakup of the Soviet Union. Despite having played for the Soviet Union early in his career, players were given the opportunity to choose whether to play for Russia or the former Soviet satellite country of their heritage, and Tsyplakov chose to play for Belarus, who had to endure a long and arduous path to the 1998 Nagano Olympics, first winning a regional Pre-Qualification tournament by sweeping Latvia, Hungary, Estonia and Lithuania. They then earned a spot in the Olympics after participating in a Final Olympic Qualification tournament, where they tied Kazakhstan, beat hosts Austria and tied Norway to advance along with Kazakhstan.

Once at the Olympics in Japan, they continued their undefeated streak, now at 10, by beating France 4-0, Germany 8-2 and tied hosts Japan 2-2 to win Group B despite the fact the NHL had yet to take a break from it's schedule to allow NHL players from the smaller countries to appear in the the Preliminary Round. All of their success in winning Group B earned Belarus a berth in the First Round where they were placed in Group C with the likes of powerhouses Canada, Sweden and the United States, but at least they roster would now be fortified with the arrival of the Belorussian NHLers such as Tsyplakov.

After losing all three games in Group C, their opponent for the Quarterfinals was winners of Group D, Russia, who ended their tournament with a 4-1 defeat. In the five games Tsyplakov was able to play once the NHL began it's schedule break, he scored a goal and added an assist.

He was back with the Kings for the 1998-99 season, although his production would never reach the level it had the previous season, as he scored only 23 points in 69 games. Following the season, he made his World Championships debut for Belarus, scoring twice and totaling 4 points in 6 games.

After beginning the 1999-00 season with the Kings, he was traded to the Buffalo Sabres after 29 games. Now with Buffalo, he scored 19 points in 34 games to give him a total of 32 for the season. After the Sabres exit from the playoffs, Tsyplakov again appeared in the World Championships, leading Belarus in scoring with 3 goals and 5 points in 5 games.

In October of 2000, he would suffer a severe knee injury, which would limit him to 36 games and 14 points. The Sabres would qualify for the postseason and Tsyplakov would score the only NHL playoff goal of his career.

Tsyplakov would return to Europe for the remainder of his career, joining Ak Bars Kazan of the Russian SuperLeague, a move which would allow him to play the entirety of the upcoming Olympics. He would contribute 19 points in 25 games as well as 6 more in 11 playoff games as Kazan would reach the league finals. During the Olympics, Belarus would first have to survive a preliminary round, where they advanced thanks to wins over Ukraine 1-0 and France 3-1 before a 2-1 loss to Switzerland.

Once in the First Round, lopsided losses to Russia, Finland and the United States pitted them against the winners of Group C in the Quarterfinals, which would see them deliver the shocking upset of Sweden thanks to Vladimir Kopat's 70 foot shot which bounced off the head of Swedish goaltender Tommy Salo with just 2:24 left in the game. It was immediately ranked as one of the three biggest upsets in Olympic hockey history, along with the United States 1980 "Miracle on Ice" defeat of the Soviet Union and Great Britian's 1936 defeat of Canada. Belarus could not pull another rabbit out of their hat, as the fell 7-1 to a determined Canada in the semifinals and finished fourth after dropping the Bronze Medal Game to Russia 7-2.

Belarus celebrates their shocking upset of Sweden

Later that spring, Tsyplakov once again laced up his skates for Belarus with a mission on his mind, as Belarus was seeking a return to the Top Division of the World Championships, having been relegated to Division I in 2001. In five games, a determined Belarus dominated Korea 12-1, pounded Croatia 9-0, hammered the Netherlands 15-4, outlasted Kazakhstan 6-4 and dropped France 3-1 to finish undefeated while Tsyplakov came second in team scoring with 9 goals and 18 points in 5 games and Belarus earned a promotion back to the Top Division for 2003.

Back with Ak Bars Kazan for 2002-03, he scored 18 goals and 24 points in 45 games before yet another World Championships, where he added 3 goals and 4 points to international career totals, only to see Belarus relegated back to Division I once again thanks to a rule which defended Japan's place in the Top Division as the Far Eastern Qualifier despite their finishing last once again, as they did in 2001.

The 2003-04 season was Tsyplakov's final one with Ak Bars, one in which he had his best season of his return to Russia with 15 goals and 25 points in 41 games. At that spring's World Championships, Belarus again dominated Division I, handily winning promotion after going 5-0 in Group A with wins over Norway, the Netherlands, Hungary, Great Britian and Belgium as Tsyplakov was third in team scoring with 5 goals and 7 points in 5 games.

His final season of play saw him move to CSKA Moscow and finish his career with one final appearance for Belarus at the 2005 World Championships, where Belarus avoided the relegation round entirely to ensure their continued participation in the Top Division for 2006.

Tsyplakov would finish his career with 69 goals and 170 NHL points and 24 goals and 48 points while playing internationally for Belarus, while also being named the Belarus Player of the Year in 1992, 200 and 2002.

Today's featured jersey is a 2002 Belarus National Team Vladimir Tsyplakov jersey as worn during Belarus' shocking upset of Sweden at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

This style of Belarus jersey debuted in 1997-98 season and remained unchanged for three years until the Belarus coat of arms patch was added to the chest in 2000-01. The next major change for this jersey came in the 2001-02 season when the upward angled "Belarus" cresting was replaced by a change to horizontal, yet italicized, Cyrillic lettering. This final variation of this jersey would remain in use through the change to the Nike Swift jerseys in 2006.

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 2000-01 Buffalo Sabres Vladimir Tsyplakov jersey as worn during his brief time in Buffalo. The Sabres adopted this style for the 1996-97 season. It was a complete overhaul of their look, debuting brand new red and black colors and an entirely new logo. They would wear these jerseys through the 2005-06 season before a return to their original blue and gold colors in 2006-07.

Extra bonus jersey: Todays extra bonus jersey is a 2003-04 Ak Bars Kazan Vladimir Tsyplakov jersey as worn during the latter phase of his career back in Russia where it began.

Ak Bars finished as Russian Super League runners up during his first season with the club while wearing these attractive jerseys which were clearly influenced by the striping pattern on the Sabres jerseys he wore while in Buffalo.

Today's video highlight is Belarus' Miracle in Salt Lake upset over Sweden in the Quarterfinals of the 2002 Olympics.

2014 IIHF World Championships

The 2014 IIHF World Championship begins today in Minsk, Belarus.

The 16 teams are divided into two groups, with Group A consisting of Sweden, the Czech Republic, Canada, Slovakia, Norway, Denmark, France and Italy, with all games being played at the 9,600 capacity Chizhovka Arena in the southeast of Minsk.

Group B sees Finland, Russia, the United States, Switzerland, Germany, Latvia, host Belarus and Kazakhstan playing their games are the larger Minsk Arena, which opened in 2010, has a capacity of 15,086 and his home to the KHL club HC Dinamo Minsk. Minsk Arena is in the northwest side of central Minsk, just 22 minutes from Chizhovka Arena, which will allow fans the opportunity to see games at either venue, a chance from the last two years which saw games split between Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden.

This will be the first time the World Championships have been held in Belarus and the format of the tournament calls for each team to play the other seven teams in it's group in the Preliminary Round, which extends from today, May 9th through May 20th. The last place teams in each group will be relegated to Division I Group A for the 2015 season.

The top 4 teams in each group will advance to the Quarterfinals on May 22nd with the winners meeting in the Semifinals on May 24th. The losers of those games will meet the next day on May 25th for the bronze medal while the winners will face off for the IIHF World Championship later the same day.

For fans in Canada, TSN will show all the Canadian and American preliminary round games as well as each of the eight playoff games. Viewers in the US can watch all of the American games and all eight playoff games on the NBC Sports Network. With the time difference between North America and Belarus, games will air live between mid morning and early afternoon eastern time.

The Belarus National Ice Hockey Team is currently ranked 15th in the IIHF World Rankings and played their first international game in November of 1992 after gaining their independence from the Soviet Union.

The Belarusians have participated in the Olympics in ice hockey three times since 1994. Their best result was a stunning fourth place in 2002 in Salt Lake City after winning their preliminary group, which consisted of Ukraine, Switzerland and France. After placing last in the final round by going winless against the United States, Finland and Russia, Belarus shocked the world by defeating the heavily favored Sweden, winners of Group A, in the Quarterfinals of the Medal Round by a score of 4-3 after Vladimir Kopat famously scored from center ice on a shot that deflected off of Swedish goaltender Tommy Salo's head in what has been called one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history.

Belarus celebrates their shocking win over Sweden

Their other two appearances resulted in a 7th place in 1998 in Japan and a 9th place in 2020 in Vancouver.

Since gaining their independence, Belarus have been regular participants in the World Championships, first being assigned to Pool C as a new country, the lowest rung of the ladder system. After finishing second in 1994, they earned promotion to Pool B by winning Pool C in 1995. After a third place finish in 1996, they won Pool B in 1997, completing a rise to the Top Division in just four years.

Since rising to the Top Division for 1998, Belarus has only been relegated twice, with both of those being due to a rule which allowed one team from the Far East to remain as a representative from that area of the world despite Japan finishing dead last both times, costing Belarus the right to stay in the Top Division. Each time Belarus were demoted, they earned immediate promotion at the first opportunity by winning their group in Division 1. To date, Belarus' best finish in the World Championships has been a sixth place in 2006, ahead of the United States, Slovakia and Switzerland that year.

Belarus has been flirting with disaster of late, with three consecutive 14th place finishes, one spot above relegation. If they are to avoid relegation again as the host nation, the key game in their efforts will be their second game on May 11th against Kazakhstan, the only team ranked lower in 16th place. Other key games for the Belarussians will be feeding off the energy of the home supporters on May 18th vs. Germany and May 19th against Latvia.

While Belarus has slipped in the World Rankings from a high of 8th as recently as 2009 to their current 15th, they have had a history of sending players to the NHL, including Mikhail Grabovski of Washington, brothers Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn, the late Ruslan Salei, Vladimir Tsyplakov and Konstantin Koltsov.

Ruslan Salei

Today's featured jersey is a 2002 Belarus National Team Vladimir Tsyplakov jersey as worn during their famous upset over Sweden at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Tsyplakov was originally drafted 59th overall by the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL and played for the Kings in five seasons and parts of two more seasons with the Buffalo Sabres before returning to Russia, where he played an additional four years before retiring.

His final NHL totals were 331 games, 69 goals and 101 assists for 170 points.

Here are the final few minutes of Belarus' shocking upset victory against Sweden in the 2002 Olympics.

2002 Belarus Vladimir Tsyplakov Jersey

On this date in 2002, Belarus shocked the hockey world with a stunning upset victory over heavily favored Sweden at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The format of the tournament called for only the top six teams automatically entered into the final eight, with the remaining eight countries obligated to play in the Preliminary Round, with the two survivors advancing to the Final Round of group play.

The NHL did not even bother to suspend league play for the Preliminary Round, which so severely hampered the efforts of countries like Latvia and Slovakia, whose star players were obligated to stay with their NHL clubs, that the Olympic format in 2006 was changed to prevent such an injustice from happening again.

Belarus started the tournament in Group B of the Preliminary Round with Ukraine, Switzerland and France and only one NHL player on their roster, Ruslan Salei.

They began their group play with a key 1-0 win over Ukraine and were aided when France managed a tie with Switzerland, leaving Belarus alone on top of the standings after just one game.

Belarus defeated France 3-1, while Ukraine downed Switzerland 5-2. All Belarus needed was to win or tie against Switzerland to win the group and advance, but they lost 2-1, while Ukraine tied them in the standings with 4 points apiece after their win over France 4-2, with Belarus advancing due to their head-to-head victory over Ukraine.

The Belarusian's reward for advancing, to only their second Olympic hockey tournament, was to be placed in a group with Russia, Finland and the United States.

There, things went pretty much as expected with losses to Russia 6-4, Finland 8-1 and the US 8-1, leaving Belarus last in the group with 6 goals for and 22 against.

Fortunately for Belarus, all of the teams advanced to the Medal Round of knockout games, and, as the last place finisher in Group B, Belarus was paired with the winners of Group A, the heavily favored Swedes, who had just gone undefeated against Germany, the Czech Republic and Canada.

Sweden started out the game with a Nicklas Lidstrom power play goal at 3:10 of the first period, but then Belarus tied the game with a shorthanded goal by Oleg Romanov less than five minutes later. Dmitry Dudik then scored during a 5 on 3 advantage later in the first period to take the lead.

The confidence that goal gave Belarus showed as they counterattacked aggressively to take advantage of Sweden pushing one defenseman forward into the offensive play. Sweden tied the score after two periods with a goal by Michael Nylander.

The third period began with Belarus taking the lead once more at 2:47 with a goal by Andrei Kovalev and once more Sweden came back when Mats Sundin tied the game at 7:54, leaving 12 minutes to decide the game. Belarus killed off a penalty at the halfway point and Sweden had to do the same at 14:46.

Now down to the final five minutes, Sweden still fully expected to find the goal they needed to advance, but then the unthinkable happened...

Vladimir Kopat came up the ice with the puck, crossed the center red line and let go a 70-foot shot at the Swedish goaltender Tommy Salo, who won the gold medal for Sweden in 1994 when he stopped Paul Kariya's final shootout attempt for Canada. The puck continued to rise as it travelled toward the goal and, as Salo lost sight of the puck and then awkwardly jumped up and tried to catch it next to his head instead of just reaching up and gloving it, the puck hit him in the mask near his neck, bounced up and dribbled into the goal behind him for a 4-3 Belarus lead with just 2:24 to play.

Belarus circled the wagons and kept Sweden at bay for the remainder of the game, including the final 56 seconds with and extra attacker on for Sweden. While Kopat will go down in history as the man who scored the improbable goal, goaltender Andrei Mezin starred for Belarus with 44 saves, keeping them in the game despite being outshot 47-27. "For sure, it is a miracle for us," Mezin said. "But sometimes a gun without bullets can shoot, and that was us. We've made our place in history."

"He played the game of his life," Sweden coach Hardy Nilsson said.

"It's a devastating loss for us and our country," Swedish forward Markus Naslund said.

"I don't understand how we could lose against this team. We should have put this team away in the first or second period," Swedish captain Sundin said.

The victory was immediately ranked as one of the top three upsets in Olympic history, along with the United States victory over the Soviet Union in 1980 and Great Britian's defeat of Canada in 1936.

Kopat, who scored the winning goal, was asked, ''Do you believe in miracles?'' ''Yes,'' he replied. ''Of course. It was just a shot from the red line and ... well, that's what happened," he said, as incredulous about the goal as anyone.

Even Salei said afterward, "It was a lucky goal."

Belarus would finish the tournament classified fourth.

Today's featured jersey is a 2002 Belarus National Team Vladimir Tsyplakov jersey as worn during their famous upset over Sweden at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. Belarus first introduced this jersey style in 1998 with "Belarus" on the front in Latin characters which went at a diagonal, upwards to the left. For 2002 the cresting changed to Cyrillic horizontally across the front. This final version would remain in use through 2005.

Tsyplakov was originally drafted 59th overall by the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL and played for the Kings in five seasons and parts of two more seasons with the Buffalo Sabres before returning to Russia, where he played an additional four years before retiring. His final NHL totals were 331 games, 69 goals and 101 assists for 170 points.

Here are the final few minutes of Belarus' shocking upset victory against Sweden in the 2002 Olympics.

2002 Belarus National Team Vladimir Tsyplakov jersey

Born on this date in 1969, Vladimir Tsyplakov made his debut in the Soviet Hockey League with Dynamo Minsk in the 1988-89 season at the age of 19. That same season he also appeared for the Soviet Union at the 1989 World Junior Championships. He would play three more seasons for Minsk in the Soviet League before moving to North America to continue his career.

His first stop in North America was with the Detroit Falcons of the Colonial Hockey League, who he led in scoring with 76 points in 44 games. He also played that same season with the Indianapolis Ice of the IHL in 11 games.

The 1993-94 season saw him move to the Fort Wayne Komets, still in the IHL. With the Komets, Tsyplakov averaged a point per game over 63 games. He maintained that average over 14 playoff games as the Komets made it to the Turner Cup Finals.

He returned to the Komets in 1994-95, leading the club in scoring with 38 goals and 78 points in 79 games, a performance which caught the eye of the Los Angeles Kings who drafted Tsyplakov in the 3rd round of the 1995 NHL Entry Draft at the somewhat advanced age of 25.

The 1994-95 Ft. Wayne Komets

For the 1995-96 season, Tsyplakov would play 9 games with the Las Vegas Thunder and make his NHL debut with the Kings, appearing in 29 games, scoring his first 5 NHL goals and 10 points.

In his first full season with Los Angeles, Tsyplakov put up 39 points in 67 games before setting a career highs with 18 goals and 52 points in 73 games.

Also that same season, Tsyplakov made his debut with the Belarus National Team, which came into being only six years earlier in 1992 following the breakup of the Soviet Union. Despite having played for the Soviet Union early in his career, players were given the opportunity to choose whether to play for Russia or the former Soviet satellite country of their heritage, and Tsyplakov chose to play for Belarus, who had to endure a long and arduous path to the Olympics, first winning a regional Pre-Qualification tournament by sweeping Latvia, Hungary, Estonia and Lithuania. They then earned a spot in the Olympics after participating in a Final Olympic Qualification tournament, where they tied Kazakhstan, beat hosts Austria and tied Norway to advance along with Kazakhstan.

Once at the Olympics in Japan, they continued their undefeated streak, now at 10, by beating France 4-0, Germany 8-2 and tied hosts Japan 2-2 to win Group B despite the fact the NHL had yet to take a break from it's schedule to allow NHL players from the smaller countries to appear in the the Preliminary Round. All of their success in winning Group B earned Belarus a berth in the First Round where they were placed in Group C with the likes of powerhouses Canada, Sweden and the United States, but at least they roster would now be fortified with the arrival of the Belorussian NHLers such as Tsyplakov.

After losing all three games in Group C, their opponent for the Quarterfinals was winners of Group D, Russia, who ended their tournament with a 4-1 defeat. In the five games Tsyplakov was able to play once the NHL began it's schedule break, he scored a goal and added an assist.

He was back with the Kings for the 1998-99 season, although his production would never reach the level it had the previous season, as he scored only 23 points in 69 games. Following the season, he made his World Championships debut for Belarus, scoring twice and totaling 4 points in 6 games.

After beginning the 1999-00 season with the Kings, he was traded to the Buffalo Sabres after 29 games. Now with Buffalo, he scored 19 points in 34 games to give him a total of 32 for the season. After the Sabres exit from the playoffs, Tsyplakov again appeared in the World Championships, leading Belarus in scoring with 3 goals and 5 points in 5 games.

In October of 2000, he would suffer a severe knee injury, which would limit him to 36 games and 14 points. The Sabres would qualify for the postseason and Tsyplakov would score the only NHL playoff goal of his career.

Tsyplakov would return to Europe for the remainder of his career, joining Ak Bars Kazan of the Russian SuperLeague, a move which would allow him to play the entirety of the upcoming Olympics. He would contribute 19 points in 25 games as well as 6 more in 11 playoff games as Kazan would reach the league finals. During the Olympics, Belarus would first have to survive a preliminary round, where they advanced thanks to wins over Ukraine 1-0 and France 3-1 before a 2-1 loss to Switzerland.

Once in the First Round, lopsided losses to Russia, Finland and the United States pitted them against the winners of Group C in the Quarterfinals, which would see them deliver the shocking upset of Sweden thanks to Vladimir Kopat's 70 foot shot which bounced off the head of Swedish goaltender Tommy Salo with just 2:24 left in the game. It was immediately ranked as one of the three biggest upsets in Olympic hockey history, along with the United States 1980 "Miracle on Ice" defeat of the Soviet Union and Great Britian's 1936 defeat of Canada. Belarus could not pull another rabbit out of their hat, as the fell 7-1 to a determined Canada in the semifinals and finished fourth after dropping the Bronze Medal Game to Russia 7-2.

Belarus celebrates their shocking upset of Sweden

Later that spring, Tsyplakov once again laced up his skates for Belarus with a mission on his mind, as Belarus was seeking a return to the Top Division of the World Championships, having been relegated to Division I in 2001. In five games, a determined Belarus dominated Korea 12-1, pounded Croatia 9-0, hammered the Netherlands 15-4, outlasted Kazakhstan 6-4 and dropped France 3-1 to finish undefeated while Tsyplakov came second in team scoring with 9 goals and 18 points in 5 games and Belarus earned a promotion back to the Top Division for 2003.

Back with Ak Bars Kazan for 2002-03, he scored 18 goals and 24 points in 45 games before yet another World Championships, where he added 3 goals and 4 points to international career totals, only to see Belarus relegated back to Division I once again thanks to a rule which defended Japan's place in the Top Division as the Far Eastern Qualifier despite their finishing last once again, as they did in 2001.

The 2003-04 season was Tsyplakov's final one with Ak Bars, one in which he had his best season of his return to Russia with 15 goals and 25 points in 41 games. At that spring's World Championships, Belarus again dominated Division I, handily winning promotion after going 5-0 in Group A with wins over Norway, the Netherlands, Hungary, Great Britian and Belgium as Tsyplakov was third in team scoring with 5 goals and 7 points in 5 games.

His final season of play saw him move to CSKA Moscow and finish his career with one final appearance for Belarus at the 2005 World Championships, where Belarus avoided the relegation round entirely to ensure their continued participation in the Top Division for 2006.

Tsyplakov would finish his career with 69 goals and 170 NHL points and 24 goals and 48 points while playing internationally for Belarus, while also being named the Belarus Player of the Year in 1992, 200 and 2002.

Today's featured jersey is a 2002 Belarus National Team Vladimir Tsyplakov jersey as worn during Belarus' shocking upset of Sweden at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

This style of Belarus jersey debuted in 1997-98 season and remained unchanged for three years until the Belarus coat of arms patch was added to the chest in 2000-01. The next major change for this jersey came in the 2001-02 season when the upward angled "Belarus" cresting was replaced by a change to horizontal, yet italicized, Cyrillic lettering. This final variation of this jersey would remain in use through the change to the Nike Swift jerseys in 2006.

Today's video highlight is Belarus' Miracle in Salt Lake upset over Sweden in the Quarterfinals of the 2002 Olympics.

2004 Belarus National Team Ruslan Salei Jersey

After beginning his career with his hometown Russian Superleague club Dynamo Minsk of Belarus in 1992-93, defenseman Ruslan Salei, born on this date in 1974, played two more seasons with the club, then renamed Tivali Minsk, until taking the opportunity of the recently changed political landscape to come to North America and try to gain the attention of NHL scouts.

He signed with the Las Vegas Thunder of the International Hockey League for the 1995-96 season. While never an offensive force, he did surpass any offensive output he managed in Russia, thanks in part to the longer North American professional season, when he scored 7 goals and 30 points, five times more than the high of 6 he managed the year before in 51 games. In addition, he also showed his rugged side by accumulating 123 penalty minutes. All of this led to his being drafted 9th overall in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

His next season was divided between the Thunder (8 games), the Baltimore Bandits of the American Hockey League (12 games) and making his NHL debut with Anaheim (30 games), which included Salei scoring his first NHL point with an assist.

For 1997-98, Salei spent the vast majority of his season with the Mighty Ducks, which included his scoring 5 goals and 15 points in 66 games. He also skated for the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks of the AHL in six games that same season.

He would spend the entire 1998-99 season with Anaheim, playing in 74 games as well as seeing his first playoff action in three games during the postseason. While certainly not a flashy offensive defenseman, he became a fan favorite for his grit, nastiness and determination.

After four more seasons, the Mighty Ducks would go on their first extended playoff run, making it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, thanks to their solid defensive corps, consisting of Niclas Havelid, Keith Carney, Sandis Ozolinsh, Salei, Vitali Vishnevsky and Kurt Sauer playing in front of Conn Smythe Winner Jean-Sebastien Giguere. The Mighty Ducks gave up just 6 goals in 4 games while sweeping Detroit in Round 1, eliminated Dallas in six, miraculously gave up just a single goal to Minnesota as they were swept in four and took the New Jersey Devils to seven games in the finals as Giguere finished the postseason with five shutouts.

The highlight of not only the playoffs, but perhaps his entire career, was Salei winning Game 3 of the finals for the Mighty Ducks with his overtime goal in Game 3 against Martin Brodeur.

After the 2003-04 season with Anaheim, Salei would travel to Russia to play with Ak Bars Kazan of the Russian Superleague during the NHL lockout of 2004-05. He returned to Anaheim for one final season when the NHL resumed play in 2005-06, which included his setting a new NHL high with 19 points.

Salei left the Mighty Ducks after nine seasons to sign a free agent contract with the Florida Panthers. The change in scenery led to a change in Salei's game, as he immediately surpassed his previous offensive totals by a large margin, setting career highs with 6 goals and 26 assists for 32 points, the only time in his NHL career he would exceed 23 points.

After a second season in Florida, he was dealt at the trading deadline (for former teammate Ozolinsh) to the Colorado Avalanche for the final 17 games of the season.He would play another season for Colorado, surpassing 20 points for only the third time, the other being his second season in Florida.

He suffered a serious back injury early in 2009-10, which limited him to just 14 games for the season. The 2010-11 season saw him reunited with his former Mighty Ducks coach Mike Babcock, this time with the Detroit Red Wings. Showing his back issues were behind him, he competed in 75 regular season games as well as 11 playoff contests.

His final NHL totals after 14 seasons of play were 917 games played with 45 goals and 159 assist for 204 points and 1,065 penalty minutes.

Internationally, Salei was a stalwart on the Belarus blue line. The Belarusians first competed internationally at the 1994 World Championships at the Group C level, where they came second to fellow newcomers Slovakia. The won Group C in 1995 with a 4-0 record (while outscoring their opponents 19-8) and were promoted to Group B.

Salei returned to the national team in 1996 and 1997 to help them qualify for the 1998 Olympics in Japan, the first to feature NHL stars, which included a record 21-0 win over Lithuania. Once in Japan, Salei and Belarus won their preliminary round group to advance to the first round, only to be grouped with powerhouses Canada, Sweden and the United States. He also scored his first Olympic goal during

Later that same spring, Belarus, now having been promoted to the top level Group A, advanced to the second round, having finished second to the Czech Republic in Group 1 thanks to wins over Germany and Japan.

He made his next international appearance at the 2000 World Championships, which was highlighted with wins over Ukraine, a shocking 1-0 shutout of Russia and a 5-3 win over Switzerland. Salei and Belarus did not fare as well in 2001, as they finished 14th, usually enough to avoid relegation, but with Japan being protected as the Far Eastern qualifier despite finishing dead last, Belarus were relegated to Division I.

Salei made his second Olympic appearance in 2002 and scored 2 goals in 6 games as Belarus became the Cinderella story of the games. First, they needed to win Group B of the Preliminary Round to advance to the First Round, where they lost three straight games to the United States, Finland and Russia. Still, all eight remaining teams advanced to the Quarterfinals where Belarus shocked the world with their stunning 4-3 defeat of Sweden thanks to Vladimir Kopat's shot from center ice which careened off of Swedish goaltender Tommy Salo's head and into the net with less than 2 and a half minutes remaining.

In 2004, Salei helped Belarus steamroll the opposition in Division I Group A with 3 goals and 7 points for his highest scoring international tournament ever, as they went 5-0 while outscoring their competition 34-9 to return to the Top Level, where they remain to this day.

After two games in an unsuccessful Olympic qualification attempt in 2005, Salei returned to the World Championships in 2008 and again in 2009 where he scored 2 goals and 5 points while serving as team captain.

Salei participated in the third Olympics of his long international career in 2010 in Vancouver. Three months later, Salei made his final international appearance as he took part in his 9th World Championships in Germany, where he scored a goal, the 13th of his career for Belarus. In all, he would play in 69 games and score 31 points in 14 tournaments.

For the 2011-12 season, Salei signed with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League.

As the team were leaving to play their first game of the season, scheduled back in Salei's hometown of Minsk, Belarus, their plane crashed on takeoff, killing Salei and all but one of his 25 teammates, who then died five days later. Additionally, 11 team staff members and 7 of the 8 of the plane's crew also perished. The crash resulted in Lokomotiv bypassing their participation in the KHL season and a moving tribute to Lokomotiv on the ice in Minsk the following day.

This season, tributes to Salei include former Detroit teammate Pavel Datsyuk wearing Salei's #24 during the preseason, the Red Wings honoring Salei on their patch which also includes Brad McCrimmon and Stefan Liv and the Ducks wearing Salei's #24 all season long.

At his funeral, Salei's coffin was draped with his Mighty Ducks jersey.

Today's featured jersey is a 2004 Belarus National Team Ruslan Salei jersey as worn in Salei's participation at the World Championships B Pool tournament when Salei had his highest offensive output in an international tournament with a career high 3 goals and 4 assists for 7 points.

Belarus' National Team first began play in 1994 in the C Pool. It took them two tries to elevate themselves to the B Pool and two more to rise to Group A in 1997. After being relegated in 2001, the earned immediate promotion back to the Top Level in 2002. They were again relegated in 2003 thanks to Japan being exempt from relegation. Once gain they earned an immediate promotion back to the top in 2004 and have remained there ever since, which included an all-time high finish of 6th in 2006, thanks to wins over Slovakia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Switzerland on their way to finishing with a 4-3 record.

The original version of today's featured jersey was crested with "Belarus" in English, which was later changed to Cyrillic in 2002.

Bonus Jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 2002-03 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Ruslan Salei jersey in which he scored the game winning goal in overtime of Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals, as evidenced by the 2003 Finals patch on the upper right chest.

Today's video highlights begin with Salei winning Game 3 of the 2003 finals for Anaheim with his goal in overtime, just one of 5 playoff goals he would ever score with the Mighty Ducks.

Here are a pair of tributes to Salei, which include footage from his various NHL teams as well as playing for Belarus.