1996 United States National Team Brett Hull Jersey

The 1996 World Cup of Hockey can trace it's roots to the 1972 Summit Series, which featured the Soviet National Team, whose vastly experienced players were considered amateurs and thus eligible for the Olympics, facing off against Team Canada, whose roster was made up of Canadian NHL professionals who were not allowed to participate in the Olympic Games at the time, clearing the path for Soviet domination of Olympic hockey.

The Soviet Union won 8 of 10 Olympic gold medals from 1956 to 1992

The 1972 Summit Series concept of the best players each nation had to offer, regardless of amateur or professional stats, was expanded in 1976 with the creation of the first Canada Cup tournament, which saw teams from not only Canada and the Soviet Union, but the addition of teams representing Finland, Sweden, Czechoslovakia and the United States.

The United States saw mixed results in the Canada Cup tournaments, finishing 5th out of 6 in 1976. A 4th place in the round-robin portion in 1981 saw them qualify for the semi-finals, where they were easily defeated by the host Canadians by a 4-1 score.

Tony Esposito playing goal for the United States in 1981

A strong round-robin result had the USA finishing 2nd in 1984, including a 7-1 opening game defeat of Sweden, a 4-4 tie with Canada, a narrow 2-1 loss to the Soviet Union and a 6-4 win over West Germany for a 3-1-1 record. The United States would face off against Sweden in the semifinals and suffer a stunning 9-2 drubbing at the hands of the Swedes, who scored on their first four shots on goal, a team the USA had so easily defeated just 11 days earlier.

In the 1987 edition, the United States completed the round-robin portion of the tournament with a 2-3 record to finish 5th and fail to advance to the playoff round.

Things improved in 1991, with the Americans taking second in the round-robin portion with an impressive 4-1 record. They opened the tournament by defeating Sweden 6-3, then lost to Canada 6-3 before running off a series of victories against Czechoslovakia (4-2), the Soviet Union (2-1) and Finland (4-3). The semi-finals saw a confident US take care of Finland again by a 7-3 score and advance to the finals versus Canada, who would defeat the US by scores of 4-1 and 4-2 to win the best-of-three finals.

For 1996, the tournament was renamed the World Cup of Hockey as a result of various behind the scenes business developments involving Canada Cup founder Alan Eagleson's legal troubles as a result of his fraud and embezzlement scandal. Instead of being run for the financial benefit of Hockey Canada as the Canada Cup was, the newly organized World Cup was a joint venture between the NHL and it's players union, the NHL Players Association (NHLPA).

Taking a more global perspective, the competition now included eight teams, partially as a result of the political upheaval during the fall of communism in Eastern Europe which saw Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. There were now also games held in Europe for the first time.

The teams involved in the North American Pool included Canada Cup hold-overs Canada, Russia (no longer the Soviet Union) and the United States plus newcomer Slovakia. The games were held in Vancouver, Montreal, Philadelphia, Ottawa and New York.

The European Pool saw Sweden and Finland joined by the Czech Republic and Germany, which had participated in the Canada Cup once as West Germany in 1984. Stockholm, Sweden, Helsinki, Finland, Prague in the Czech Republic and Garmisch, located in Germany, would all host games in Europe, with the top three teams advancing to the playoffs held in North America.

The North American Pool saw the United States come out on top with a 3-0 record and earn a bye directly into the semifinals, while Sweden won the European Pool for its trip to North America and a place in the semifinals.

In the quarterfinals Germany would fall to Canada 4-1 in Montreal and Russia would overpower Finland 5-0 in their game played in Ottawa.

The semifinals would see Canada take down Sweden 3-2 in two overtimes in a game held not in Canada, but Philadelphia! Canada held a 2-0 lead after two periods, only to see Sweden come back to tie the game in the third. Theo Fleury would score the game winner with just 13 seconds remaining in the second overtime to send Canada into the best-of-three finals.

Meanwhile, the United States would oddly have to travel to Ottawa to defeat Russia 5-2. Just 26 seconds into the game, Pat Lafontaine would put the Americans ahead and Brett Hull then scored on the powerplay to give the US a 2-0 lead just before the end of the opening period. The United States would extend its lead by scoring a pair of goals in the second, after giving up one to the Russians, to take a commanding 4-1 lead into the third. Sergei Zubov would pull one back for Russia less than two minutes into the third, but the United States would counter that with a goal at 14 minutes to re-establish their three goal margin and advance to the finals versus Canada.

Game One of the finals was held in Philadelphia and was a close fought battle. Eric Lindros would put the Canadians up 1-0 after one period. Defenseman Derian Hatcher would score a pair of goals in the second to give the USA the lead, only to have Claude Lemieux tie the game during the final minutes of the second.

Fleury gave the Canadians the lead half way through the third. The lead held up through the remainder of the period until the USA pulled their goaltender Mike Richter. The resulting man advantage caused the Canadians to ice the puck repeatedly, and with less than 10 seconds remaining in the game, Joel Otto won the faceoff back to US captain Brian Leetch, who fired the puck at Canadian goaltender Curtis Joseph, who made the save only to have Eric Desjardins try to put the puck under his goalie Joseph and see it sneak through his legs and trickle over the goal line with 6.3 seconds showing on the clock.

Canada would dominate the resulting overtime, outshooting the US 6-1 before Steve Yzerman shot one past a screened Richter to give Canada the first game in the best-of-three finals.

Game Two in Montreal would see the United States come out on top with a 5-2 win. The teams would trade goals in the first period, but the United States would add a pair in the second from John LeClair, his second of the game, followed by a goal by Hull. Joe Sakic would cut the margin to one at 14:48 of the third, but the United States would put the game away with a pair of empty net goals in the last 1:08 of the contest, forcing a deciding Game Three, also to be held in Montreal on this date in 1996.

With Richter, playing at the top of his game, holding off the Canadian attack, the United States scored the first goal at 11:18 of the first on the power play as Hull would give the US a 1-0 lead after one. The lead would hold up almost the entire second period as Richter would continue his stellar play in goal for the US, making 21 saves in the second period before Lindros would even the score with just six seconds before the intermission. At this point, the Canadians had decisively outshot the Americans by a margin of 32-14.

Adam Foote would solve Richter at 12:50 of the third to give Canada their first lead in over 5 1/2 periods of hockey.

Hull would even the score when he deflected a high shot from the point by Leetch that would stand after a video review, tying the contest at 16:42.

Energized by the goal, the Americans continued to press and Tony Amonte gave them the lead with 2:35 remaining.

Amonte celebrates after scoring to give the Americans the lead 

Derian Hatcher put the game out of reach with an empty net goal at 19:19 and Adam Deadmarsh drilled a long slapshot past Joseph with just 14 seconds left to give the USA a final 5-2 margin in a game that was tied with just 3:18 remaining.

 Richter would be named the First Star of the game after making 35 saves on 37 shots.
 

Tkachuk, Leetch and Weight hoist the World Cup

along with presenter Jean Beliveau

Hull would finish the tournament with 7 goals and 4 assists for 11 points in 7 games to lead the tournament in scoring followed closely by teammate LeClair with 10 points from 6 goals and 4 assists. Doug Weight (7), Leetch (7) and Keith Tkachuk (6) would all finish in the top 10 in scoring for the Americans.

The United States celebrates its greatest accomplishment since 1980

The tournament All-Star team would be made of of Forwards Mats Sundin (Sweden), Hull and LeClair of the USA, defensemen Calle Johansson of Sweden and Chris Chelios (USA) as well as goaltender Richter of the USA, who would also be named the tourament's Most Valuable Player thanks to finishing with a 5-1 record, with his only loss coming in overtime.

Richter accepting his reward as tournament MVP  

Today's featured jersey is a 1996 United States National Team Brett Hull jersey as worn when the United States captured the inaugural World Cup of Hockey championship.

The jersey features the smaller 3" size World Cup of Hockey logo patch worn on the left shoulder by the Nike-clad teams in the tournament, which included not only the USA, but Russia, Slovakia, Finland and Germany.

The larger 4" size patch was worn by the teams that wore Bauer jerseys, which were the Czech Republic and Sweden, who also wore the patch on the left shoulder, and Canada, who wore the patch on their right chest.

This style of USA jersey features dye-sublimated "waving flag" stripes on the waist that contain subtle stars in the red areas, as well as in the white sleeve stripes. The 1996 United States jerseys are very sought after and command a lot of attention when they come up for sale.

Unlike the white jerseys available for retail sale, the blue road jerseys were not sold to the public and can only be found as game worn or team issued jerseys, which are complete with fight straps and command premium prices on the rare occasions they become available. Since they were intended for used by the actual players, they are also only found in larger sizes, such as 54, 56, 58 and 60.

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1996 United States National Team Mike Richter jersey as worn by the World Cup of Hockey tournament MVP.

As was Nike's practice at the time, jerseys sold customized with player names and numbers featured sewn twill crests and were tagged with numbered sizes, such as 48 and 52 (but no fight straps), while blank jerseys were sold as lettered sizes, such as L and XL, and with sublimated crests.

The blank examples are scarce, but do offer the collector the opportunity to have their jersey customized as a Hull, Tkachuk, Lafontaine, Amonte, LeClair or any other personal favorite from the victorious American roster.

The jerseys sold with player names from Nike were #35 Richter, #2 Leetch and #27 Jeremy Roenick. However, Roenick never actually played in the World Cup due to being a free agent and not being covered by health insurance at the time so those looking for authenticity should hold out for Richter or Leetch jerseys.

None of the retail jerseys were sold with the World Cup patch. Those would need to be added separately by their owners for proper authenticity as is the case with today's bonus jersey.

Extra bonus jersey: Today's extra bonus jersey is a 1996 United States National Team Brian Leetch jersey as worn by the World Cup of Hockey tournament MVP.

In addition to the retail jerseys not being sold with the World Cup patch, the Leetch jerseys did not come with the captain's "C" either. That would also need to be added separately for proper authenticity as is the case with today's extra bonus jersey.

First up is LeClair tying Game 1 with less than seven seconds to play.

Here are highlights of the thrilling finale of the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.

1993-94 New York Rangers Mike Richter Jersey

After playing for the United States at the 1985 World Junior Tournament, Mike Richter was drafted 28th overall by the New York Rangers before he began his college career at the University of Wisconsin for the 1985-86 season, after which he was named the WCHA Rookie of the Year.

That same season his international experience grew with appearances at both the World Juniors and the World Championships. He returned to Wisconsin for another season in 1986-87 which was followed up with another trip to the World Championships.

His 1987-88 season began as a member of the United States National Team in preparation for the 1988 Olympics in Calgary. At the conclusion of the games, Richter joined the Colorado Rangers of the IHL for the remainder of the season, as well as all of the following 1988-89 season, during which the name of the club was changed to the Denver Rangers.

He made his NHL debut on October 19th, 1989 as a member of the New York Rangers. He made 23 appearances for the blueshirts as well as seeing action in 13 games for the Flint Spirits of the IHL.

He spent the entire 1990-91 season in New York, splitting time with his goaltending partner John Vanbiesbrouck, going 21-13-7. Prior to the start of the next NHL season, Richter was the number one goaltender for the United States team at the 1991 Canada Cup tournament. He again divided the playing time down the middle with Vanbiesbrouck for the 1991-92 Rangers, who captured the President's Trophy for having the league's best record.

Richter and goaltending partner John Vanbiesbrouck

The 1992-93 season for the Rangers was one of disappointment, as they failed to qualify for the playoffs. Richter also suffered an injury which limited him to 38 games and saw him return to the minors when he spent 5 games with the Binghamton Rangers of the AHL on a rehab assignment. With the Rangers out of the playoffs, Richter was able to return to the World Championships for the first time in six years for the United States.

Prior to the 1993-94 season, the NHL expanded by adding two clubs, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the Florida Panthers. As part of the rules of the expansion draft, existing clubs could only protect one goaltender, and the Rangers elected to keep Richter, as Vanbiesbrouck would be traded away.

Now the clear number one goaltender, Richter's games played shot up from a previous high of 45 to 68, which allowed him to set a career best record of 42-12-6. Despite not having any player in the top 20 in scoring, and in fact were led in scoring by a defenseman, Sergei Zubov, the Rangers shot back up the standings to once more claim the President's Trophy with 112 points, a 33 point improvement over the previous year. During the postseason, the Rangers swept the New York Islanders in four, eliminated the Washington Capitals in five and survived a dramatic seven game series over the New Jersey Devils before taking a 3 games to 1 lead over the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks came back to force a Game 7, which the Rangers won by a score of 3-2 to win a memorable Stanley Cup, the Rangers first since 1940.

If that weren't enough, Richter was also named to the second NHL All-Star Game of his career that season and was named the game's MVP on home ice in Madison Square Garden.

After the strike-shortended 1994-95 season, groin problems caused Richter to miss 23 games over two separate occasions during the 1995-96 season, which cut his games played back to 41. Richter showed he was fully healed prior to the 1996-97 campaign by leading the United States to it's greatest hockey triumph since 1980 as the US won the 1996 World Cup of Hockey in a hard fought three game final over Canada. Richter's outstanding play earned him the tournament MVP award to go with his gold medal.

He saw action in 61 games that season and won 33 of them, one of two seasons with 30 wins or more for his career. His workload with the Rangers reached an all-time high when he took to the ice 72 times in 1997-98. During that season, the NHL took a break from it's schedule for the first time ever, which allowed Richter and the other stars of the NHL to participate in the Olympics for the first time ever. As if his workload wasn't enough with the Rangers, Richter now travelled to Japan and played an additional four games for the United States.

For the 1998-99 season, he played in 68 games, followed by 61 the following season. On January 8, 2001, Richter set the all-time Rangers record for games played with 598, and ten days later became the winningest goaltender in franchise history with his 267th win following a 2-1 overtime win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

During the 2001-02 season, Richter again led the Rangers goalies in games played with 55 and totaled 24 wins, his seventh season with 20 or more wins. He also made his final international appearance for the United States, earning a silver medal on home ice at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

He played in 13 games of the 2002-03 season, which included his becoming the first Ranger goaltender to reach 300 wins on this date in 2002 when Petr Nedved scored at 2:20 of overtime in a 3-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes. His career came to a premature end when he suffered a skull fracture and concussion, which necessitated his retirement.

"I was hoping to get it earlier in my career. A couple of injuries the last few years and not as many wins as we wanted was a disappointment. But I'm glad I've been able to stay with this organization long enough to set it with one team. It's really a temporary thing," Richter said. "It's something you'll dwell on a little bit more after your career is done. There has been a lot of great teams and a lot of great players that I have been associated with. For me, it's a great thing we got 300, but nothing is more important to me than 301."

He did get win #301, as his final career totals stand at 301 wins and 24 shutouts in 666 games, a Stanley Cup, a World Cup and an Olympic Silver Medal. He still holds the Rangers goaltending records for games played, wins, single season appearances and wins.

Following his career, his #35 jersey was retired by the Rangers in 2004 and he was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2008.

Today's featured jersey is a 1993-94 New York Rangers Mike Richter jersey as worn during that magic season when Richter was the MVP of the NHL All-Star Game and went on to win the Stanley Cup, ending the Rangers 54 year wait. This particular jersey has the 1994 NHL All-Star Game patch on the right shoulder, the customary position for additional patches on Rangers jerseys, as the diagonal cresting fills the customary spot on the upper right chest where most teams wear extra patches.

This year is naturally more closely associated with the Stanley Cup championship, and for the finals, the All-Star Game patch was replaced by the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals patch, the smallest version of the finals patch ever worn in deference to it's location on the shoulder of the Rangers jersey.

This style Rangers jersey can be traced back to the club's origins in 1926, although there has been some evolution in fonts, as well as a couple of ill-fated attempts to adopt a new style, the blue jersey with the team name diagonally across the front has been in use now for all but three of the club's 86 years.

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1996 Team USA Mike Richter jersey as worn in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey as Richter was named the tournament MVP as the Americans won the gold medal. This short-lived "waving flag" style is very sought after by collectors and was only sold at retail in the home white version, making the blue ones very desirable, as they were only produced for use by the team itself, obviously making for an extremely limited supply.

Today's video segment is an excellent tribute to Mike Richter.

Next, is Richter in a commercial for ESPN.

Here, Richter becomes the all-time Rangers leader in wins following a dramatic overtime goal by Brian Leetch.

Finally, another commercial featuring Richter, this one for Wendy's hamburgers.

1993-94 New York Rangers Mike Richter Jersey

After playing for the United States at the 1985 World Junior Tournament, Mike Richter was drafted 28th overall by the New York Rangers before he began his college career at the University of Wisconsin for the 1985-86 season, after which he was named the WCHA Rookie of the Year.

That same season his international experience grew with appearances at both the World Juniors and the World Championships. He returned to Wisconsin for another season in 1986-87 which was followed up with another trip to the World Championships.

His 1987-88 season began as a member of the United States National Team in preparation for the 1988 Olympics in Calgary. At the conclusion of the games, Richter joined the Colorado Rangers of the IHL for the remainder of the season, as well as all of the following 1988-89 season, during which the name of the club was changed to the Denver Rangers.

He made his NHL debut on October 19th, 1989 as a member of the New York Rangers. He made 23 appearances for the blueshirts as well as seeing action in 13 games for the Flint Spirits of the IHL.

He spent the entire 1990-91 season in New York, splitting time with his goaltending partner John Vanbiesbrouck, going 21-13-7. Prior to the start of the next NHL season, Richter was the number one goaltender for the United States team at the 1991 Canada Cup tournament. He again divided the playing time down the middle with Vanbiesbrouck for the 1991-92 Rangers, who captured the President's Trophy for having the league's best record.

Richter and goaltending partner John Vanbiesbrouck

The 1992-93 season for the Rangers was one of disappointment, as they failed to qualify for the playoffs. Richter also suffered an injury which limited him to 38 games and saw him return to the minors when he spent 5 games with the Binghamton Rangers of the AHL on a rehab assignment. With the Rangers out of the playoffs, Richter was able to return to the World Championships for the first time in six years for the United States.

Prior to the 1993-94 season, the NHL expanded by adding two clubs, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the Florida Panthers. As part of the rules of the expansion draft, existing clubs could only protect one goaltender, and the Rangers elected to keep Richter, as Vanbiesbrouck would be traded away.

Now the clear number one goaltender, Richter's games played shot up from a previous high of 45 to 68, which allowed him to set a career best record of 42-12-6. Despite not having any player in the top 20 in scoring, and in fact were led in scoring by a defenseman, Sergei Zubov, the Rangers shot back up the standings to once more claim the President's Trophy with 112 points, a 33 point improvement over the previous year. During the postseason, the Rangers swept the New York Islanders in four, eliminated the Washington Capitals in five and survived a dramatic seven game series over the New Jersey Devils before taking a 3 games to 1 lead over the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks came back to force a Game 7, which the Rangers won by a score of 3-2 to win a memorable Stanley Cup, the Rangers first since 1940.

If that weren't enough, Richter was also named to the second NHL All-Star Game of his career that season and was named the game's MVP on home ice in Madison Square Garden.

After the strike-shortended 1994-95 season, groin problems caused Richter to miss 23 games over two separate occasions during the 1995-96 season, which cut his games played back to 41. Richter showed he was fully healed prior to the 1996-97 campaign by leading the United States to it's greatest hockey triumph since 1980 as the US won the 1996 World Cup of Hockey in a hard fought three game final over Canada. Richter's outstanding play earned him the tournament MVP award to go with his gold medal.

He saw action in 61 games that season and won 33 of them, one of two seasons with 30 wins or more for his career. His workload with the Rangers reached an all-time high when he took to the ice 72 times in 1997-98. During that season, the NHL took a break from it's schedule for the first time ever, which allowed Richter and the other stars of the NHL to participate in the Olympics for the first time ever. As if his workload wasn't enough with the Rangers, Richter now travelled to Japan and played an additional four games for the United States.

For the 1998-99 season, he played in 68 games, followed by 61 the following season. On January 8, 2001, Richter set the all-time Rangers record for games played with 598, and ten days later became the winningest goaltender in franchise history with his 267th win following a 2-1 overtime win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

During the 2001-02 season, Richter again led the Rangers goalies in games played with 55 and totaled 24 wins, his seventh season with 20 or more wins. He also made his final international appearance for the United States, earning a silver medal on home ice at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

He played in 13 games of the 2002-03 season, which included his becoming the first Ranger goaltender to reach 300 wins on this date in 2002 when Petr Nedved scored at 2:20 of overtime in a 3-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes. His career came to a premature end when he suffered a skull fracture and concussion, which necessitated his retirement.

"I was hoping to get it earlier in my career. A couple of injuries the last few years and not as many wins as we wanted was a disappointment. But I'm glad I've been able to stay with this organization long enough to set it with one team. It's really a temporary thing," Richter said. "It's something you'll dwell on a little bit more after your career is done. There has been a lot of great teams and a lot of great players that I have been associated with. For me, it's a great thing we got 300, but nothing is more important to me than 301."

He did get win #301, as his final career totals stand at 301 wins and 24 shutouts in 666 games, a Stanley Cup, a World Cup and an Olympic Silver Medal. He still holds the Rangers goaltending records for games played, wins, single season appearances and wins.

Following his career, his #35 jersey was retired by the Rangers in 2004 and he was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2008.

Today's featured jersey is a 1993-94 New York Rangers Mike Richter jersey as worn during that magic season when Richter was the MVP of the NHL All-Star Game and went on to win the Stanley Cup, ending the Rangers 54 year wait. This particular jersey has the 1994 NHL All-Star Game patch on the right shoulder, the customary position for additional patches on Rangers jerseys, as the diagonal cresting fills the customary spot on the upper right chest where most teams wear extra patches.

This year is naturally more closely associated with the Stanley Cup championship, and for the finals, the All-Star Game patch was replaced by the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals patch, the smallest version of the finals patch ever worn in deference to it's location on the shoulder of the Rangers jersey.

This style Rangers jersey can be traced back to the club's origins in 1926, although there has been some evolution in fonts, as well as a couple of ill-fated attempts to adopt a new style, the blue jersey with the team name diagonally across the front has been in use now for all but three of the club's 86 years.

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1996 Team USA Mike Richter jersey as worn in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey as Richter was named the tournament MVP as the Americans won the gold medal. This short-lived "waving flag" style is very sought after by collectors and was only sold at retail in the home white version, making the blue ones very desirable, as they were only produced for use by the team itself, obviously making for an extremely limited supply.

Today's video segment is an excellent tribute to Mike Richter.

Next, is Richter in a commercial for ESPN.

Here, Richter becomes the all-time Rangers leader in wins following a dramatic overtime goal by Brian Leetch.

Finally, another commercial featuring Richter, this one for Wendy's hamburgers.

1996 Team USA Mike Richter Jersey

The 1996 World Cup of Hockey can trace it's roots to the 1972 Summit Series, which featured the Soviet National Team, whose vastly experienced players were considered amateurs and thus eligible for the Olympics, facing off against Team Canada, whose roster was made up of Canadian NHL professionals who were not allowed to participate in the Olympic Games at the time, clearing the path for Soviet domination of Olympic hockey.

The 1972 Summit Series concept of the best players each nation had to offer, regardless of amateur or professional stats, was expanded in 1976 with the creation of the first Canada Cup tournament, which saw teams from not only Canada and the Soviet Union, but the addition of teams representing Finland, Sweden, Czechoslovakia and the United States.

The United States saw mixed results in the Canada Cup tournaments, finishing 5th out of 6 in 1976. A 4th place in the round-robin portion in 1981 saw them qualify for the semi-finals, where they were easily defeated by the host Canadians by a 4-1 score.

A strong round-robin result had the USA finishing 2nd in 1984, including a 7-1 opening game defeat of Sweden, a 4-4 tie with Canada, a narrow 2-1 loss to the Soviet Union and a 6-4 win over West Germany for a 3-1-1 record. The United States would face off against Sweden in the semifinals and suffer a stunning 9-2 drubbing at the hands of the Swedes, who scored on their first four shots on goal, a team the USA had so easily defeated just 11 days earlier.

In the 1987 edition, the United States completed the round-robin portion of the tournament with a 2-3 record to finish 5th and fail to advance to the playoff round.

Things improved in 1991, with the Americans taking second in the round-robin portion with an impressive 4-1 record. They opened the tournament by defeating Sweden 6-3, then lost to Canada 6-3 before running off a series of victories against Czechoslovakia (4-2), the Soviet Union (2-1) and Finland (4-3). The semi-finals saw a confident US take care of Finland again by a 7-3 score and advance to the finals versus Canada, who would defeat the US by scores of 4-1 and 4-2 to win the best-of-three finals.

For 1996, the tournament was renamed the World Cup of Hockey as a result of various behind the scenes business developements involving Canada Cup founder Alan Eagleson's legal troubles as a result of his fraud and embezzlement scandal. Instead of being run for the financial benefit of Hockey Canada as the Canada Cup was, the newly organized World Cup was a joint venture between the NHL and it's players union, the NHL Players Association (NHLPA).

Taking a more global perspective, the competition now included eight teams, partially as a result of the political upheaval during the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. There were now also games held in Europe for the first time ever.

The teams involved in the North American Pool included Canada Cup hold-overs Canada, Russia (no longer the Soviet Union) and the United States plus newcomer Slovakia, which was formerly part of Czechoslovakia. The games were held in Vancouver, Montreal, Philadelphia, Ottawa and New York.

The European Pool saw Sweden and Finland joined by the Czech Republic (also formerly part of Czechoslovakia) and Germany, which had participated in the Canada Cup once as West Germany in 1984. Stockholm, Sweden, Helsinki, Finland, Prague in the Czech Republic and Garmisch, located in Germany, would all host games in Europe, with the top three teams advancing to the playoffs held in North America.

The North American Pool saw the United States come out on top with a 3-0 record and earn a bye directly into the semifinals, while Sweden won the European Pool for its trip to North America and a place in the semifinals.

In the quarterfinals Germany would fall to Canada 4-1 in Montreal and Russia would overpower Finland 5-0 in their game played in Ottawa.

The semifinals would see Canada take down Sweden 3-2 in two overtimes in a game held not in Canada, but Philadelphia! Canada held a 2-0 lead after two periods, only to see Sweden come back to tie the game in the third. Theo Fleury would score the game winner with just 13 seconds remaining in the second overtime to send Canada into the best-of-three finals.

Meanwhile, the United States would oddly have to travel to Ottawa to defeat Russia 5-2. Just 26 seconds into the game, Pat Lafontaine would put the Americans ahead and Brett Hull then scored on the powerplay to give the US a 2-0 lead just before the end of the opening period. The United States would extend its lead by scoring a pair of goals in the second, after giving up one to the Russians, to take a commanding 4-1 lead into the third. Sergei Zubov would pull one back for Russia less than two minutes into the third, but the United States would counter that with a goal at 14 minutes to re-establish their three goal margin and advance to the finals versus Canada.

Game One of the finals was held in Philadelphia and was a close fought battle. Eric Lindroswould put the Canadians up 1-0 after one period. Defenseman Derian Hatcher would score a pair of goals in the second to give the USA the lead, only to have Claude Lemieux tie the game during the final minutes of the second.

Theo Fleury gave the Canadians the lead half way through the third. The lead held up through the remainder of the period until the USA pulled their goaltender Mike Richter. The resulting man advantage caused the Canadians to ice the puck repeatedly, and with less than 10 seconds remaining in the game, Joel Otto won the faceoff back to US captain Brian Leetch, who fired the puck at Canadian goaltender Curtis Joseph, who made the save only to have Eric Desjardins try to put the puck under his goalie Joseph and see it sneak through his legs and trickle over the goal line with 6.3 seconds showing on the clock.

Canada would dominate the resulting overtime, outshooting the US 6-1 before Steve Yzermanshot one past a screened Mike Richter to give Canada the first game in the best-of-three finals.

Game Two in Montreal would see the United States come out on top with a 5-2 win. The teams would trade goals in the first period, but the United States would add a pair in the second fromJohn LeClair, his second of the game, followed by Brett Hull. Joe Sakic would cut the margin to one at 14:48 of the third, but the United States would put the game away with a pair of empty net goals in the last 1:08 of the contest, forcing a deciding Game Three, also to be held in Montreal.

With Richter, playing at the top of his game, holding off the Canadian attack, the United States scored the first goal at 11:18 of the first on the power play as Hull would give the US a 1-0 lead after one. The lead would hold up almost the entire second period as Richter would continue his stellar play in goal for the US, making 21 saves in the second period before Eric Lindroswould even the score with just six seconds before the intermission. At this point, the Canadians had decisively outshot the Americans by a margin of 32-14.

Adam Foote would solve Richter at 12:50 of the third to give Canada their first lead in over 5 1/2 periods of hockey.

Hull would even the score when he deflected a high shot from the point by Brian Leetch that would stand after a video review, tying the contest at 16:42.

Energized by the goal, the Americans continued to press and Tony Amonte gave them the lead with 2:35 remaining. Derian Hatcher put the game out of reach with an empty net goal at 19:19 and Adam Deadmarsh drilled a long slapshot past Joseph with just 14 seconds left to give the USA a final 5-2 margin in a game that was tied with just 3:18 remaining.

Richter would be named the First Star of the game after making 35 saves on 37 shots.

Hull would finish the tournament with 7 goals and 4 assists for 11 points in 7 games to lead the tournament in scoring followed closely by teammate John LeClair with 10 points from 6 goals and 4 assists. Doug Weight (7), Leetch (7) and Keith Tkachuk (6) would all finish in the top 10 in scoring for the Americans.

The tournament All-Star team would be made of of Forwards Mats Sundin (Sweden), Hull and LeClair of the USA, defensemen Calle Johansson of Sweden and Chris Chelios (USA) as well as goaltender Richter of the USA, who would also be named the tourament's Most Valuable Player thanks to finishing with a 5-1 record, with his only loss coming in overtime.

Today's featured jersey is a 1996 United States National Team Brian Leetch jersey as worn when the United States captured the inaugural World Cup of Hockey championship.

The jersey features the smaller 3" size World Cup of Hockey logo patch worn on the left shoulder by the Nike-clad teams in the tournament, which included not only the USA, but Russia, Slovakia, Finland and Germany.

The larger 4" size patch was worn by the teams that wore Bauer jerseys, which were the Czech Republic and Sweden, who also wore the patch on the left shoulder, and Canada, who wore the patch on their right chest.

This style of USA jersey features dye-sublimated "waving flag" stripes on the waist that contain subtle stars in the red areas, as well as in the red sleeve stripes. These jerseys are very sought after and command a lot of attention when they come up for sale.

As was Nike's practice at the time, jerseys sold customized with player names and numbers featured sewn twill crests and were tagged with numbered sizes, such as 48 & 52 (but no fight straps), while blank jerseys were sold as Large and Extra Large using sublimated crests.

Today's featured jersey is a 1996 United States Mike Richter jersey as worn when the United States captured the inaugural World Cup of Hockey championship.

The jersey features the smaller 3" size World Cup of Hockey logo patch worn on the left shoulder by the Nike-clad teams in the tournament, which included not only the USA, but Russia, Slovakia, Finland and Germany.

The larger 4" size patch was worn by the teams that wore Bauer jerseys, which were the Czech Republic and Sweden, who also wore the patch on the left shoulder, and Canada, who wore the patch on their right chest.

This style of USA jersey features dye-sublimated "waving flag" stripes on the waist that contain subtle stars in the red areas, as well as in the red sleeve stripes. These jerseys are very sought after and command a lot of attention when they come up for sale.

As was Nike's practice at the time, jerseys sold customized with player names and numbers featured sewn twill crests and were tagged with numbered sizes, such as 48 & 52 (but no fight straps), while blank jerseys were sold as Large and Extra Large using sublimated crests.

The jerseys sold with player names from Nike were #35 Richter, #2 Leetch and #27 Jeremy Roenick, who never actually played in the World Cup due to being a free agent and not having health insurance at the time. None of the jerseys were sold with the World Cup patch and the Leetch jerseys did not come with the captain's "C". Those would need to be added separately by their owners for proper authenticity.

The blue road jerseys were not available for retail sale and can only be found as game worn or team issued jerseys, which are complete with fight straps.

First up is LeClair tying Game 1 with less than seven seconds to play.

Here are highlights of the thrilling finale of the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.