1984-85 Los Angeles Kings Garry Galley Jersey

After completing his college career for the Bowling Green Falcons from 1981-82 to 1983-84, which included being drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in 1983 and named an NCAA All-American in 1984 after winning the NCAA national championship, Garry Galley made the jump directly to the NHL with the Kings for the 1984-85 season, during which he played 78 games without playing a single game in the minors in-between.

Galley, born on this date in 1963, missed much of the 1985-86 season following a knee injury in early December. He returned to the Kings lineup in mid-February, but was sent down to the New Haven Kighthawks for a week to get back into playing shape, the only four games he would ever spend in the minors! Following his conditioning stint, Galley was recalled by the Kings to play the remainder of the season

He would return to Los Angeles for the start of the 1986-87 season, but was traded to the Washington Capitals after 30 games with the Kings. After being limited to 48 games in 1986-87 and 58 the following season with Washington, Galley signed with the Boston Bruins as a free agent for the 1988-89 season.

Proving he was more durable than the previous two seasons suggested, Galley would average 77 games a season for the next six seasons. During his second season with the Bruins of 1989-90, Galley would make his only appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals. After the 1990-91 season with Boston, during which he would play in his first NHL All-Star Game, Galley was traded halfway through the 1991-92 season to the Philadelphia Flyers.

After finishing the 1991-92 season with the Flyers, he returned for a full season with Philadelphia where he thrived under the Flyers system, scoring a career high 13 goals and setting a new personal best with 62 points, far ahead of his previous high of 38, despite a career high of 115 penalty minutes, also far ahead of his previous high total of 84. He would also finish the season with a +18 rating, all of which caught the eye of Canadian hockey officials, who invited him to take part in his first international competition, the 1993 World Championships.

The following season Galley would eclipse his personal best with a career high of 70 points in 1993-94, which was recognized with his second NHL All-Star Game appearance. He would not finish his fourth season in Philadelphia in 1994-95 thanks to a trade which sent him to the Buffalo Sabres. While the trade to the Sabres affected his offensive numbers, Galley still managed a 54 point campaign in 1995-96. Following that season, he participated in his second World Championships for Canada, winning a silver medal in Austria.

After one more season with the Sabres, Galley returned to the Kings as a free agent for three seasons from 1997-98 to 1999-00, which included playing in his 1,000th game late in the 1998-99 season.

Galley would cross the country once again for this final season in the NHL when he signed with the New York Islanders for the 2000-01 season. His final career totals were 1,149 games played, 125 goals and 475 assists for 600 points.

Today's featured jersey is a 1984-85 Los Angeles King Garry Galley jersey as worn during his rookie season in the NHL. Galley bypassed the usual seasoning in the minors before turning professional with Los Angeles, and only a four game conditioning stint due to an injury during his sophomore season prevented him from never playing a game in the minors.

Galley wore an unusually high number of jerseys during his career, as he was with the Kings while they wore purple and gold, the Bruins when they wore their Turn Back the Clock jerseys in 1991-92, the Sabres during the final seasons of their original blue and gold and the change to the black and red era, back to the last of the Kings first black and sliver style and the transition to their new purple and black jerseys in 1998-99 in addition to the styles he worn in Washington, Philadelphia and New York - 20 in all despite playing for only six franchises.

The Kings were founded in the NHL expansion of 1967 and immediately stood out with their brightly colored gold home and purple road jerseys at a time when the most daring colors in the NHL were green and orange. The Kings would adopt this jersey in the template of the Philadelphia Flyers, which is identified by the full length sleeve stripes with wraparound wrist cuffs. The Kings would stick with the purple and gold for 21 seasons before changing their look for 1988 to black and sliver with the arrival of Wayne Gretzky in Los Angeles.

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1992-93 Philadelphia Flyers Garry Galley jersey. While Galley wore #3 with the Kings, he was both #12 and #2 with the Capitals and #28 with the Bruins. He was able to return to #3 with the Flyers and Sabres, but finished his career wearing #28 again for the Islanders.

This particular jersey features the Stanley Cup Centennial patch worn by all players during the 1992-93 season, a season in which Galley set a career high at the time with 60 points.

In today's video section, Galley flattens Vancouver's Trevor Linden.

1992-93 Chicago Blackhawks Jimmy Waite Jersey

Born on this date in 1969, Jimmy Waite played his junior hockey with the Chicoutimi Sagueneens of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in 1986-87 and 1987-88. He played 50 games his first season and posted a record of 23-17-3.

During this time he also competed for Team Canada in the World Junior Championships, which included winning a gold medal in 1988 over the Soviet Union in Moscow. At the conclusion of the 1986-87 season he was drafted in the first round, eighth overall by the Chicago Blackhawks.

With the goaltending situation in Chicago being a crowded one, Alain Chevrier, Ed Belfour and Darren Pang all played 23 games or more, Waite was limited to just 11 games in 1988-89 with the Blackhawks after breaking his collarbone, and played five with Saginaw of the IHL after healing.

Waite needed more playing time, which he received in 1989-90 with the Indianapolis Ice of the IHL, where, after going 34-14-5 during the regular season, Waite led the Ice to the Turner Cup championship with a 9-1 mark during the playoffs. Waite also suited up for four games with Chicago during the season, who still had an abundance of goalies with Jacques Cloutier, Greg Millen and Chevrier dividing up the bulk of the work.

1990-91 saw Belfour return from his season with the Canadian National Team to dominate the NHL, relegating Waite to the IHL for a second season, where he retained his #1 status, going 26-18-4 in 49 games. Waite managed a single game with Chicago that season, winning in his only start.

As if being behind Belfour on the depth chart was not enough, Domink Hasek had arrived on the scene in Chicago. Still, Waite was called upon to play 17 games with the Blackhawks and divided the rest of his season with Indianapolis and the Hershey Bears of the AHL.

Waite spent the entire 1992-93 season in the NHL as Belfour's backup, seeing time in 20 games prior to being traded to the San Jose Sharks during the off-season. Once more, Waite was the understudy, this time to workhorse Arturs Irbe.

When the 1994-95 season delayed until January due to labor issues, Waite had yet to see any playing time with the Sharks before being dealt back to Chicago in February. It ended up essentially being a lost season for Waite, who played two games with Chicago and four back with Indianapolis.

The same pattern continued for two more seasons with Waite playing the vast majority of his season with the Ice and a few token games with Chicago until being claimed in the waiver draft by the Phoenix Coyotes after eight seasons with Chicago, never playing more than 20 games.

While in Phoenix, Waite was again the number two, and played 17 games in 1997-98 and 16 in 1998-99, a season which also saw him compete for both the Utah Grizzlies and Springfield Falcons in the AHL.

Prior to the 1999-00 season Waite was signed by the Toronto Maple Leafs, but spent the next two seasons with their AHL affiliate in St. John's, where he was the number one, seeing action in 105 games over the next two seasons.

With the NHL portion of his career now at an end, Waite moved to Germany for the 2001-02 season to play for the Essen Mosquitos. After spending the 2002-03 season with the Iserlohn Roosters, Waite found a home with the Ingolstadt Panthers, where he would play for the next six seasons and become a fan favorite, earning the nickname "The Wall".

While with Ingolstadt, Waite would be named to the DEL All-Star Game in 2004 and 2007. Additionally, he would earn the DEL Outstanding Goalkeeper Award for three consecutive seasons, from 2003-04 to 2005-06.

His career concluded with a single appearance for the Nuermberg Ice Tigers in the 2009-10 season with a victory.

Today's featured jersey is a 1989-90 Chicago Blackhawks Jimmy Waite jersey. Waite made his NHL debut with Chicago during the 1988-89 season, playing in 11 games while wearing the #30. The Blackhawks goaltending situation was a crowded one that season, with four players seeing significant time in the nets for the club and Waite's time being limited by a broken collarbone.

When he was recalled from Indianapolis during the 1989-90 season, Waite was given an unusual jersey, a vintage Wilson dureen jersey which had been worn back in the 1977-78 season by Cliff Koroll! The Blackhawks, under the thrifty ownership of Bill Wirtz, many of their vintage jerseys were kept and recycled for training camps and call-ups.

This vintage Koroll jersey then had it's #20 changed to #60 and a new, snow white nameplate with Waite's name added to the back for the four games he played that season.

photos courtesy of Classic Auctions

Bonus Jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1992-93 Chicago Blackhawks Jimmy Waite jersey. Waite played just a single game in 1990-91, this time wearing the #36. He was back in Chicago for the 1990-91 season, now wearing #29, his fourth different number in four seasons. He would play in 17 games that year, but found himself third on the depth chart behind Belfour and Hasek.

Things were looking uo for Waite in 1992-93, as Hasek was now gone, which allowed Waite to finally spend the entire season in the NHL. While Belfour saw the lion's share of the starts, Waite was able to set a career high with 20 appearances - and was also finally able to wear the same jersey number two years in a row!

Extra bonus jersey: Today's extra bonus jersey is a 1994-95 Chicago Blackhawks Jimmy Waite jersey. Waite was traded to the Sharks for the 1993-94 season, where he continued to wear #29, but before the 1994-95 season could begin due to labor issues, Waite was dealt back to the Blackhawks. Waite only played in two games for Chicago that season, this time wearing #49!

Waite would play in a single game for Chicago in 1995-96 and 2 games in 1996-97, having returned to having the #29 on his back. His eight seasons with Chicago would come to an end after he was claimed in the NHL waiver draft by Phoenix, but not before he wore jerseys 30, 60, 36, 29, 49 and 29 again! That's five different numbers in eight seasons.

So what number would Waite wear in Phoenix? The #28 of course!

Today's video selection is a brief but telling one, showing the fans love of Waite in Ingolstadt.

1960-61 Chicago Black Hawks Stan Mikita Jersey

Stan Mikita's story is unlike probably any other player in the long history of the NHL. Born Stanislaus Gouth in Sokolce, Czechoslovakia in 1940, Mikita's family, fearing the political changes in the late 1940's as the Soviet Union's influence over Eastern Europe grew, sent the eight-year-old Stan, who was unfamiliar with hockey, to live with relatives in Canada just as the Iron Curtain closed and he took the family name Mikita of his aunt.

A map showing Czechoslovakia behind the Iron Curtain

"Hockey was the biggest help in making the adjustment to a new life," Mikita recalled. "I was sitting on the front porch, and eventually I got enough nerve to go down onto the sidewalk to watch. One day they were short a guy, so they motioned for me to come and join them."

"I had no idea how to play hockey, so the first time a guy went around me, I chopped his legs out from under him. I didn't understand a word of English, but one of the older fellows told me, in sign language, "No, we don't play hockey like that." He showed me how to hold the stick and stickhandle. That was my introduction to hockey and where I learned the English language. Needless to say, my vocabulary was limited and included quite a few cusswords."

He made his NHL debut with the Black Hawks in 1958-59 season, becoming the first ever Czechoslovakian-born player in NHL history and scoring his first point and the first of many penalty minutes. He would become a regular the following season, appearing in 67 games, scoring his first NHL goal and racking up 119 penalty minutes, as he employed a rough and feisty style in part due to his smaller size.

"I hadn't completely eliminated the language factor, and kids made fun of me. That made me determined to be better than those kids as a hockey player, but I was also in a lot of scraps. When I got to the NHL in 1959, I was still fighting. My first left-winger was Ted Lindsay, who, at 5 foot 8 inches and 152 pounds, was about my size. I asked Teddy, "You've played 16 years in the league. How did you ever survive?" He answered, "Hit 'em first." I followed that advice and made sure everyone knew that I was tough enough for the NHL," said Mikita.

A Stan Mikita rookie card from 1960

Mikita would improve his game in 1960-61, more than doubling his goal total to 19 and nearly doubling his assist total to 34 for a 27 point increase in points to 53 in 66 games along with another 100 penalty minutes. Following the regular season, he led all goal scorers with six and helped the Black Hawks win the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1938.

The 1960-61 Stanley Cup champion Chicago Black Hawks

Another leap in production in 1961-62 saw him in the 20's for goals scored with 25 and 52 assists for 77 points, tied for third overall in the league with Gordie Howe, seven behind Chicago teammate Bobby Hull. While the Black Hawks would not repeat as champions, Mikita had 21 points in 12 playoff games as the Black Hawks again made it to the finals.

After another 76 point season, Mikita would capture his first Art Ross Trophy in 1963-64, leading the league in scoring with a career high 89 points on 39 goals and 50 assists, along with 146 penalty minutes, third overall and just 5 behind the league leader.

Mikita would again lead the league in scoring in 1964-65 with 87 points and 154 penalty minutes plus 10 more points in 14 playoff games as they again reached the finals.

Then an amazing thing happened. Mikita returned home from a road trip and his wife told him that their daughter was watching the last road game on TV and asked "Mommy, why does Daddy spend so much time sitting down?" It was at that point that Mikita thought about how to explain to a three-year-old how her father took a penalty he shouldn't have and was being punished for it. He also figured out where his penalty minutes were coming from and made a conscious decision to eliminate "lazy" penalties such as holding, hooking and tripping, as well as his misconduct penalties and began to play a different style of hockey and keep quiet with the referees.

The results were dramatic.

1965-66 saw a drop in penalty minutes to 58, yet he still managed 78 points, second overall.

Mikita's reinvention of his style continued in 1966-67 as he scored 35 goals and 62 assists tying the single season league record of 97 points to capture his third Art Ross Trophy, yet even more surprising was his mere 12 penalty minutes, 142 less than just two seasons prior, which earned him the Lady Byng Award. Had you suggested such a thing was even possible the first six seasons of his career, you would have been laughed at. Mikita is fond of saying, "I realized that you need an awfully long stick to score from the penalty box." The scoring title, along with reinventing his style in play, resulted in Mikita winning the Hart Trophy as well, the first player to ever win all three trophies in a single season.

Mikita poses with his record setting trio of trophies in 1967

He would repeat the triple trophy feat in 1967-68 with a career high 40 goals, 47 assists for 87 points and just 14 penalty minutes and be named the winner of the Lady Byng, Hart and Art Ross trophies his fourth scoring title in five years.

Although his point total increased the following season to 97, tying his career best, he would finish fourth in the scoring race. The next six seasons Mikita's consistent production saw him average 78 points per season, with none lower than 65. During that time period the Black Hawks would make it to the finals in 1970-71 (18 points in 18 games) and 1972-73 (20 points in 15 games).

It was just prior to the 1972-73 season that Mikita would have a homecoming while part of Team Canada. After completing the grueling Summit Series against the Soviet Union, Team Canada travelled to Prague to play the Czechoslovakian National Team. Mikita was named team captain for the contest, which was the first time he was able to play in front of his parents and siblings.

"The welcome I received from the crowd was the proudest moment in my life," said Mikita.

Mikita as a member of Team Canada in 1972

During the 1973-74 season, Mikita played in his 1,000th career game in a 5-3 win over the Minnesota North Stars on December 9, 1973. In doing so, Mikita became only the third player to appear in 1,000 games with Chicago. Additionally, on the same date in 1978, Mikita became only the second player in NHL history to register 900 career assists in a 4-2 win over the St. Louis Blues.

His production would drop from the 80's to the high 50's, partly due to back problems which would eventually cause him to retire on this date in 1980 as the second highest career scoring leader in NHL history, behind only Howe, with 1,467 points from 541 goals and 926 assists in 1,394 games, the 7th most in league history at the time.

His games, assists and points were all Black Hawks records and he would finish his career with 4 Art Ross Trophies, 2 Hart Trophies and 2 Lady Byng Trophies. In addition to his trophy collection, Mikita would appear in nine NHL All-Star Games - 1964, 1967-1969 and 1971 through 1975.

Mikita played on a line with Howe and Hull in the 1967 All-Star Game

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Slovak Hall of Fame in 2002.

In addition to all his scoring exploits, Mikita was also an innovator of hockey equipment, both intentional in unintentional. Following a concussion in 1972-73, Mikita began wearing a helmet designed especially for him with it's distinctive round crown and even put it into production for others to purchase.

Mikita wearing the Northland Dome helmet

Having even more of an impact on how the game is played, Mikita is credited with the innovation of the curved stick blade in the early 1960's.

"My invention of the curved stick came by accident. One day, I cracked my stick in practice, forming an angle in the blade. I was tired and angry at the thought of climbing the 21 stairs to the dressing room to get another stick. I fired a puck in frustration, and the way it left my stick and the sound it made against the boards caught my attention. Before the stick finally broke, I had taken a half a dozen shots, and each time, it was the same."

"After that, I intentionally bent my stick. I broke a lot before I figured out how to make the wood pliable with heat and soaking. I experimented in practice for a month or two before I used a curved blade in a game."

Handyman Mikita ushering in the curved stick era

The curve gave the puck a fluttering path like a baseball knuckleball, moving unexpectedly. Once put into use by Mikita and teammate Bobby Hull, and combined with Hull's notoriously hard slapshot, the curved stick blade quickly became adapted league wide and by 1963 rules were put in place to limit the amount of the curvature to lessen the effect.

Apparently not everyone agrees with this rule...

Today's featured jersey is a 1960-61 Chicago Black Hawks Stan Mikita jersey from the early days of his career. This sweater has the trappings of a 1950's style with the lace-up collar, one color numbers and no name on the back. This was the first variation where the secondary logo of the C with the crossed tomahawks were above the sleeve numbers rather than overlapping the arm stripes and below the sleeve numbers.

This indian head logo sweater, so revered today and often topping Best Jersey Lists, came into being in the 1955-56 season, replacing the previous style which had a small indian head of a different design contained in a circle logo. The 1955-56 version had no sleeve numbers and a slightly different main crest design before the logo changed to today's more familiar version and sleeve numbers were added in 1957-58. Note today's jersey has two sleeve stripes and long black cuffs, which were changed to three stripes to match the waist striping for the 1963-64 season.

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1973-74 Chicago Black Hawks Stan Mikita jersey from the season in which he played his 1,000th game. This was the first season that the Black Hawks numbers were two colors, previously being one color white numbers. The Black Hawks would not being using names on the back of their jerseys until 1977.

We hope you have some time on your hands today, as we mine a rich vein of video about Stan Mikita and his lengthy career.

First up, highlights of the 1961 Stanley Cup Finals Game 6 where Mikita assisted on the game winning goal, the first Stanley Cup won by the Black Hawks in 38 years and the only one of Mikita's career.

Here is an interview with Mikita who discusses the creation of the helmet he wore and the incident that led to the development of the curved stick and gives you a glimpse of his self-depreciating sense of humor.

Next is a nice career retrospective on Mikita.

In one of the nicer stories in hockey of the last few seasons, here is Mikita talking about rejoining the Chicago Blackhawks family as an ambassador for the team followed by the long overdue Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita Night.

For further viewing, this two part profile of Mikita from 1995 is also recommended. Part One. Part Two.

Finally, for fan's of the movie Wayne's World, no one should be without their own Stan Mikita's Donuts t-shirt.

IIHF World Championship Hockey Report and Preview

Yesterday saw the dramatic conclusion of the IIHF Division III World Championships in Turkey. The lowest level of the IIHF World Championship ladder brings together a wide ranging collection of the minnows of the hockey world, with Bosnia and Herzegovina (currently unranked by the IIHF) and making their IIHF World Championship debut, Georgia (ranked 47th), Hong Kong (48), Luxembourg (42), North Korea (43), Turkey (41) and the United Arab Emirates (45) all taking part.

After five of the six games of the round robin tournament, North Korea and Turkey were tied atop the standings with perfect 5-0 records, setting up a winner take all final. The Turks opened the scoring four minutes into the game but with one second remaining in the first period the North Koreans got their second goal of the game to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

A scoreless second period only ramped up the tension entering the third period, which saw Turkey strike just 49 seconds in to tie the game at 2-2. The North Koreans retook the leas at the 15:38 mark with a shorthanded goal, but just a shade over two minutes later Turkey responded at 17:45. Neither team could find the game winner during the final 2:15 of regulation so the contest then moved to overtime.

At 4:22, Yusuf Halil was called for tripping, setting up a power play for the North Koreans. It would only take 27 seconds for assistant captain Chun Rim Hong to score his second goal of the game to give the North Koreans the win, the championship and the promotion to the IIHF Division II Group B tournament for 2016 despite Turkey outshooting their opponents 41-28.

North Korea finished with 5 wins and an overtime win for 17 points, Turkey was next with 5 wins and an overtime loss for 16, Luxembourg went 4-2 for 12 points, Hong Kong 3-3 for 9, Georgia had 1 win, 1 OT win and 4 losses for 5 points, the United Arab Emirates were 1 win, 1 OT loss and 4 losses for 4 points while Bosnia and Herzegovina was 0-6 brining up the rear.

Speaking of Division II Group B, they, and Division II Group A and Division I Group B all start play today.

Division II Group B is being held in Cape Town, South Africa from today through Sunday, April 19th. Teams competing are again a delightful collection of far-flung entires from Bulgaria (39), China (38), Israel (32), Mexico (33), New Zealand (37) and the host South Africa (40) facing off in a single round robin format of five games with the champion being promoted to Division II Group A, while the last place team will be relegated to Division III for 2016. Diehards can watch live streaming of games here.

Division II Group A takes place over 7,000 miles to the north in Reykjavik, Iceland, an 18 hour flight for those interested in taking in action in both! This tournament follows a similar schedule, with games starting today and finishing on Sunday April, 19th.

Teams competing are Australia (34), Belgium (36), Spain (30), host Iceland (35), Romania (27) and Serbia (31) who also will utilize the standard five game, round robin format with the champion promoted to Division I Group B and the last place team relegated to Division II Group B for 2016.

Also taking place this week in Eindhoven in the Netherlands will be Division II Group B with the same Monday through Sunday schedule this week. The participating clubs are nearly all European at this level, with Croatia (28), Estonia (29), Great Britain (22), Lithuania (26), host Netherlands (25) and the lone Asian entry, South Korea (23). The winner of this tournament will join Division I Group A and the bottom team will drop down to Division II Group A for 2016.

The South Koreans in particular will be worth tracking, as they controversially have been guaranteed a place in the 2018 Winter Olympic hockey tournament, which they will be hosting. They are under pressure to increase the competitiveness of their program in time for the Games, where they will be competing in a 12 team tournament against the heavy hitters of international hockey despite their current world ranking of just 23rd.

At the conclusion of the three World Championship tournaments this week, next week sees the Division I Group A competition in Krakow, Poland from April 19 -25. The competition gets more intense as the field includes Top 25 ranked Hungary (19), Italy (18), Japan (21), Kazakhstan (17), host Poland (24) and Ukraine (20). Unlike the lower levels which promote only the first place finsher, on the line are promotions to the Top Division for the top two teams, while, again, the last place team will be relegated to Division I Group B for 2016.

Six days after the conclusion of the Division I Group A tournament, the 2015 IIHF World Championship will get underway on Friday, May 1 in Prague and Ostrava in the Czech Republic. Play will conclude when the new world champion is crowned on Sunday, May 17th from the survivor of a 16 team field which consists of Austria (16), Denmark (15), Slovenia (14), Germany (13), France (12), Belarus (11), Norway (10), Latvia (9), Slovakia (8), Switzerland (7), the United States (6), the Czech Republic (5), Canada (4), Russia (3), Finland (2) and Sweden (1).

Here, for your viewing pleasure, is the third period and the overtime of the deciding game in the Division III tournament between North Korea and Turkey. At the very least, go to the 46:00 mark and watch the overtime and see when the winning goal how much it matters to those players when the deciding goal is scored (starting at 50:30) no matter how far down the rankings these lower level teams might be.

Today's featured jersey is a 1998 Iceland National Team Hallur jersey which features the IIHF 90th Anniversary patch worn in 1998 in the various IIHF championships that year. The name is sewn on twill, while the numbers are heat sealed onto this highly attractive jersey, especially with the addition of the anniversary patch.

The logo for Ice Hockey Iceland tells an interesting story, featuring the Icelandic Falcon, the largest wild Falcon in the world. The white represents a glacier and the bottom is fire, to represent a volcanic eruption, which is in the shape of a maple leaf to honor the Winnipeg Falcons, the 1920 Olympic hockey champions who were of Icelandic decent.

1992 Yugoslavia National Team Jersey

Formed in the aftermath of World War I, Yugoslavia came into existence in  1918 as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. It gained international recognition on July 13, 1922 and was then renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on October 3, 1929. Later, it was invaded by the Axis powers during World War II on April 6, 1941. When a communist government was established in 1946 it was renamed once more, this time to the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia after the monarchy was abolished in 1945.

The county was led by Marshal Josip Broz Tito, first as Prime Minister from 1944 to 1963 and later it's President from 1953 through his death in 1980. He was viewed as both as an authoritarian as well as a benevolent dictator thanks to his successful economic and diplomatic policies as well as his internal policies which maintained a peaceful coexistence of the six various nations and differing ethnicities and religions of which Yugoslavia was comprised. He suppressed their nationalist sentiments while promoting brotherhood and unity across the various regions and gave all of Yugoslavia's ethnic groups the same rights.

Marshal Tito

Unlike many of the communist countries in the Eastern Bloc, who were aligned with the Soviet Union, Tito led the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961, where Yugoslavia and other nations refused to side with either the Eastern Bloc or NATO nations.

Following Tito's death in 1980 at the age of 87, the controls under Tito which held the country together for so long faded and ethnic tensions grew. An economic crisis in 1989 led to large numbers of unemployed workers and social despair. There arose conflicts, mainly between the majority Serbians, who wanted to maintain the republic - only with greater control over the entire nation - and the Croatians and Slovenians, who wanted more autonomy and decentralization, in direct contrast to the desire of the Serbs. Tensions rose when Serb communities within Croatia tried to secede from Croatia, not wanting to be a national minority within a sovereign Croatia should it leave Yugoslavia.

War broke out in August of 1990 when Croatia attempted to replace police in the Serbian populated Krajina region of Croatia. This eventually led to armed conflicts with the Croatian police forces and the Serbian civilian armed resistance. Similar events then took place in Slovenia to the north and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the central region, which had an especially mixed population of Croatians, Bosnians and Serbs, who were all of differing religions. As the ethic populations had drifted out of their original nations throughout the existence of Yugoslavia, those people, the Serbians in particular, sought to return to Serbia as tensions over independence movements in Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina grew, resulting in a great number of refugees.

A map of Yugoslavia showing the separate regions
which each had a different mix of ethnicities

Not all of the Serbians chose to leave however, and the main point of conflict became the Serbians living in Croatia attempting to secede from Croatia as the government of Croatia predictably fought to keep the breakaway areas as part of the Republic of Croatia.

In September of 1991, Macedonia declared its independence from Yugoslavia and, similar to the situation in Croatia, Serbians living in Bosnia voted to form a Serbian republic with lands that were part of Bosnia and Herzegovina and remain in a common state with Serbia and Montenegro. The Bosnian Serb referendum vote was declared unconstitutional by the republic's government, which later declared it's independence from Yugoslavia in April of 1992, which led to war in Bosnia shortly afterwards.

While there is no clear date for the end of Yugoslavia, the June 1991 departure of Croatia and Slovenia were the first dominoes to fall. Macedonia then left in September of 1991. Bosnia and Herzegovina departed in April 1992. Serbia and Montenegro retained the use of the name Yugoslavia until 2003 when it was renamed the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro until Montenegro then voted for its own independence in 2006.

Meanwhile the wars that broke out as the country divided and then sub-divded itself lasted for a decade until 2001, primarily due to the Yugoslavian military, eventually representing only Serbian ideals, looked to add the Serbian populated areas of Croatia and Bosnia to Yugoslavia by force, while those nations fought to maintain their territories and existing borders.

Often described as Europe's deadliest war since World War II, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, atrocities and crimes against humanity, such as the genocide of the Srebrenica Massacre (8,000 killed) and the catastrophic four year long Siege of Sarajevo (14,000 deaths), all took their horrible toll, resulting in 140,000 casualties nationwide.

A cemetery with the 8,000 victims of the Srebrenica Massacre

The Yugoslavia national hockey team played it's first game in 1939, a 4-2 win over the Netherlands. They finished in 13th place during the World Championships that year, but the outbreak of World War II meant that fledgling effort would quickly cease.

Following the end of the war, the Yugoslavia National Team returned to the world stage in 1951 where they went 1-4, with their only win coming in their final game against Austria as they finished 6th and last in Pool B. They again finished with a 1-4 record in 1955 for 5th in Pool B.

Placed in Pool C for their next effort in 1961, they iced a much stronger team, winning 12-3 over South Africa, 9-2 over the Netherlands and 10-2 over Belgium to finish in third place out of six with a 3-2 record.

Yugoslavia vs. the Netherlands in 1961

After skipping 1962, Yugoslavia became regular competitors on the international stage beginning with the 1963 World Championships, playing once again in Pool B. Highlights included third place finishes in 1966, 1969 and 1973 before a second place effort as hosts in 1974, which included wins over Austria, Japan, West Germany and the Netherlands and ties against Romania and Norway.

IIHF Hall of Famer Rudi Hiti represented Yugoslavia at the World Championships 17 times and played in the 1968 and 1972 Olympics,
later coaching the Slovenia National Team for 10 years

They were relegated following an eighth place finish in 1978, but earned an immediate promotion with a gold medal at the 1979 Pool C with a perfect 7-0 record, which included a 21-1 win over Great Britain.

They spent the next six tournaments bouncing up and down between Pool C and Pool B from 1981 to 1987 until three consecutive championships in Pool C from 1987 to 1990, when they again earned a promotion back up to Pool B with a 7-0-1 record from wins over South Korea, Romania, Bulgaria, North Korea, Belgium, Denmark and Hungary.

Yugoslavia also participated in the Olympics five times, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976 and finally as hosts of the games in Sarajevo in 1984 with a best finish of 9th coming in 1968. There, they lost to Finland in a single game First Round playoff, which sent them to Group B to determine 9th through 14th places. Yugoslavia then dominated Japan, Norway, Romania, Austria and France to win the group with a 5-0 record to claim ninth place overall.

Sweden vs. Yugoslavia during the 1972 Olympics

Despite conflicts having now broken out in parts of the country at times, Yugoslavia hosted the 1991 Group B World Championships in Ljubljana in the north (in what is now Slovenia) prior to the declarations of independence by Slovenia and Croatia just two months later. Despite promotion being available for the top four teams due to the expansion of Group A, Yugoslavia finished in sixth place with a 2-5 record.

With the country beginning to divide itself, as well as war breaking out, Yugoslavia had lost many players who were no longer citizens of Yugoslavia or were now in the military. As a result, after opening with a 3-3 tie against Romania, they staggered to a 0-6-1 record for last place in Group B, with their final game being a dismal 14-0 loss to Austria on this date in 1992, brining an end to their participation in international hockey after 42 years dating back to 1951.

Left winger Zvone Šuvak was the all-time leading scorer for Yugoslavia with 202 points from 129 goals and 73 assists in 155 games from 1979 to 1991, while center Edo Hafner was the leader in games played with 203 from 1969 to 1991, totaling 187 points.

Since the dissolution of Yugoslavia, Croatia (1993), Slovenia (1993), Serbia and Montenegro (1995) (but still using the Yugoslavia name through 2003), Serbia alone (2007), Bosnia and Herzegovina (2008) and Macedonia (2011) have all participated in IIHF World Championships, highlighted by Slovenia's qualification for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The Slovenian's accomplished this remarkable achievement by defeating Belarus, Denmark and Ukraine in a qualification tournament hosted by Denmark. The Slovenians quickly became fan favorites as underdogs by defeating Slovakia 3-1 during group play and then eliminating Austria 4-0 in the Quarterfinals during the Games in Sochi.

2014 Slovenia Olympic Team captain Tomaz Razingar meets with
Mustafa Besic, the captain of Yugoslavia’s team in Sarajevo 1984

Today's featured jersey is a 1992 Yugoslavia National Team Jersey as worn during their final World Championship appearance. This style of jersey made by Tackla was first used in 1989 through Yugoslavia's final game on this date in 1992. It's quite possible this jersey was used for more than one season and could have originated from as far back as 1989 when Tackla added outlines to the colored shoulders.

There is evidence of a wide nameplate having been removed from the jersey and the low position of the sleeve numbers leaves room for a sponsor advertisement, suggesting it was used during the World Championships.

Bonus jersey: Today's featured jersey is a 1991 Yugoslavia National Team Zvone Šuvak Jersey as worn during the 1991 World Championships with the nameplate and sponsor patches still intact as worn by the leading scorer in the history of the Yugoslavia National Team.

Šuvak was also the all-time leading scorer in the Yugoslav Ice Hockey League with 520 goals and 314 assists for 834 points from 1976 through 1993. He also represented Yugoslavia at the World Championships nine times and played in the 1984 Olympics hosted by Yugoslavia.