The History of NHL Referees Jerseys

unorthodox

Prior to wearing the familiar black and white striped jerseys, NHL referees wore cream colored sweaters, as well as neckties, which made for a quite dapper look. The cream sweaters lasted into the early 1950's.

The earliest example of an NHL referee sweater we could find,
Sylvio Mantha's from the late 1930's with it's crudely executed NHL crest

photo courtesy of Classic Auctions

A 1940's NHL referee's sweater with a much more accurate NHL crest

Hockey Hall of Famer and first American referee Bill Chadwick wearing a cream colored referees sweater, complete with necktie

Following the cream colored sweaters, in order to differentiate themselves from the home player's white sweaters, NHL referees changed in March of 1953 to a bright orange style with a half zip front, which sadly meant neckties were no longer worn.

Hall of Fame referee Red Dunn tries to maintain order between
Gordie Howe and Ted Kennedy in the early 1950's

An orange referee's sweater from the 2005 film
"The Rocket: The Legend of Maurice Richard"

Finally on this date in 1955, NHL on-ice officials wore brand new vertically striped black and white sweaters for the first time ever during a game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs, which was won by Montreal 5-2.

1950's NHL referee's sweater
photo courtesy of Classic Auctions

At some point the referees began wearing orange arm bands to differentiate themselves from the linesmen, and today's NHL sweaters have remained essentially unchanged since then.

1960's NHL referee's sweater, now displaying orange armbands
photo courtesy of Classic Auctions

While the NHL referees' sweaters had now reached what would essentially be their final look, the World Hockey Association, which arrived on the scene in 1972, did so with a splash, outfitting their referees in bold, if not gaudy, red and white striped sweaters, which featured not only the officials number on the back, but their name as well. Evidence shows linesmen in the WHA still wore the traditional black and white stripes however.

1970's WHA referee's sweater
photo courtesy of Classic Auctions

Sometime around 1977, NHL referees began to wear their names on their backs instead of the traditional numbers.

1980's NHL referee's sweater with the referee's name
on the back rather than the traditional numbers
photo courtesy of Classic Auctions

The use of names on the back lasted until a return to the use of numbers once again for the 1994-95 season.

Don Van Massenhoven's 1994-95 NHL referee's jersey
with numbers once again on the back

photo courtesy of Classic Auctions

NHL rules stipulate that referees have to wear numbers between 2 and 49, while linesmen can choose numbers from 50 to 98, with #1 and #99 not being permitted.

2000's NHL referee's sweater
photo courtesy of Classic Auctions

There has been some tinkering of the referee's sweaters as of late, with black undersides to the sleeves, as well as an ill-fated attempt to change the orange armbands to silver for the 2007-08 season in an attempt to tie in with the new silver and black colors of the new NHL shield. With the silver armbands proving essentially invisible, this idea thankfully died a quick and quiet death.

See if you can spot the silver referee's arm stripes

The latest tweak to the sweaters arrived at the 2009 NHL All-Star Game, when new fabrics and additional black trim were added to the sweaters, as well as extending the orange arm bands down the length of the bottom of the arms, which are visible when the referee's arm is fully raised. These sweaters were adopted full time and have been in use starting with the 2009-10 season.

2009 NHL referee's sweater

At times officials have worn patches on their jerseys, such as the league-wide patches for the Stanley Cup Centennial, as is the case with today's featured jersey. There have also been instances of referees wearing memorial patches as well. In the 1989-90 season, officials wore the initials "J. McC." on their sweaters to memorialize John McCauley, the director of NHL officiating who passed away in June 1989. In 2005-06 NHL officials wore a #72 patch in memory of linseman Stephane Provost who passed away in May 2005 due to a motorcycle accident.

Another notable referee's jersey was worn during the 2000 NHL All-Star Game in Toronto, when the teams wore futuristic jerseys inspired by the millennium, which carried over to the referee's jerseys. They featured a vertical orange stripe down the left side of the jersey, both front and back, with the 2000 All-Star Game patch centered over the stripe on the right chest.

A referee sweater from the 2000 NHL All-Star Game with a
vertical orange stripe on the body along with the traditional armbands

The cream colored sweaters were revived during the 1991-92 NHL season whenever two of the Original 6 teams played against each other while wearing their Turn Back the Clock jerseys, as well as that season's NHL All-Star Game, when both teams wore throwback jerseys in recognition of the NHL's 75th anniversary.

Ray Scampinello wearing a 1991-92 NHL throwback referee sweater

The cream throwback sweaters were also put back into service during the first NHL outdoor event, 2003's Heritage Classic when the Montreal Canadiens legends took on a team of Edmonton Oilers legends, with both teams wearing throwback jerseys and the officials once more got into the spirit of the event with turn back the clock sweaters of their own.

2003 Heritage Classic referee Andy Van Hellemond

The next outing for the cream colored throwbacks was an appearance at the 2004 NHL All-Star Game in St. Paul, Minnesota when the referee's joined in with the players throwback jersey look, only this time with the All-Star Game patch on the upper right chest but without the need for the toques!

The referee's  throwback sweaters were worn again
at the 2004 NHL All-Star Game

Unlike the clean look of referee's sweaters in the NHL, the referee's sweaters in European hockey are viewed as prime real estate for advertisements, such as the sponsorship worn by referee's at the IIHF World Championships in the 2000's.

A Referee at the IIHF World Championships with sponsorship on his sweater

Not even the traditional vertical stripes of the referee's sweaters are considered sacred in European leagues!

European league referee with an unorthodox striping pattern

The current jerseys worn by referees in the KHL also feature a

unique striping pattern and advertizing

Today's featured jersey is a 1992-93 NHL referee Andy Van Hellemond jersey. This uniform was worn during the era of referees wearing their names on the backs of their jerseys from the late 1970's to the mid-1990's.

This jersey also features the Stanley Cup Centennial patch as worn on not only all the players jerseys in 1992-93, but also the referees' sweaters, located on the upper right arm as opposed to the upper left chest of the players jerseys.

Van Hellemond began officiating NHL games in 1969 and continued to do so until his retirement in 1996, a span of 28 years, which included 19 Stanley Cup Finals. He became the first on-ice official to wear a helmet in 1984, something which became mandatory in 2006-07.

Van Hellemond was the director of NHL officiating from 2000 to 2004 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1999.

photo courtesy of Classic Auctions

Bonus jersey:  Today's bonus jersey is a 1990's NHL Linesman Roy Scapinello jersey from the era of referees wearing their names on the backs of their jerseys from the late 1970's to the mid-1990's.

The only difference between the referee jerseys and those worn by the linesmen is the lack of the orange arm bands, which were introduced sometime back in the late 1950's or early 1960's.

photo courtesy of Classic Auctions

Extra bonus jersey: Today's extra bonus jersey is a 2008-09 IIHF Linesman Tom Darnell jersey as worn at the World Men's Division I Group A tournament in Vilnius, Lithuania which features the predominant sponsorship from the AJ Products Group of home and office supplies and equipment.

No personal identification such as names or numbers were used during this tournament, but the on ice officials often do have an identifying number above the sponsorship patch on the back.

Bovine jersey: Today's bovine jersey is a 2013 Spengler Cup Officials Jersey as worn by the referees and linesmen during the 2013 edition of the Spengler Cup. These same jerseys were worn again for the 2014 edition of the tournament as well, but were sadly retired in favor of traditional stripes in 2015.

Taking the concept of sponsorship a step too far, the Swiss Milk sponsorship goes beyond anything previously seen in the world of ice hockey as the officials customary black and white stripes are replaced by a black and white Holstein cow pattern, compete with a picture of a cow on the front, at the cost of the officials dignity, which one would think would be paramount for them to retain the respect they deserve while officiating high level games of this magnitude.

Udderly bizarre.

Note the red armbands on the referee's jerseys,

as the four officials seem to be taking in all in stride

Our video section today pays tribute to referee's and linesmen and the risky job it can be on the ice with the array of sticks, pucks, skates and even fists they must try to avoid, sometimes unsuccessfully.

Several NHL referees and linesmen have written books about their careers from their unique point of view. To purchase one of them, please click on the links below.

  
  

Super Series '76 - 1975-76 Soviet Central Red Army Vladimir Petrov Jersey

A new era in NHL history began on this day in 1975, when the New York Rangers hosted HC CSKA Moscow, more popularly known as Central Red Army, the most dominant club in the history of the Soviet Championship League.

Prior to this point, the Soviet National Team had competed against the Team Canada in the Summit Series in 1972 and again in 1974 versus a team made of WHA All-Stars.

Wanting to further capitalize on the success of the Summit Series, and the capital to be gained from the mystery and curiosity surrounding the still exotic Soviets from behind the Iron Curtain, the Super Series '76 was scheduled. What set the Super Series '76 apart from the previous competitions was this was the first time that club teams from the Soviet Union would be facing teams from the NHL.

Goal magazine program cover for the 1976 Super Series

While some motivation for the series was certainly profit oriented, neither side wanted to be humbled or worse, humiliated, with the eyes of the hockey world upon them. Already armed with the Red Army club, the other team making the trip over to North America was the defending Soviet champions, Krylya Sovetov Moscow, better known to North Americans as the Soviet Wings, due to their position as the sporting club of the Soviet Air Force. To ensure the strongest clubs possible, the Red Army team was augmented with a pair of players from Dynamo Moscow and the Wings added four members of Spartak Moscow to enhance their roster.

Krylya Sovetov Moscow

Representing the NHL were the New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Black Hawks and New York Islanders. While the NHL participants were all located in the east, they also represented some of the strongest clubs in the NHL at the time, with the Flyers having won the Stanley Cup the previous season over the Sabres, while the Islanders and the Canadiens were semifinalists and all of the clubs had qualified for the playoffs in 1974-75.

Despite all the games taking place in the east, don't overlook the absence of both the Detroit Red Wings (58 points the previous season compared to the 113 totaled by the Flyers, Sabres and Canadiens) and the dreadful expansion Washington Capitals, who finished the previous season at 8-67-5 for 21 points, and whom the NHL was not going to let anywhere near the best of the Soviet Union. The Toronto Maple Leafs, on the other hand, were absent due to cantankerous owner Harold Ballard's refusal to allow Soviet teams to play in Maple Leaf Gardens!

The Super Series '76 first game was held on this date in 1975 when the Red Army club invaded Madison Square Garden to take on the Rangers, who were led by Rod Gilbert, Steve Vickers, Rick Middleton, Carol Vadnais and known patriot Phil Esposito, who would skate through a brick wall to uphold the honor of the NHL against the Soviets.

The Red Army club, meanwhile, was the de facto Soviet National Team, and was led by Vladimir Petrov, Boris Mikhailov, Valeri Kharlamov and goaltender Vladislav Tretiak.

Tretiak tending goal for Central Red Army

The Red Army prevailed on that night with a dominant 7-3 victory in front of 17,500 Rangers fans. Similar to the start of the 1972 Summit Series, the North Americans scored quickly, this time just 21 seconds into the game on a goal by Vickers. Unfazed, the goal did nothing more than wake the sleeping bear, and Red Army had the lead four minutes later and led 3-1 after the first. The Soviets kept piling it on until their lead had stretched to 7-1 at one point before the Rangers were able to put two meaningless goals by Tretiak to make the final 7-3, the exact same score of Game 1 of the first Summit Series. Petrov scored four points on 2 goals and 2 assists while Kharmalov had a goal and 3 assists to lead Red Army, who were outshot 41-29.

Carol Vadnais of the Rangers defends Valeri Kharlamov

A near equal result followed the next day when the Soviet Wings easily handled Pittsburgh 7-4.

The next game for the Red Army came in Montreal on New Year's Eve, the now legendary game between two of the finest clubs ever, both in mid-season form, as the eventual 1975 champion Canadiens, who were on the verge of a dynasty, skated to a 3-3 tie with the Soviets in what many call the greatest game ever played, as Tretiak held off the NHLers despite being outshot 38-13.

The three stars of the fabled New Year's Eve game, Peter Mahovlich, Tretiak and Yvan Cournoyer

Next up for the Wings was a trip to Buffalo on January 4, 1976, a night those in attendance will never forget, as the Sabres pounded the Wings 12-6, earning the distinction of becoming the first NHL club to ever defeat a Soviet club.

The scoreboard shows the final score of the Sabres historic victory

It would be the worst loss ever by a Soviet team in international competition. So popular was the Sabres win with NHL fans that they received a standing ovation before their next game - in Montreal!

Sabres general manager Punch Imlauch called the game "was the all-time high point for the Sabres"as well as the highlight of his lengthy career.

Such was the significance of the Sabres victory that a souvenir of a game is created following the contest

"I had never been so fired up for a game," said Rick Martin. "I had played in a lot of big games, but that truly was the game I'll never forget."

The Wings rebounded from their crushing defeat by Buffalo to down the Chicago Black Hawks three days later 4-2, while the Red Army stayed unbeaten with a 5-2 win in Boston on January 8th.

The Wings then concluded their North American foray with a 3-1 record after their 2-1 defeat of the New York Islanders, but the Red Army still had one battle awaiting them in the form of the Broad Street Bullies in Philadelphia.

Played on January 11th, the two-time defending champions were also eager to defend the honor of North American hockey - by any means necessary. Fired up by club owner Ed Snider, the Flyers were out to prove they were the best club hockey team on the planet.

The Flyers reputation preceded them, and the Soviets were already aware of the Bullies style, especially in the form of captain Bobby Clarke, whose previous encounter in the 1972 Summit Series with Kharlamov had resulted in a broken ankle for the Soviet legend at the hands of Clarke.

A cartoon in a Soviet newspaper depicting

the Flyers with clubs instead of sticks

The Flyers held the Soviets scoreless after one period, taking the body whenever possible to attempt to contain the Red Army's uptempo style. The game proved to be a contentious one, with many scrums and hard hits.

Dave Schultz welcomes the Soviets to the City of Brotherly Love

The most notable event of the night was when the Flyers Ed Van Impe returned to the ice following a penalty, demolished Kharlamov, who stayed on the ice for a minute. When no penalty was called, the coach of Red Army, Konstantin Loktev, pulled his club off the ice in protest. A shouting match ensued between Snider and the president of the Soviet Hockey Federation, with Snider threatening to withhold payment to the Soviets.

Eventually Red Army relented, and returned to the ice, with the Flyers now even more intent on winning, and doing it their way, more than ever. It would take Philadelphia 17 seconds to score on the ensuing power play which resulted from the delay of game penalty imposed on the Soviets for their 16 minutes off the ice. A second Flyers goal ended the first period 2-0.

With the Flyers shorthanded once again, they opted to press forward, with Joe Watson eventually scoring a shorthanded goal at 2:44 of the second. Flyers coach Fred Shero joked that Watson had set back Soviet hockey twenty years with his goal against Tretiak.

The Red Army scored at the halfway point of the game to make it 3-1 after two periods, but Philadelphia controlled the third period, including scoring a fourth goal at 4:01, eventually outshooting the Soviets 49-13 to the delight of the home fans.

The Red Army thus returned home with a 2-1-1 record, when combined with the Wings, had the Soviets taking the series 5-2-1.

Today's featured jersey is a 1975-76 Soviet Central Red Army Vladimir Petrov jersey as worn during the Super Series '76, the first meeting between club teams from the Soviet Union and the NHL.

This jersey, in it's brilliant red of communism and emblazoned with the red star and hammer and sickle, was a guaranteed attraction at the gate, as hockey fans came to see the mysterious, emotionless robots on ice who played the game in a manner unfamiliar to the NHL, weaving out of their lanes and circling back to maintain possession of the puck, rather than dump it deep in the zone and bang and fight hard to get it back.

We strongly believe that the blue nameplates with the player names on the back in English were added for the Super Series' North American fans due to the white shoulder yoke stripe being covered up and the differing shades of blue between the sweater and the nameplate material, and were likely removed once the Red Army returned home to resume it's Soviet league schedule.

While North Americans commonly read the crest as UCKA, the translation of the Cyrillic characters is CSKA (sounding like "Chess-KA" when pronounced by someone speaking Russian, as the first "U" character translates to the sound "TS"), which stands for Central Sports Club of the Army, as the team was part of the sporting arm of the Soviet Army in the same way the Soviet Wings were sponsored by the Soviet Air Force and Dynamo Moscow was sponsored by the KGB, the national security agency of the Soviet Union, similar to the CIA in the United States.

Petrov would play from 1965 to 1983 in the Soviet Championship League, scoring 435 goals and 839 points in 677 games. He would win six World Championship gold medals, be the leading scorer at four World Championships, a two time Soviet league Player of the Year and the league's leading scorer five times. Additionally, he would win two Olympic gold medals and one silver.

Bonus Jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 1975-76 New York Rangers Brad Park jersey as worn in their 1975 game against HC CSKA Moscow to open Super Series '76 in what was the first ever game between Soviet and NHL club teams.

The Rangers wore a special patch to commemorate their 50th anniversary, only the second patch the Rangers had ever worn, and their first in 25 years. It would be another 16 seasons before the Rangers would wear another, that in honor of the NHL's 75th anniversary in 1991-92.

Extra Bonus Jersey: Today's extra bonus jersey is a 1975-76 Soviet Wings Alexander Yakushev jersey as worn by the Wings during the Super Series '76 when Yakushev was loaned by Spartak Moscow to the Wings for their series of games against the NHL.

The "KC" initials on the front translate to "KS", standing for Krilya Sovetov, which in turn translates to "Wings of the Soviet". The cresting is done in felt on the wool sweater, while the nameplate has twill letters in English on nylon, which was added for the North American TV audiences.

photo courtesy of Classic Auctions
 

Today's video section begins with footage of the Rangers game against Red Army to kick off the Super Series '76 as Esposito gets the Rangers off to a deceptively quick start, as Central Red Army would score the next seven goals of the game!

The legendary New Year's Eve game between the Canadiens and Red Army is out next featured clip.

This next clip is from the Red Army's game versus the Boston Bruins, their third game of their brief tour of North America.

Finally, the contentious game between the Flyers and Red Army, which shows this was no exhibition game, as the intensity and tension were so thick you could cut them with a knife. Just listen to the announcers as the Soviets are leaving the ice in protest to know that this was more than a hockey game, it was our way of hockey, perhaps even life, against theirs.

2000-01 Pittsburgh Penguins Mario Lemieux Jersey

Following a standout career, during which he had already scored over 600 goals and nearly 1,500 points, appeared in eight NHL All-Star Games, had been named the winner of the Hart Trophy as league MVP three times, the Art Ross Trophy six times as league scoring champion, the Conn Smythe Trophy twice as playoff MVP, the Pearson Award four times, won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year, the Bill Masterton Trophy, won two Stanley Cups, had his number retired, been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and defeated cancer, which included scoring a goal and an assist on the day of his last radiation treatment, and then going on to win the scoring title despite missing two months of the season, Mario Lemieux returned to the ice following a 3 1/2 year retirement on this date in 2000.

Lemieux's first retirement banner

Having first undergone back surgery for a herniated and later infected disc back in 1990, Lemieux underwent a second surgery in the summer of 1993 that caused him to miss the first ten games of the 1993-94 season followed by missing another 48 games later that same season due to further issues with his back.

Following his severely curtailed 1993-94 season, he took a leave of absence from the game citing fatigue from the radiation treatments. He returned after a year off and played two more seasons, which included both his 500th and 600th goals, before announcing his retirement from play following the 1996-97 season.

The Penguins played well in Lemieux's first season away from the team, winning the Northeast Division in 1997-98 after being led in scoring my Jaromir Jagr's 102 points, but they would be dumped in the first round in six games by the Montreal Canadiens. The next two seasons saw the club slip in the standings and be ousted from the playoffs in the second round both years.

In November of 1998, the Pittsburgh Penguins were forced to declare bankruptcy, and with Lemieux's deferred salary amounting to over $32 million, he was the club's largest creditor. He then made the unusual proposal to convert the debt the club owed him into equity in the franchise, a proposal approved by the NHL Board of Governors on September 1, 1999. Two days later a U. S. Bankruptcy Court approved the plan, making Lemieux the Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Penguins and the first former NHL player to become majority owner of his former team.

Lemieux is introduced as the Penguins new owner

When the 2000-01 season began, the Penguins were playing average hockey over the course of the first two months of the season, but on December 9th, Lemieux announced his intention to come out of retirement and return to active play. 18 days later, Pittsburgh's record was 15-14-6-1 as Lemieux took to the ice for the first time since April 26, 1997, three years and eight months prior.

Stating he wanted to return so his son Austin could see him play in person, Lemieux wasted no time in registering his first point of the night with the second assist on a goal by Jagr just 33 seconds into the game.

The Penguins would add a power play goal halfway through the first period to take a 2-0 lead into the second period. Now halfway through the third period, Jagr carried the puck into the Toronto Maple Leafs zone, curled back and fed Lemieux coming up the slot and put the puck right onto Lemieux's cocked and ready stick for his first goal of his comeback, thrilling the home fans in Pittsburgh.

Following a close call, Jagr back checks the puck off of a Maple Leaf player, which went to Lemieux who instinctively threw the puck toward the crease where Jan Hrdina corralled the puck, moved it to his backhand and lifted it over Curtis Joseph for a 4-0 Penguins lead and Lemieux's third point of the night to go along with five shots in 20:46 of ice time. Jagr would add a shorthanded breakaway goal just before time expired to make it a 5-0 final, capping a memorable night for the fans in Pittsburgh, as their star and franchise savior had returned.

Lemieux acknowledges the fans after his dramatic return

Today's featured jersey is a 2000-01 Pittsburgh Penguins Mario Lemeiux jersey. This was one of the rare times a Lemieux jersey did not feature the captain's "C" or at least the assistant captain's "A" once Lemieux was named team captain back in 1987. Lemieux would return to the captaincy for the 2001-02 season through the remainder of his career.

This style of Penguins jersey was first introduced for the 1992-93 season following back-to-back Stanley Cup titles for Pittsburgh. Its modernized logo, which replaced the Penguins original and beloved skating penguin logo, was never truly embraced by the fans in Pittsburgh, who viewed it as cold design that lacked the charm of the previous cartoon bird and dubbed it "the robo-penguin".

Add in the fact the team failed to return to the Stanley Cup Finals while wearing it, and one can see how the design was a victim of the times during which it was worn, not unlike the Islanders fisherman logo. Despite the fact it was not viewed as fondly as it's championship winning predecessor, this style would be used for ten seasons through the 2001-02 season when replaced by a new white version of the team's black third jersey which saw the return of the original skating penguin logo. For 2002-03, the black alternate and new white jerseys would become the Penguins primary home and road jerseys.

photo courtesy of Classic Auctions

Today's final video is the special pre-game ceremony prior to the game, which included the ceremonial lowering of the banner retiring his #66.

The 2017 IIHF World Junior Tournament

Today is Boxing Day in Canada, which signals the beginning of the 11 day national holiday known as the IIHF World Junior Championships.

This year's tournament is the 41st edition and will take place in Toronto, Ontario at the 19,746 seat Air Canada Centre and the 21,287 capacity Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec with Montreal hosting two of the four Quarterfinals and both the Semifinals and Bronze and Gold Medal games. Ten nations will participate in this years competition, divided into the customary two groups. Group A consists of the Czech Republic, Denmark, the defending champions Finland, Sweden and Switzerland. All games in Group A will take place at the Bell Centre.

Meanwhile in Toronto, Group B features the hosts Canada, Latvia, Russia, Slovakia and the United States.

Montreal's Bell Centre will host the Gold Medal Final

The tournament kicks off at 1 PM local time with the Sweden facing Denmark in Group A play. Two and a half hours later, the United States and Latvia begin play in Group B. The Czech Republic will attempt to defeat the defending champion Finland at 5 PM Eastern and the day ends with a heavyweight bout between Canada and Russia at 8 PM Eastern.

Other highlights on the schedule arrive on Thursday the 29th with Russia vs. the USA and Nordic rivals Finland battling Sweden. So, what did the organizers save for the final day of the Preliminary Round on New Year's Eve? The Swedes will face the Czechs and the seemingly annual New Year's Eve game between the United States and Canada happens at 3:30 PM. The final games to set the playoff seedings are between Finland and Switzerland at 5:30 PM and Russia and Slovakia at 8 PM.

The tournament takes it's traditional break on New Year's Day before the Quarterfinals on Monday,  January 2nd followed by the Semifinals on Wednesday, January 4th with the bronze and gold medal games on Thursday, January 5th.

Finland celebrating last year's championship

The Relegation battle will almost certainly come down to Denmark vs. Latvia to be decided in a best-of-three series on January 2nd, 3rd and 5th. Key games will be Denmark vs. Switzerland in Group A and Latvia vs. Slovakia in Group B with both games taking place on December 30th.

Sweden is favored in Group A, while the experts are divided between the United States and Canada in Group B. Canada brings great depth as always and has an experienced roster of returning players including ten first round NHL draft picks on its roster, highlighted by captain Dylan Strome (Arizona Coyotes) and alternates Mathew Barzal (New York Islanders) and  Thomas Chabot (Ottawa Senators). Their goaltending also looks strong with CHL Goaltender of the Year Carter Hart and Connor Ingram, which should improve on the issues they had in goal last year when they were a very un-Canadian 9th out of 10 in save percentage and 5th in goals against.

Dylan Strome

The United States, coached by St. Cloud State head coach Bob Motzko, lacks the highlight player they had last year in Auston Matthews, but has great depth and plenty of speed. First round draft pick by the Minnesota Wild Luke Kunin is the team captain of a squad that features plenty of talent from Boston, as the Boston University Terriers have no less than six players on the roster plus two more from Boston College. Other first round NHL picks on the American roster include Clayton Keller and Charlie McAvoy, both of BU, and Colin White of BC.

Luke Kunin

Russia is not to be overlooked and has a recent history of big games when it matters most. Ilya Samsonov returns in goal and is among four first round draft picks on the roster along with defenseman Mikhail Sergachev and forwards German Rubtsov and Denis Gurianov.

In Group A, Sweden is led by first round NHL draft picks Joel Eriksson Ek and OHL and CHL Rookie of the Year Alexander Nylander at forward. Defensemen Gabriel Carlsson and Jacob Larsson are among 18 Swedish NHL draft picks that include 8 second and third rounders among a very strong squad that has gold medal aspirations.

Joel Eriksson Ek

Finland's hopes to repeat rest on forward Eeli Tolvanen to lead a young group that includes NHL draft picks Kristian Vesalainen and Henrik Borgstrom.

Viewers in the United States can watch 16 Preliminary Round games on the NHL Network, including all the Group B games which includes all the United States, Canada and Russia preliminary round games, as well as all 8 Playoff Round contests.

In Canada, coverage has already begun on TSN with the airing of all three of Canada's exhibition games and will continue with all of the Preliminary Round games as well as all 8 of the Playoff Round games.

Today's featured jersey is a 2015 Canada National Team Connor McDavid jersey as worn the last time this year's host Canada would go on to win the gold medal.

Canada introduced new jerseys with a throwback feel for 2015 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of their governing body, Hockey Canada. The jerseys are loosely based on those worn by Team Canada at the lesser known 1974 Summit Series of 42 years ago, where the stars of the WHA took on the Soviet Union following the success of the 1972 Summit Series.

Legends Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull during the 1974 Summit Series

Perhaps the nicest part of the package was the attractive 100th Anniversary logo patch, which featured a large maple leaf similar to the one worn back in 1924 as well as the enduring red and black Hockey Canada logo surrounded by the dates 1914 and 2014.

The Canadian appetite for hockey sees the Canadians introducing new jerseys more frequently than most countries and special one off jerseys on occasion, many of which are auctioned off, as is the case with this jersey from anticipated NHL star Connor McDavid, which sold for $19,600 Canadian dollars.

Bonus jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 2005 Canada National Team Sidney Crosby jersey as worn during the 2005 World Junior Championships. His actual game worn jersey was stolen following the tournament by an Air Canada baggage handler in Montreal. It was later recovered in a mailbox in Quebec.

Canada's win in 2005 was their first since a run of five consecutive gold medals from 1993 to 1997 and began another five year run of dominance that saw them take gold from 2005 to 2009.

Since that run of Canadian domination, the United States (twice 2010 and 2013), Russia (2011), Sweden (2012), Finland (2014 and 2016) and Canada (2015) have all won championships, five different nations in seven years. The Czech Republic faces long odds to to become the sixth, but hold the best chance of the remaining five nations.

Today's video segment begins with highlights of the 2015 gold medal game between Canada and Russia.

Next are highlights of last years gold medal game between Finland and Russia.

Finally, here are highlights of last year's entire tournament.

Merry Hockey Christmas! Joyeux Noël de hockey!

Merry Hockey Christmas! Joyeux Noël de hockey!

We hope Santa was good to you this year and brought you the jersey you've been wanting.

We also hope you enjoy our special collection of Santa playing hockey today.

Don't forget - as our countdown clock in the right hand column shows - the 2017 World Junior tournament begins tomorrow, the annual festival hockey featuring "Tomorrow's Stars Today"!