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Greatest Jerseys of All-Time
The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.
THE KEEPER
Phil Pritchard was sitting in an arena dressing room in his native Burlington, Ont., one day when he eyeballed his buddy Jay Lemay wiping off his blades with a colorful piece of cloth. This was no ordinary rag, Pritchard surmised. “We were playing men’s hockey and Jay’s cleaning his skates with something,” Pritchard chuckled. Upon further examination, Pritchard, who just happens to be the vice-president and curator of the Hockey Hall of Fame, discovered his friend’s makeshift towel was, in fact, a Burlington Cougars jersey, one that had been worn during the team’s 1981 Sutherland Cup title. That honor goes to the Ontario Hockey Association’s Jr. B champion. “I immediately asked him if I could have it,” Pritchard said. Sure enough, the Cougars jersey is now part of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s cache…
THE JOURNEYMAN SILLINGER
Sometimes men have a little trouble remembering things. Anniversaries and birthdays, for example, have a history of being bumped in the male brain for things such as which weekend the Super Bowl is being played on and how many paychecks have to be sacrificed in order to obtain that new set of golf clubs. Mike Sillinger, who suited up for an NHL-record 12 teams, could be forgiven if some of the finer details of his family life have been lost in a haze of boxes and moving vans. But if Sillinger is ever asked to recall where each of his three sons was born, he’s got a visual reminder to rely on: the NHL jersey he was wearing at the time. “One was born in Vancouver, so we have the Vancouver jersey…
THE SCIENCE OF TIE DOWNS
A little trick ‘Bearcat’ Murray learned as an outdoorsman saved some of his players from taking it on the chin. Before he began working as the Calgary Flames’ trainer in 1980, Murray was plying his trade for the Calgary Centennials of the old WCHL, which predated the WHL. A gimmick he used in the woods helped protect his young punchers from the oldest hockey fighting trick in the book. “We tied them down because the guys’ sweaters were getting pulled over their heads,” said Murray, who has worked as a community ambassador for the Flames since hanging up his trainer’s towel in 1996. “I’d use a shoelace or a skate lace and a quarter and I tied it around the quarter and the pants. It came as an idea to me because…
St. Louis BLUES
IN THE BEGINNING In 1967, owner Sid Salomon Jr. wanted to honor the city’s rich blues heritage and did so by naming his expansion team after W.C. Handy’s 1914 song “The St. Louis Blues,” written about a woman Handy had met in the city. The original logo was a blue colored musical note, with a wing attached. Despite changes to the uniform during the past 42 years, the “Blue Note” has always been the heart of the jersey. From 1984-87, “BLUES” was stretched over the top of the Blue Note and from 1987-98, “St. Louis” was inscribed inside the note. The jersey was modernized in the late ’90s and, in 2008, a third jersey bearing a circular crest with the Blue Note and the Gateway Arch inside became an instant…
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