A New Project

It's the final day of February, and that means spring is right around the corner. Normally, there would have been trade chatter with the NHL trade deadline changing teams' fortunes, but not this year as everything is re-aligned. With no trade deadline madness and a new month starting, I want to start a fun project that will run throughout March. It's one that I'm hoping you'll participate in because it should provide some great discussion points, but I'm hoping we can peek inside your closets and get the stories behind your favorite hockey jersey!

Everyone has a favorite jersey. I have a few that I prefer wearing over others, but everyone has one as a hockey fan. It might be a rather normal jersey that doesn't have a remarkable story. It might be an off-the-wall jersey that everyone asks you what team it is. Maybe it's a jersey with your favorite player on the back. Maybe it's something so far out there that you just love it for its unique aspects. Any and all of these reasons would qualify you to be part of this project!

As an example of what this project will look like, I posted a story back in April 2020 of a Petr Nedved St. Louis Blues jersey I own. The jersey itself isn't a favorite of mine, but the story of the person who owned it is pretty funny, and the explanation of how everything went down in the NHL to result in him getting Nedved on a jersey he never actually wore is even more mind-blowing. Fun stories about your jerseys are what I seek, and I can fill in some details about the player or team below the story.

I won't deny that I have a closet full of weird and crazy jerseys. From the New York Islanders' Fisherman with #11 Kasparaitis jersey and all the approriate patching to a Florida Panthers #34 Mathieu Biron jersey, from an NHLPA red jersey worn by the Americans at the NHLPA 4-on-4 Challenge in Hamilton during the 1994 NHL Strike to a St. John's IceCaps Aaron Harstad alternate jersey, there are a handful of stories of how I acquired these, why I acquired these, and what makes them unique in my own mind.

On the surface, you're probably thinking, "Dude's got a terrible hockey jersey collection." You're not wrong, but there are some I wanted, some I added purely for the uniqueness of the jersey, and others because they're simply never going to be worn by anyone else on the planet except those specific players. It's a collection that makes my closet of jerseys higly unique!

I'm not here to debate the "it's a sweater, Teebz" crowd either. When jerseys moved away from wool and knitting to mass-produced heavy polyester fibres, the terms became interchangeable. With the "innovations" that Reebok/adidas keep making, they're no longer "sweaters" in the traditional hockey sense so I use either term with "jersey" being more applicable to the construction of the garment. Sweater is fine; jersey is just as acceptable. If you use the term "sweater" in your submission, I'll do the same for aesthetic reasons.

If you want to get in on this fun, please email me a front and back picture of your jersey with the story about why it's your favorite jersey. If you're not using the link above, email to "cdnuniguy@gmail.com" with the subject "Jersey Project" since you might do this off your phone which has a camera to capture those images of your jersey.

Let's have some fun this March by checking out our favorite jerseys here on HBIC!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!