Closet Upgrades

Before I start writing about this, I should make something clear: the image to the left is not my closet of hockey jerseys. I grabbed this off the internet randomly, it's been sitting on my desktop with an idea that I was going to write something else while using it, and that idea has since died thanks to a couple of circumstances. In the end, it gets used here today because the jersey closet at HBIC Headquarters is starting to look a little better thanks to some additions to jerseys.

I'll post the EA NHL Hockey image of the jerseys that I have customized for review once again, and I'm open to discussing any of these with anyone who may want to chat about them. There are some fun jerseys in here.

The jerseys seen in my closet include those from the NHL, AHL, IHL, ECHL, OHL, QMJHL, NCAA, and international teams with my hopes of adding at least one jersey from the WHL and U SPORTS at some point. There are some that have great stories behind them like the Petr Nedved jersey while others represent jersey cameos like Todd Bertuzzi's jersey. Some are jerseys that the general population dislikes such as the Chris Drury jersey while others are jerseys that everyone hated but now love like the Darius Kasparaitis or the Teppo Numminen. There are some I wanted for my own personal reasons like the Sergei Zubov jersey while others have deeper sentimental value for me such as the Mike Ridley jersey.

I won't like that some get asked about a lot more than others. The Kasparaitis is always asked about when people see it, and I've been offered serious money for it. The Teemu Selanne jersey had an offer of $800 presented to me if I took it off at the Heritage Classic Game and handed it over on the concourse to the offerer. I declined as it's still in my collection.

With the additions of the Sergachev and Oates jerseys to the lineup, it's becoming harder to find a theme outside of Jersey Cameos and Hated Jerseys, but that's legitimately what it seems I'm building. I laugh at some of them - Mathieu Biron? - but the story of why and how they became part of my collection is sometimes better than the finished product. Wearing the Bertuzzi jersey in Minnesota, for example, is also a story of "read the room", but it's now something at which I look back and laugh.

I think what I realize most is that people who wear jerseys and have an attachment to specific teams and players have their own stories, and those stories should be shared. While I do have my own rules for jerseys and customization, my rules apply to me only because it's my collection of jerseys. I'm not here to judge your collection other than hearing the stories about your jerseys.

Knowing that I have rules for my jerseys, I'd love to hear who you'd put on the back of the jerseys at the bottom of the image above. I have my own ideas about who I want on each of them, but I'm open to suggestions for my theme of "Jersey Cameos and Hated Jerseys". Put your thinking caps on, examine those jerseys, and leave names of players who wore the jerseys in the comments below!

In saying that, feel free to leave a story about a jersey you own in the comments below as well. I'd love to read them! And if you're feeling up to it, have a guess at some of the jerseys I have in my collection already because there are a few that aren't very well-known when it comes to seeing them.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!