Jersey Tributes Across Canada
Hope some of you had a chance to catch my interview on NHL Home Ice this morning. I'll try to get it posted here later tonight if you'd like to take a listen. In the meantime, I've got some pictures to share of some things that went on over the weekend.
We'll go east to west, starting in Montreal. On Saturday night, the Canadiens paid tribute to Patrick Roy with the retiring of his No. 33 sweater. Down on the ice, all of players wore Roy's jersey during warm-ups. Great picture here.
At the same time, it was Wendel Clark Night in Toronto as the Maple Leafs retired honored his No. 17 jersey. Just like in Montreal, players paid tribute during warm-ups by wearing Clark's sweater.
And across the continent in Vancouver, the WHL's Giants honored the gone-but-not-forgotten Millionaires with throwback jerseys on Friday. My thanks to Sean for this photo from the game.
That's some uniform isn't it? Complete with the white pants and everything.
I saved this stuff for today because I didn't want it to get lost in the shuffle of Third Jersey Weekend. It's nice to see teams paying tribute to the past, especially with their uniforms.
This is a response to Jason's comment below. I was not aware of the Leafs' habit of "honoring" players' numbers without retiring them. In case anyone else is curious about this, I've looked into it a little.
Below is an excerpt from the article on the Maple Leafs' web site.
The Clark ceremony is one of two the Maple Leafs have scheduled for this season. Toronto will also honor the No. 93 of Clark's old linemate, Doug Gilmour, on Jan. 31 before the game with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The respective No. 17 and No. 93 banners for Clark and Gilmour will join those of Syl Apps, Ted Kennedy, Walter "Turk" Broda, Johnny Bower, Tim Horton, George Armstrong, Charlie Conacher, Frank Mahovlich, Darryl Sittler, Clarence "Hap" Day, Leonard "Red" Kelly and Borje Salming.
The Maple Leafs historically only retire numbers of distinguished players that have died or had their career shortened due to tragic or catastrophic circumstances while being a member of the team. Irvine "Ace" Bailey (6) and Bill Barilko (5) are the two represented in this category, and both have banners in their name at Air Canada Centre.
So there you have it. Nos. 17 and 93 will be raised to the rafters this season but future players are welcome to wear those sweaters. Though who in his right mind is going to do that?