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Unknown Team Russia Jersey


solonjhee

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I was wondering if anyone could identify this jersey I got when I was about ten years old. I'm pretty sure it is an authentic team Russia jersey, but I cannot find it anywhere online and was wondering if anyone recognized it. Any help to track it down would be appreciated.

russia-1.jpg

-Kelley

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The Russians were supposed to were it during the 1998 Olympics, but scrapped them last minute in favor of the 1996 World Cup jerseys instead.

This is a post from the jersey's designer, posted on another board

"gentlemen, gentlemen, come to the source. I designed that jersey and I am very pleased to hear all the positive comments about it. My personal favorite of the '98 series that unfortunately never made the ice. We had gotten so far into the process that yes we had released replicas and authentics at retail. If my memory is correct we only did replicas blank, the authentics got the name and numbers. The real story is that we came within weeks of the olympics and then a top ranking official in russian hockey (the guy who approved everything) mysteriously died, ie: "assasisanated". Next thing we know we get a call and they no longer want the jersey and we scramble to try and revise it, strip it down etc...and finally run out of time and have to settle with giving them the '96 World Cup jerseys since we have stock and could easily produce them again.

I never really heard the "too Soviet" complaint, we just heard "he's dead and we don't want it now".

As for the design inspiration, I did want it to harken back to the old Canada-Sovier Series of the 1970's, since it would be the first time NHL'ers were playing and I wanted to stir up the emotion, by playing up the red but softening it with the addition of shades of crimson and cream, not stark white. The tetris blocks actually mimic the beveled pattern on the domes of St. Basial cathedral in Red Square. The number font was chosen since it emulated the ones used by the Russian in the early '70's on their wool unis. I have some lineart files around here somewhere, I'll try to track them down and post them to show what the whole set would have looked like. The pants were supposed to be the darkest red (maroon) color with red socks. I still think it's a beautiful jersey

and would hold up well today."

I have two of them. One is a pre-customized Fedorov #91 and then I got a blank one that I had done up as a P. Bure #10 "C" just to be differnent from all the Fedorovs out there.

By the way, the font shown on the one in your photo is wrong.

2b2a_1.JPG

Also, the numbers always photograph as white, but are a light tan color, more like a champagne color, that matches the Nike swoosh embroidered on the jerseys if you ever see one up close.

Need to buy one? It's there waiting for you! I've sent you the link.

JeffB

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First off, thank you for finding the source of my jersey. I've always had people come up to me saying it's very cool/unique so it means a lot to me. Just this weekend I had someone come up to me and ask me what specific jersey it was, and I had no idea, and spent over an hour searching on the web before not knowing what to really search for and I gave up.

By the way, the font shown on the one in your photo is wrong.

What do you mean by this? You mean the number font? I'm sure I probably got someone else to stitch numbers/letters on so the font will be different.

Need to buy one? It's there waiting for you! I've sent you the link.

JeffB

Heh, no thanks since I already own one :P That's me in the picture. If you're curious, my lineage is Russian so I thought it would be cool ten years ago when I was little to get a Team Russia jersey. I had my name stitched in the back with the number of one of my favorite players on it, Joe Sakic, back from when he used 88 during his rookie season. I've had season tickets for my Michigan wolverines (I attend as a student) for four years and I've worn it to every game that I've been to, even though our colors are blue and maize. The picture is actually me at Yost.

Anyways thanks for getting to the bottom of this for me,

Kelley

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