Historical Hockey Memorabilia Auction Fall 2012
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/30/2012
Oodles of intrigue accompany this fabulous piece of Canadian Olympic hockey history, with the splendid old red, white and blue wool sweater from the dawning of a new era for Canada in international hockey circles. Previously represented by an amateur team, sometimes reinforced, Canada this time set up its team months in advance of the Olympics, with Father David Bauer inviting the best amateurs he could think of to enroll at the University of British Columbia in the fall of 1963 and begin training for the 1964 Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria. The Canadians played 33 exhibition games across Canada, before a 10-game pre-Olympic tour began in early January in Europe. At the Olympics, Canada reeled-off five straight victories and had gold medal hopes before a 3-1 loss to Czechoslovakia, (they were up 1-0 in the third period until brilliant goaltender Seth Martin was injured!), and a 3-2 defeat to the Russians placed them in a three-way tie for second place. The tie-breaking rule was goal differential among the tied teams, which would have meant bronze for Canada, but Bunny Ahearne and his IIHF directors reportedly decided on the final day to change things to goal differential amongst all teams, dropping Canada to fourth. Even worse for Canada, no official announcement was made and Team Canada only found out when they showed up for the awards ceremony! Talk about a heart breaker.
Tie-neck style sweater with original lace through the eyelets comes to us from winger Terry Clancy and features dandy sewn-on tackle twill letters, numbers and crests. In the inner right hem are two crimpled tags; a silver-on-black one that reads "Sparlings Sporting Goods - Vancouver, B.C." and a smaller one reading "Dry Clean With Care." Donned during exhibition games and at the Olympics, the uniform shows plenty of game use, with sweat-staining at the cuffs and armpits and countless holes of various sizes, many of them the work of moths, but with a big lemon-size rip on the lower right sleeve and close to a nickel-size hole. Double-knit shoulders and material-reinforced elbows are to mention. Yellowing to some of "Canada" across the chest and the maple leaf crest below is also to note. Mostly pea-size (a few dime-size) holes or smaller on the front total over two dozen, with a quarter-size job among the fifteen-or-so on the back. Approximately 18 small holes are in the cream-colored shoulder region. Still awesome to hold and behold, the jersey measures out to approximately size 46 and is ready to enter an important wool/Team Canada/international hockey sweater shrine. Terry Clancy's signed LOA will accompany this remarkable national treasure.
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