Hey boys! Posted this on the Avalanche board, but thought it was appropriate here, too. Plus, I'm so pumped that I just have to show off. This jersey is AWESOME! The story... if you care to read: First, Nike does not produce authentic Olympic jerseys for teams other than Canada and U.S.A. Which means if you want a jersey of a player from any other country you have no other option than a replica. They just aren't available. They aren't produced for retail sale. Even in the city of the games. Even in the home country during the games. They aren't available. Unless.....you can find (and afford) a game worn jersey of your favorite player. Or.....you can stumble across a blank team issued jersey from the games. That's what this jersey is. An authentic Nike Swift Sweden team issue from the 2010 Olympics. The story goes that a woman worked at the games in Vancouver for the Ice Hockey rink. When the games were over, she was given as a gift several team issued authentic jerseys. Germany, Sweden, Norway, and Switzerland were among the countries she was given. A couple of years go by and she needed some cash so she listed them to see what they would bring. I was pretty excited when I saw this one pop up on Ebay, but at closer look thought it would be way too big. It's a 54 and I usually wear a 48. Knowing Jay (a member here, a jersey freak, and host of the Avs Hockey Podcast) usually wears larger jerseys I emailed him to offer a heads up. Maybe he could get his hands on one and I'd get a shout out on the Podcast. His response was that the Nike Swifts run really small and that he wouldn't even be able to fit into the largest one. Of course, that got me thinking and I message the seller for measurements. Can you guess? 24 inches pit to pit. A Swift 54, or at least this Swift 54 measures out to a 48 - my size. The jersey was at a $50 bid or something, so I watched it, eventually putting in a modest bid with the intention of bidding higher closer to the end of the auction. With lots of days to think until the auction ended, I had time to consider and talk myself into an absolute max price. I ultimately convinced myself that because of the rarity and the chances I'd likely never see another one of these - let alone in a size that would fit me- I could justify spending up to $250 on this jersey. I would, of course, never breathe a word to my wife. The last day of the auction came and I put myself in front of the computer waiting for the final 30 seconds or so. The high bid was my $74, but I was expecting a frenzy at the end. Surely other collectors, other fans of Swedish players - Lundqvist, Sedin(s), Forsberg, Zetterberg, Lidstrom, etc. - were watching and prepared to bid. The minutes and seconds ticked down and with about 7 seconds left I increased my bid to $210. The clock hit zero. No flashing screen with the multiple last second bids. No nothing. My $74 had taken the jersey. I couldn't believe it. I refreshed my screen about 3 times before I processed what had happened. Nothing had happened. No one else bid. No one else had seen it. Unbelievable.
So, since then I've had to track down Nike Swift material for a nameplate - nearly impossible - but almost as unbelievable as the jersey story - a collector on IceJerseys put up a Sweden Women's Swift for sale that same week. I PM'd her and convinced her to let me strip the jersey, take a plate, send the rest back, all for $20. Next I found a guy on IceJerseys to order a number kit and customize the jersey. That took nearly 3 months, but it's finally here! Literally probably only a handful of these in the world, maybe less, including the one Forsberg himself wore at the games. A very, very cool jersey. Thanks for letting me show off, boys. Look for it at the Pepsi Center next year. It will most definitely be there more than once!