2006-07 Minnesota Wild Pavol Demitra Jersey

The crash on takeoff of the jet carrying the Russian club Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to what was supposed to be their season opening game killed 43 of the 45 people on board, taking the lives of all but one of the players and all of the other team personnel on the flight. The only other survivor of the crash was a member of the plane's crew.

"At first we didn't want to believe it. But right now there is no hope. The team is gone," a Lokomotiv team official told the Russian news outlet Sovietsky Sport.

The catastrophe claimed the lives of players and coaches from Belarus, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Latvia, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden and Ukraine, shaking the hockey community worldwide.

Among those familiar to fans of the NHL were assistant coach and 12 year NHL veteran and multiple Soviet and Russian league champion Russian Igor Korolev, eight year NHL veteran and World Championship gold medal winner Czech Karel Rachunek, Stanley Cup and World Championship gold medal winner Czech Josef Vasicek, 11 year NHL veteran, owner of the NHL's longest playing streak for a defenseman and Latvian National Team mainstay Karlis Skrastins, 12 year NHL veteran, World Championship gold medal winner and one of the first four Russians to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup, assistant coach Alexander Karpovtsev, 14 year NHL veteran, with 917 games played, and Belarus National Team leader Ruslan Salei, 18 year NHL veteran of 1,222 games and Stanley Cup winner and team head coach Canadian Brad McCrimmon.

Russian Alexander Vasyunov had played two seasons with the Lowell Devils of the AHL and 18 games with the New Jersey Devils last season and German Robert Dietrich spent two seasons in North America in the Nashville Predators system with the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals,

Czech Jan Marek led the KHL in goal scoring in 2008-09 and was a World Championship gold medal winner in 2010. Sweden was hit hard by the loss of goaltender Stefan Liv, a three time Swedish Elitserien champion with HV71, and World Championship gold medal and Olympic gold medal champion, both coming in Sweden's historic double of 2006. The Polish born Liv also played in North America with the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL in 2006-07.

One of the highest profile names to perish in the crash was Slovak star Pavol Demitra. Demitra began his professional career with two seasons in the Czechoslovak league before moving to North America following his being drafted 227th overall by the Ottawa Senators. He would split three seasons between the NHL's senators and their top minor league affiliate, the Prince Edward Island Senators from 1993-94 to 1995-96.

Demitra played for the Las Vegas Thunder and Grand Rapids Griffins of the IHL as well as eight games with the St. Louis Blues following a trade. he found his greatest success with St. Louis, with three seasons of 35 goals or more, including a high of 37 in 1998-99, the year of his first NHL All-Star Game appearance. Two more All-Star appearances would follow in 2000 and 2002 before Demitra would set a career high in points with 93 in 2002-03, placing 6th overall in the league scoring race. In all, Demitra would lead St. Louis in scoring four times, in 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2003.

He would also be recognized with with the Lady Byng Trophy in 2000 after recording 28 goals and 75 points with just eight penalty minutes.

He returned to Slovakia during the NHL lockout of 2004-05 to once again play for Dukla Trencin. Once the NHL resumed play, the free agent Demitra signed to play for the Los Angeles Kings for one season prior to being traded to the Minnesota Wild to be teamed with fellow Slovak and close friend Marian Gaborik. for the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons.

Demitra tied for the team lead in scoring during his first season in Minnesota despite Gaborik missing nearly half the season due to injury. While with the Wild, Demitra served as team captain during October of 2007.

His final two NHL seasons were spent with the Vancouver Canucks, although the second was limited to 28 games following a lengthy recovery from off-season shoulder surgery.

His NHL career concluded with 847 games played, 304 goals and 464 points for 768 points. Additionally, in 94 career playoff games, Demitra scored 23 goals and 59 points.

For the 2010-11 season, Demitra signed with Lokomotiv of the KHL in Russia, where hisrenowned playmaking abilities made the veteran the club's leading scorer and placed him in a tied for third in league scoring.

Internationally, Demitra played in the 1992 European Junior Championships and the 1993 World Junior Championships, winning a bronze medal, for Czechoslovakia. Following the division of Czechoslovakia, Demitra skated for Slovakia in both the 1996 World Championships and 1996 World Cup, the 2002 Olympics and 2003 World Championships where he earned a bronze medal.

He then went on to participate in both the 2004 World Championships and 2004 World Cup, the 2005 World Championships, 2006 Winter Olympics and 2007 World Championships.

Demitra then led all players at the 2010 Olympics in scoring with ten points in seven games on his way to being named a tournament all-star. He also scored a sublime shootout goal to give Slovakia a win over Russia in the preliminary round.

His final international appearance was as the 2011 World Championships, where he had the honor of captaining the Slovak team on home ice.

Here, Demitra and future Lokomotiv teammate Rachunek embrace following their preliminary round game at the 2011 World Championships.

Demitra leaves behind his wife Maria and his two children, Lucas and Zara.

Today's featured jersey is a 2006-07 Minnesota Wild Pavol Demitra jersey as worn on January 6, 2007 with the Garth Brooks Teammates for Kids Foundation patch. Each player on every team would wear the Teammates for Kids patch on their jerseys for a game that January, after which the jerseys were then auctioned off for charity to raise money for the foundation.

To date, the foundation has distributed over $75 million through it's various programs in conjunction with professional athletes.

Today's first video is an enlightening look into the thoughtful Demitra's journey from a youngster in Czechoslovakia, where the ultimate goal was the World Championships to the Olympics, to seeing the world change and participating in the NHL becoming a new possibility and the adjustments needed after coming to North America.

Demitra had the perfect timing to score a hat trick on Hat Night in Los Angeles. The results were swift and predictable!

Here is Demitra's game winning goal in the shootout against Russia in the 2010 Olympics, where he displayed his puck control by deftly lofting the puck over the Russian goaltender counter to the direction of his body following his patented "swing wide" approach to the net.

In Minsk, Lokomotiv's scheduled opponents for their first game, Dynamo Minsk, held a hockey funeral for those killed in the crash, a moving and emotional ceremony.

To see the full 35 minute version of the service, click here.

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On a personal note, we had the pleasure of seeing Demitra play in person for the two seasons he was with the Wild and the opportunity to meet him in person following a few practices. Our favorite memory of him began when we were at a pre-game warmup one night. A kid came down the steps of the arena toward the glass wearing a goaltenders catching glove while the players were warming up. As soon as the kind stopped and held up his glove, Demitra looked up after finishing a stick handling warmup drill and lofted the puck over the glass to the kid, who caught the puck in the glove and ran off.

I commented, "It was like he knew it was coming," to which the regulars replied, "He did, Pavol always looks for a kid to give a puck to."

Armed with that knowledge, the next time we attended a game with our youngster, we did all we could to put ourselves in position to get Demitra's attention. Wearing our vibrant yellow Dukla Trencin jersey, Demitra's previous Slovak club of which he was then a part-owner, to stand out against the dark green seats of the Xcel Energy Center, and with our youngster not only dressed in a Wild jersey, but holding a Dukla Trencin sign with Demitra and Gaborik's numbers 38 and 10 to further stand out, we positioned ourselves alone six rows up to make any attempt to loft a puck to us easier than if we were right behind the glass in the first couple of rows, not to mention away from the larger number of fans at the glass.

As Demitra finished his stickhandling drill, he looked up to scan the crowd for a kid, we gave him a quick "over here!" wave, as if we needed to wearing the bright yellow of Dukla, and he softly floated the puck over the glass right to us, which landed more gently in our hands than one could ever imagine.

We repeated this later in the season, and those two seemingly ordinary warmup pucks now hold an even more special place in our modest collection of memorabilia now that Demitra and his many Lokomotiv teammates have now left us.

2009-10 Minnesota Wild Derek Boogaard Jersey

Derek Boogaard passed away unexpectedly on Friday, found dead in his Minneapolis apartment by his brothers Ryan and Aaron, who is also a professional hockey player.

Derek began his path to the NHL with the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League before moving to the Prince George Cougars in the 1999-00. At 6' 7", 265 lbs. he was never fleet of foot and his role as an enforcer became apparent early when his finished his first season of junior hockey with a combined 38 games played, no points and 166 penalty minutes.

In 2000-01 he returned to Prince George and played in 61 games, scoring one goal and eight assists and 245 penalty minutes. Following that season he realized the dream of so many young Canadian boys when he was taken in the NHL Draft, 202nd overall in the 7th round by the Minnesota Wild ahead of names such as Christobal Huet (214th), Johnny Oduya (221st), Marek Svatos (227th) and Martin Gerber (232nd).

After starting the 2001-02 season with the Cougars, he moved to the Medicine Hat Tigers where, in 46 games, he duplicated his one goal and eight assists exactly while accumulating 178 penalty minutes.

After 27 games with Medicine Hat in 2002-03, Boogaard turned professional with the Louisiana Ice Gators of the ECHL, quite a distance from St. Paul and the NHL. In 33 games with the IceGators, Boogaard amassed 240 penalty minutes, and average of 7.27 minutes per game.

The Wild then assigned Boogaard to their top minor league affiliate, the Houston Aeros of the AHL. There, "The Boogeyman" led the Aeros in penalty minutes for two seasons, with 207 in 53 games 2003-04 and 259 in 56 games during the lockout season of 2004-05, protecting the likes of Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Mikko Koivu.

With the NHL back in action for 2005-06, Boogaard made his NHL debut on October 5, 2005 in a 6-3 win over the Calgary Flames in Minnesota. His first point game on October 14th with an assist on a Wes Walz goal at 3:06 of the second period of a game against the Vancouver Canucks.

His first NHL fight came during the very next Wild game two nights later when he fought Kip Brennan of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim at 10:44 of the first period in Minnesota, the first time Boogaard would cause the Wild faithful to rise to their feet when he caught Brennan square in the face and dropped him. Note in the video, the Wild's own announcers have yet to settle on the eventual pronunciation of Boogaard's last name he was so new to the NHL.

The next time Boogaard caused the fans to roar their approval was just 8:23 later when he would meet Todd Fedoruk for the first time, gamely taking on the veteran Fedoruk, whom he would fight again later in his career, with disastrous results for Fedoruk.

The Wild's next game was against the San Jose Sharks on October 19th, and Boogaard once more got the fans out of their seats, only this time it was with the first goal of his career at 2:10 of the third period against goaltender Evgeni Nabokov to give the Wild a 2-1 lead on their way to a 6-1 win, earning Boogaard credit for the game winning goal. Less than eight minutes later it was back to business as usual when he fought Rob Davidson of the Sharks.

Boogaard's second goal of the season came on January 7, 2006 at 9:08 of the first period in a 4-1 Wild win over the Mighty Ducks. He finished the season with 6 points and 158 penalty minutes in 65 games and rapidly became a fan favorite for his willingness to drop the gloves and devastating punching ability.

HockeyFights.com shows 16 fights for Boogaard that season with voters favoring Boogaard 9 times with 2 draws.

That punching ability was never demonstrated more than with his fight with Fedoruk on October 27, 2006 when he broke Fedoruk's cheekbone with one very solid punch, necessitating reconstructive surgery for Fedoruk.

Boogaard played in 48 games that season, finishing with 120 penalty minutes but no goals. His fight card has him involved in 10 brawls, with voters favoring him eight times.

Boogaard, with his brother Aaron, ruffled some feathers in the summer of 2007 when they put on their inaugural "Derek & Aaron Boogaard Fighting Camp" for kids aged 12 to 18 with the goal of "showing kids how to look after themselves when they're on the ice" with the intent of teaching the kids how to avoid getting hurt during fights. Many critics though, did not see it that way and criticized the camp, claiming the brothers Boogaard were setting a bad example. The Boogaards did not help themselves at all with their gory camp logo t-shirts, a true classic in the mold of the movie Slap Shot.

Derek was limited to just 34 games in 2007-08, but equalled his fight total of the season before with 10, earning the win in 7 of those and one draw.

2008-09 saw The Boogeyman compete in 51 games for Minnesota as his popularity grew with the fans of the Wild, as the numerous #24 jerseys in attendance at the Xcel Energy Center would testify to. Along with the growth of his popularity, his goalless streak was also growing, as he failed to score for the third consecutive season, sending his name higher up the list of longest streaks without a goal. His fight card for the season shows 9 fights, winning 6 with a draw.

The quite limited ice time he received under coach Jacques Lemaire, along with a combination of injuries and being a healthy scratch at times, depending on the tactical matchup with certain opponents on a given night, limited his offensive chances. Still, whenever he was in the offensive zone, fans hoped to see the streak come to an end, oohing and aahing with each close call.

The 2009-10 season saw an increase of playing time for Boogaard following a coaching change in Minnesota as he worked hard to be a more complete player. He saw action in 57 games and found enough opponents willing to fight him to amass 105 penalty mintues, his highest total since 2006-07, but still the goalless streak continued. His 9 fights show another dominant season, with 7 wins and a draw.

For the 2010-11 season, Boogaard was signed by the New York Rangers to a $6.5 million four year contract. Finally on November 9, 2010, to the delight of many, especially his fans back in Minnesota, Boogaard's goalless streak came to an end after 234 games, 21 short of Ken Daneyko's NHL record, when he scored in the most unexpected way, when Tyler Sloan of the Washington Capitals missed a chance to hold the puck in the Washington zone, freeing Boogaard for a run up the ice with no one back. Skating as fast as he was capable of, he reached the top of the faceoff circle, reared back and put all his hulking frame into a powerful slapshot that blew past goalie Michael Neuvirth for his first goal in nearly five calendar years, and now sadly his third and final goal of his NHL career.

The final game of Boogaard's NHL career came on December 9, 2010 when a punch to the head by the Ottawa Senators Matt Carkner resulted in a severe concussion which ended Boogaard's season after 22 games and seven fights, of which Boogaard won 4 with one draw, bringing his career totals to 61 fights of which 41 were wins, 14 losses and 6 draws. Offensively, he played in 277 NHL games, scoring 3 goals and 13 assists for 16 points and 589 penalty minutes, 305 of which came from fighting majors.

Beyond the mere numbers of fights and all the talk of goals and lack thereof, Boogaard was a player who did his job well and the right way. He seldom took a bad penalty, and a number of the penalties he was given were a result of his massive frame inflicting damage on smaller opponents with clean hits that were whistled often due to the sound they made or effect they had.

No team seemed to be rattled more by his mere presence in the lineup than the Edmonton Oilers, who would sometimes call up tough guys from the minors when facing Minnesota and often take themselves out of position to take runs at Boogaard, contributing to Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom's 14-0 home record versus the Oilers.

On a personal note, we had a few opportunities to meet Derek Boogaard in person and always found him friendly, accommodating, generous and a really nice guy who always had a moment for fans and autograph seekers as evidenced by the game used stick he gave us.

When off the ice and wearing his glasses, he had a studious look and demeanor that suggested a teacher more than one of the most feared men in the NHL.

On the ice he was as popular a player that the Wild have ever had and a shame to lose anyone at such a young age, as he was just 28 years old.

Today's featured jersey is a 2009-10 Minnesota Wild Derek Boogaard jersey. Such was Boogaard's popularity with the Wild fans that he was chosen to model the team's new alternate jerseys during their unveiling at the Minnesota State Fair on August 30, 2009.

Our first video today is Boogaard modeling the new Wild alternate jersey during it's official unveiling in August of 2009.

Our next video is a tribute to Boogaard doing what made him famous and feared.

Showing off his lighter side, here is Boogaard starring in a commercial for a local supplier of hockey gear.

Here is some more of Boogaard's lighter side, as he is interviewed by teammate Brent Burns.

One final moment to leave you all with, from the Wild's Prospect Camp while still a member of the Medicine Hat Tigers, Boogard breaks the glass like no one else has ever done.

Boogaard Going Through Glass

The Creation of the Minnesota Wild's Third Jersey

Today we are pleased to bring you an interview with John Maher of the Minnesota Wild, who was kind enough to take a few moments out of his busy schedule to talk to us at Third String Goalie.

TSG: John, thank you for taking the time to speak with us. What is your position with the Minnesota Wild?

JM: My current position is Vice President of Brand Marketing.

TSG: And who have you worked for previously?

JM: Before joining the Wild in 2000, I freelanced for a while during the 90's. I worked for the Minnesota Vikings doing their game and event presentation and I also did some event presentation for some other teams in town and then from 1985- to 1993 I worked for the North Stars at Met Center.

TSG: What I wanted to focus on today was the Wild's current alternate third jersey. Going back to the year 2007, the Wild needed to drop one of their three jerseys with the switch to the Reebok Edge jerseys, and since you needed to keep the white jersey, what was the thinking behind dropping the green jersey rather than the red jersey?

JM: It was a pretty easy call at that time as our red jersey was by far our most popular jersey with the fans. Since we could only keep one dark jersey, that was an easy one.

TSG: When did the process to create the current third jersey start?

JM: We actually started working on a third jersey with the intent of introducing it for the 2008-09 season and the process with the National Hockey League and with Reebok pretty much requires a full year prior to the introduction of the jersey that you have the design finished, so that puts us into the 07-08 season, when we were working on a design, and frankly when we did the first set of alternate jersey designs that first year, we never got to one that we really liked when we were working during the summer of 2007.

We had some designs we put in front of the fans. Another big part of the process is doing photography and video testing with the new jerseys to see what it will look like it will look like on television, what it will look like in photography. Once we had prototypes in 2007, and did the photo and video testing, we didn't like them, and so we just decided we're not going to do one yet because we're not ready yet, so that was another full year in front of when we did introduce our alternate jersey, so it really was a two year process of designing, putting paper designs in front of fans to get feedback, taking that feedback and turning it into a prototype that Reebok would make for us once we had agreed on that and doing photography and video testing with the prototypes. All that stuff happens before you can finalize it and say to the league and to Reebok "This is our new jersey."

TSG: Who designed the jersey?

JM: We work with a design and marketing firm SME out of New York City. They have actually designed all of our jerseys all the way back to the very first one that we started wearing in 2000, so they have been a partner of ours throughout, and they've also worked with many other clubs on jersey designs. There is some examples of that on their website. If you go to SME's website you can see a lot of work that they have done for other teams and other brands.

TSG: Did they also design the team's current 10th Anniversary patch?

JM: They did also work with us on our 10th Anniversary patch, yes.

TSG: What were the influences of the design for the current alternate jersey?

JM: When we started out we knew that we wanted to have a jersey that would reflect the throwback or vintage look. The Wild brand has evolved from initially being based on the wilderness. That's where the Wild name came from, that Minnesota wilderness aspect part of the primary logo, but it's evolved from that into a traditional hockey brand, I would say. Based on that we wanted to have a new design that would have more of a vintage or throwback feel to harken back to some of the well known jerseys that Minnesota hockey fans would connect to, all the way back to high school jerseys.

TSG: I seem to recall there were some influences in the logo, the cresting, from the old St. Paul Saints and Minneapolis Millers?

JM: It's a classic sports style of the script to be sure, and the letter "M" does have an influence from an old Minneapolis Millers logo.

The St. Paul Saints of 1961-62 with their classic script logo

1946-47 Minneapolis Millers jersey showing the

inspiration for the "M" on the Wild's third jersey

TSG: Why was there so little red used in the alternate jersey?

JM: We felt that a classic design meant a more solid color jersey. If you look at the Detroit Red Wings as an example, we felt that classic design and a solid color base went together. But we also wanted to have the red be in there because we felt that the combination was important for our brand, so there are little hints of red in there, but we definitely felt like it should be a one color jersey, and we felt like since we had taken our original green jersey out of the mix, that we felt the green should be the base color.

TSG: Were there any public focus groups or feedback before finalizing the design?

JM: Yes. During the summer we have a lot of events with our fans, including our Road Tour, our Summer Bash, Select-A-Seat for our season ticket holders, so we put designs in front of those groups at events like that to get feedback on the "on paper" design before we went to the prototype stage.

TSG: Are they shown one design or a group to pick from?

JM: We always show multiple designs because we want to test them. We have our opinions about which we think is our favorite, but we have definitely been in situations in the past where we have put our favorite in front of fans and they have selected something different, so we always put multiple designs in front of the fans to make sure we are not just going with our own opinion. We want to hear from the fans and make sure they are influencing the design.

TSG: Now that's it been in use for a season, how has it sold compared to the other two jerseys, the white and the red?

JM: It was our best seller last year, but that was partially because it was a brand new one, obviously, and people didn't have one yet. We definitely feel we hit the mark and the fans would say that they agree that we hit the mark on the classic sports look, so I think it will continue to be a popular jersey four us.

TSG: How often is it scheduled to be worn this season and is there a minimum and maximum number of times the league will let you wear it?

JM: The league has a schedule for the alternate jerseys of up to 15 games per club, so we get to select those games in advance ad we base those on mixing them up throughout our schedule and mixing them up throughout our different opponents and also getting them seen by different audiences. For example, we have Montreal and Toronto at home and we haven't had them at home before since we've had the green, so we put both of those games on the green jersey schedule.

TSG: Are you going for the 15 game maximum this year?

JM: We did. We actually got an extra game this year just because of the way the schedule fell, but typically it's a 15 game maximum.

TSG: In the past, in 2003-04 and 2005-06, the team chose to specifically chose to not put the All-Star Game and Year Five patches on the red alternate jersey, but the 10th Anniversary patch is being worn on the green alternate jersey this year. Where did the change in thinking come about leaving the patch off of the alternate jersey?

JM: We felt like we had so much of our season messaging this year was around our 10th anniversary we were going to wear our alternate jersey 15 times at home we felt like we should wear it on every jersey. The only nights we didn't have [the 10th anniversary patch] this year were the two games in Finland, and that was because we had the NHL Premiere logo as part of those games.

TSG: Do you have any thing else jersey related in the works, such as a possible jersey for use in a future Winter Classic?

JM: We would love to be part of the Winter Classic and have communicated that to the league. We think we are a great market for that based on the history of hockey here, so we are talking to the league about that as frequently as we can to express our interest. It's similar to other events like the NHL Draft, the NHL All-Star Game, etc. that many teams lobby for to get to their market, so we definitely hope to host a Winter Classic at some point.

TSG: But no jersey designs in the works for any reason right now?

JM: No. That would be something that would be initiated by the granting of that game to the market.

TSG: Why was the particular number font chosen to be used on the red and green jerseys? Was their any consideration for a more retro looking font to go with the retro theme of the red and green jerseys?

JM: We definitely did that. It was definitely part of the thinking for the red jerseys that we would use a more traditional looking "sports font", so that's the font that was chosen for the red jerseys back in 2003 and we decided to carry it over to the green jerseys.

TSG: Thank you very much for your time today.

JM: You bet.

Again, we cannot thank John enough for taking the time out of his busy schedule to speak with us today about the process of how an NHL team goes about the business of creating a new jersey.

As John mentioned during the interview, the Wild are scheduled to wear their green alternate jerseys this evening against the Montreal Canadiens and again on Tuesday night March 22nd versus the Toronto Maple Leafs. Additionally the Wild will wear their alternates one final time this season against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, April 2nd.

Here are photos taken from the official unveiling of the third jersey at the Minnesota State Fair back on August 30, 2009.

Here are a pair of videos from the unveiling, the first of which features today's interview guest John Maher explaining a little about the process, when they were going to debut and how to get one when they were first released.

The second video is Boogaard modeling the jersey for the public for the very first time.

1998-99 EV Zug Wes Walz Jersey

Wes Walz returned from the hockey wilderness on this day in 2000 when he signed a contract with the expansion Minnesota Wild of the NHL.

Expected to be a force offensively after scoring 104 points in 63 games with the Lethbridge Hurricanes in junior hockey, Walz was selected in the third round of the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, ahead of players such as Kris Draper, Robert Reichel, Sergei Fedorov and Pavel Bure, although it must be noted that selecting Soviet players was still a gamble at the time.

Walz lived up to the Bruins expectations with 54 goals and 140 points in 56 games and 37 points in 19 playoff games in his final season of junior hockey, won a gold medal with Canada at the 1990 World Junior Tournament, including five points in seven games, and made his NHL debut with the Bruins in two games, which included scoring his first NHL goal. In 1990-91 he split time between the Maine Mariners and the Bruins and played for no less than four teams in 1991-92, the Mariners (21 games) and the Bruins (15) and, following a trade, the Hershey Bears of the AHL (41) and the Philadelphia Flyers (2).

After a full season with Hershey in 1992-93, he signed as a free agent with the Calgary Flames and again divided his time between the AHL and the NHL. 1994-95 Walz was limited to 39 games with Calgary in 1994-95. He then signed with the Detroit Red Wings as a free agent, but only appeared in two games with the Detroit and spent 38 games with Adirondack of the AHL.

And with that, his once promising NHL career wound down after just 169 games and 78 total points.

Fast forward four seasons and Walz, a six year veteran of the NHL, was playing for Lugano of the Swiss Nationalliga A after three successful seasons with EV Zug, which included leading the team in points and to a championship in 1997-98.

A father with growing children ready to start school, Walz, now age 30, had a desire to return to North America, and the expansion taking place with the addition of Nashville in 1998, Atlanta in 1999 and now Columbus and Minnesota in 2000 had created roughly 100 new jobs for players in the NHL. With both Columbus and Minnesota looking to stock up their rosters for their debut seasons in 2000-01, Minnesota general manager Doug Risebrough contacted Walz, his GM when he was with Calgary, to see if he would be interested in a job, which Walz jumped at.

"I was excited about the prospect of playing in the league again, and the timing was right for me to give it another shot. The experience of playing in Switzerland had been a good one, but the challenge of living in Europe was growing a little tougher. My son needed to get started in school, and the language barrier was becoming a factor in some of our decision-making. We were ready for a move." Walz recounted.

During the Wild's first training camp, the hard working, tireless Walz caught the attention of head coach Jacques Lemaire, who tabbed Walz as a "checker". With his role now defined and plenty of ice time to be had on the outgunned expansion Wild, Walz transformed himself from a marginal NHL forward into one of the most tenacious defensive forwards in the NHL. He chose the #37, the first one ever assigned to him in training camp as rookie, to remind himself of where he came from and to keep himself humble, and seized the opportunity to return to the NHL. He played in all 82 games of the Wild's debut season, scoring 18 goals, seven of which were shorthanded which was second best in the league.

As a reward for his hard work and to use him as a role model to the team's younger players, Walz was named team captain for the first time in December of 2000. Not having captained a team since he was 14, he recalled, "I wasn't very big when I was a kid, and being captain then didn't have anything to do with leadership. It was just a matter of who was scoring the most goals. This is a huge honor, and certainly nothing I was expecting. I'm surprised and very humbled."

When Walz was not wearing the "C", which Lemaire rotated on a monthly basis, he was often one of the Wild's assistant captains throughout his time in Minnesota. He was also selected by the local Professional Hockey Writer's Association as the Wild's nominee for the Masterton Trophy, awarded annually to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey in 2001.

His hard work was also recognized with the second invitation of his career to play for Team Canada, this time at the 2001 World Championships, something that certainly would not have happened had he stayed in Europe off the radar.

Walz playing for Canada at the 2001 World Championships

In 2002-03, Walz helped the Wild advance past the favored Colorado Avalanche thanks to is defensive work against Colorado's top players, Peter Forsberg in particular, as the Wild overcame a 3-1 deficit in games to win in seven. The Wild repeated the comeback feat in round two against the Vancouver Canucks as Walz contributed a vital five of his seven playoff goals during the series. His hard work that season was recognized when he was named one of three finalists for the Selke Trophy, which recognizes the top defensive forward in the league.

Walz makes Daniel Cloutier look foolish as he scores in Game 7 against Vancouver

After his 2003-04 season was cut short by a sports hernia, which required surgery and months of rehabilitation, Walz resumed playing after the lockout ended and set a personal high with 19 goals and came within a point of tying his NHL career best with 37 points in 2005-06, earning another Masterton Trophy nomination in 2006.

In 2006-07, Walz was credited with one of the most unusual goals in the league, an overtime game winner on December 29th against Columbus. Walz drove to the net as teammate Martin Skoula was shooting the puck. Simultaneously, Jason Chimera checked Walz just as the puck arrived - and disappeared into the airborne Walz's breezers! When Walz then landed in the net, the puck when in with him, and after a video review, he was credited with the winning goal!

Walz scoring the game winning goal - with the puck stuck in the leg of his pants!

In 2007-08, Walz played the first 11 games of the season prior to taking an indefinite leave on November 11th following a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins before formally announcing his retirement on December 1, 2007 as the all-time franchise leader in games played and one of only two remaining original members of the team.

Today's featured jersey is a 1998-99 EV Zug Wes Walz jersey from his time in Switzerland. Perhaps the worst hockey jersey ever on planet Earth, EV Zug apparently purchased their jerseys on clearance from the circus clown supply store. It looks like a minor league New Year's Eve special occasion jersey or perhaps some sort of European Mardi Gras in a very 1990's style when torn paper edges and paintbrush strokes were all the rage in graphic design.

We're not certain how the jersey's four sponsors must have felt about having their logos lost in the clutter of the busiest jerseys we've ever seen. It would be interesting to hear a players perspective on what it was like to play in these jerseys, as they could either make their teammates highly visible on the ice, or have the opposite effect of making them blend into the multicolored background of the spectators.

Don't miss the video of the jerseys in action below, as Walz's jersey carries an ad on the back so large, it obscures both his name and number!

Bonus Jersey: Today's bonus jersey is a 2005-06 Minnesota Wild Wes Walz jersey which features the NHL Cares/Katrina Relief Fund patch worn for the first period only for each team's first home game.

Walz wearing the NHL Cares patch during the first period of the Wild's first

game of 2005-06, the NHL's return to action following the NHL lockout

The patched jerseys were then auctioned off to raise money to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans, Louisiana in August of 2005. Sidney Crosby's game worn jersey generated the highest final price league-wide with a final bid of $21,010 followed by Alexander Ovechkin at $7,929. Overall the auction of 600 jerseys raised over a half a million dollars, which was then matched by the Garth Brooks' Teammates for Kids Foundation for a total of $1,060,944.

Our video section today begins with a beautifully produced look back at the career of Wes Walz and his retirement announcement.

Next, the always tenacious Walz scores a shorthanded goal while playing for EV Zug in Switzerland. Notice that Walz has a full size "Key Player" ad covering his name and number on the back of his jersey! Apparently he is so "key", that everyone knows who he is without aid of any identifying information, like being able to actually see his name and number.

Finally, highlights of the Minnesota Wild Skills Competition, where the fastest skater compeition was won annually by Walz, over recognized NHL speedster Marian Gaborik.