This road black mesh gamer by Champion was worn by Bobby Schmautz during the 1976 and 1977 NHL seasons. Schmautz began his career in 1967 with the Chicago Black Hawks. In 1970-71 he became a member of the expansion Vancouver Canucks. During his 4th year in Vancouver, Bobby was dealt to the Boston Bruins where he played for the next 7 seasons. Bobby became a beloved Boston Bruins winger who would flourish under the guidance of head coach Don Cherry through the rest of the decade of the 1970’s.

Schmautz represented the Bruins in 3 Stanley Cup Finals over a 5-year period. In the Bruins march to the 1977 Stanley Cup Finals, Bobby scored a league leading 11 playoff goals. Two trades during the 1979-80 season took Schmautz from Boston to Edmonton and then onto Colorado. He was signed as a free agent by the Canucks prior to the 1980-81 season, which was to be his final season in the league. Bobby partook in the 1973 and 1974 NHL All Star games. He wrapped up his career with an impressive 271 goals and 557 points and the admiration of fans in both Boston and Vancouver, where he spent the majority of his playing days.

The game wear on this road black Champion is solid consisting of stick marks, numerous board burns, plenty of board paint transfer, inner pilling and fine team-sewn repair work. The sleeves of this gamer have been custom shortened while the seams have underwent plenty of stitching reinforcement. The Bruins wore a single set of Champion gamers in the team’s prime years and thus they have been coveted by collectors. This example was first brought out late in the 1975-76 campaign and then was used again during the 1976-77 Stanley Cup Finals season.

This example was obviously used again in a following pre-season, where the name on back by Stall and Dean and the Bear Heads were added. This is a characteristic that wasn’t used on the 1975-76 and 1976-77 road Champion gamers, as they were used without name or Bear Heads during those seasons. A fine piece of Bruins history as their first of 3 consecutive seasons began where they would fall at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens dynasty in 2 Stanley Cup Finals and then 1 Semi-Final round that culminated with “Too Many Men On The Ice”.