This home white mesh gamer by Champion was worn by Brad Park during the 1975-76 NHL playoffs, the 1976-77 NHL regular season and the 1976-77 NHL playoffs including the Stanley Cup Finals. The New York Rangers selected Park with the 2nd overall pick in the 1966 NHL Entry Draft. He made his NHL debut in 1968-69, thus beginning one of the sports great careers from a defenseman. Park would represent the Rangers for parts of 8 seasons before joining the Boston Bruins in a trade for Phil Esposito. Park spent the next 8 years in Boston and then finished his Hall of Fame career with 2 seasons in Detroit. All told this All Star defenseman played in 1113 games over the course of 17 NHL seasons and was a playoff participant all 17 seasons! He scored 213 goals and 896 points, his career best season coming with the Rangers in 1973-74 when he netted 25 goals and 82 points to go along with a career high 148 PIMS. Park had the misfortune to play in the shadows of Hall of Famers, Bobby Orr and Denis Potvin. Thus, he was named Norris Trophy runner up a record 6 times. Brad was 5 times a 1st Team NHL All Star and was twice a 2nd team NHL All Star. He partook in 9 consecutive NHL All Star games spanning 1970-1978 and also was a member of Team Canada in the 1972 Summit Series. Park was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame on his 1st ballot in 1988.
These amazing Champion jerseys went through the wars under the leadership of their head coach Don Cherry. The Big Bad Bruins wore these sweaters on home ice at the Boston Garden beginning with the 1976 playoffs, during the 1976-77 regular season and then all the way through the 1977 playoffs including the Stanley Cup Finals. Park was clearly the Bruins standout player during those 1977 Stanley Cup Finals against the Montreal Canadiens dynasty. The Bruins were swept by the Canadiens and scored a total of 6 goals in 4 hardfought games. Of those 6 goals, Park scored one of them and assisted on 4 others!
The game wear on this sweater is tremendous, just as you would expect it to be. There are stick and slash marks, board burns, plenty of board paint transfer obtained from the boards at the small confines that were the Boston Garden, washed out bloodstains, inner pilling and in excess of 50 team-sewn repairs! One of those repairs is an elongated gash that runs 9 inches in length diagonally from the belly into the hip striping. Vintage Park game worn jerseys are a rather tough find in our hobby. This example certainly ranks as the finest we’ve ever had the pleasure to handle from his Boston Bruins era. A stunning, hammered, photo and video matched example that was worn over the course of 2 seasons and during the Stanley Cup Finals, choice!
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