This road blue knit gamer by Maska was worn by John Gould during the 1979-80 NHL season, the last of his NHL career. Gould began his 9 season NHL trek in Buffalo where he spent parts of 3 seasons beginning in 1971-72. During the 1973-74 campaign, Gould was dealt to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Jerry Korab. Gould would spend parts of 4 seasons in Vancouver which preceeded 3 in Atlanta before wrapping things up where they began in Buffalo with the 1979-80 Sabres. John delivered back to back 30+ goal seasons for the Canucks during the mid 1970’s, for what proved to be his personal best.

Sewn to the right breast of this beautiful Maska knit is the 1980 Olympic patch. The game use on this sweater is solid consisting of stick marks, board burns, board paint transfer, inner pilling, un-repaired holes and in excess of a dozen team-sewn repairs. This set of sweaters was worn by the Sabres for the majority of the 1979-80 NHL season.

Under new boss Scotty Bowman for the first time, Buffalo won the Adams division with 110 points and allowed a mere 201 goals against, a league best total. The Sabres stormed into the playoffs eventually falling at the hands of the New York Islanders dynasty in the Semi Finals, thus completing one of the most exciting seasons in team history. The 1980 Olympics are thought of by many hockey fans as the greatest moment in the history of the sport. Those Olympic Games took place in Lake Placid, New York. Buffalo was one of two NHL teams, the New York Islanders being the other, who donned the 1980 Olympic patch on their game jerseys. This jersey has been buried away for over a quarter century since leaving Gould’s back and is now entering our hobby for the very first time.