This road blue knit gamer by Maska was worn by John Van Boxmeer during the 1979-80 NHL season. Van Boxmeer has the distinction of being the man that was traded even up for Rene Robert, which effectively broke up the French Connection. “Boxy” made Sabres fans forget, proving himself as an offensive weapon on the Sabres blueline who prospered under the tutelage of his old coach Scotty Bowman. In fact it was one of Bowman’s first moves as Sabres GM to bring Van Boxmeer aboard.

Van Boxmeer toiled on the Sabres power play and ran up impressive point totals for a blueliner. His first 3 seasons in Buffalo saw him tally 51, 69 and 68 points respectively. Van Boxmeer began his career with the Canadiens where he played parts of 4 seasons and got his name on the 1976 Stanley Cup before being dealt to the expansion Colorado Rockies where he spent 3 seasons before arriving in Buffalo.

Sewn to the right breast of this beautiful Maska knit is the 1980 Olympic patch. The game use on this sweater is strong consisting of stick marks, board burns, board paint transfer, heavy inner pilling and in excess of two-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 Van Boxmeer’s back and is now entering our hobby for the very first time.