This road blue dureen gamer by Maska was worn by Vaclav Nedomansky during the 1974-75 WHA season, his rookie year. Nedomansky is a native of Czechoslovakia who became the first European to defect to play hockey in North America. A lengthy playing career in Czechoslovakia saw Nedomansky light the lamp 369 times in 419 Czech Elite games and also included 9 consecutive World Championships as well as the 1968 (silver) and 1972 (bronze) Olympics. He began his career in North America in the WHA in 1974-75, where he played for Toronto for a couple of years and transferred with the franchise to Birmingham where he played for two more seasons. Vaclav was a dynamic goal scorer. In his three full WHA seasons he netted 41, 56 and 36 goals respectively. During the 1977-78 campaign, Vaclav bolted to the NHL where he suited up for the Detroit Red Wings and put forth 38 and 35 goal seasons before the decade of the 1970’s came to a close. Nedomansky spent 5 seasons in the Motor City prior to spending a final year split between the St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers. After leaving his homeland in 1974, this heroic veteran of the Cold War was not able to visit his family or country for more than 15-years until the Iron Curtain eventually fell as the decade of the 1980’s turned to the nineties.
The game wear on this vintage jersey is solid and consists of stick and slash marks, board burns, un-repaired burn holes, stitch pops, a few material runs, heavy inner pilling and a few team-sewn repairs. Removed from the left breast of this gamer is the alternate Captain’s “A”. Removed from the verso is the player nameplate. Nedomansky was the first European player to call North America home. He spent that first lonely season as a member of the Toronto Toros and lit the lamp 41 times while adding 40 assists for 81 points as a rookie while wearing this very sweater. This historic gamer should offer vast appeal to both WHA and international collectors as well as hockey historians, choice!
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