This road blue knit gamer by Maska was worn by Bob Mongrain during the 1979-80 NHL season, his first in the NHL. Mongrain had a brief NHL career that began under Scotty Bowman in 1979-80 and ended after having spent parts of 5 seasons in Buffalo with the LA Kings in 1985-86. Bob dressed for 34 games as a rookie, contributing 4 goals and 6 assists. He also saw action in 9 playoff games that year.

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 approximately 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 Mongrain’s back and is now entering our hobby for the very first time.