This road black air-knit gamer by CCM was worn by Ray Bourque during the 1988-89 NHL season. The Boston Bruins selected Bourque with the 8th overall pick in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft. His Hall of Fame career spanned 22 seasons, with 21 of them having been spent in Boston, sadly without bringing a Stanley Cup home to the Garden. Bourque’s accomplishments are too lengthy to list in full; some of the highlights include: 1980 Calder Trophy for NHL Rookie of the Year, 1992 King Clancy Memorial Trophy as the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution to his community, (12) 1st and (6) 2nd Team NHL All Star selections, 18 All Star game appearances, 5 Norris Trophies as the leagues best defenseman, a total which trails the likes of Bobby Orr 8, Doug Harvey 7 and Niklas Lidstrom 6. In Ray’s last season he finally earned the Trophy that had eluded him his entire career, the Stanley Cup as a member of the Colorado Avalanche.
Bourque is the all-time leading scorer among defenseman with 1579 points, which also places him among the elite on the all-time NHL scoring list. Ray is near the top on the all time assists list with 1169, trailing the likes of Gretzky, Messier and Francis. He is also the all-time leading goal scorer among defenseman with 410. Ray also resides in the top 10 all-time leading playoff scorers in NHL history. He was elected to the Hall of Fame on his first ballot in 2004 and will forever be remembered as one of the greatest defenseman in NHL history.
Proudly sewn to the left breast of this gamer is the Captain’s “C”. The game wear on this vintage sweater is tremendous and consists of stick and slash marks, loads of board burns, un-repaired burn holes, a fight strap that has lost the battle to salt and rust, fine inner pilling and nearly 20 team-sewn repairs! Shown above is beautiful photo match of Bourque wearing this exact jersey during the 1988-89 season. Numerous matches reveal themselves in this one image alone: stick marks are perfectly matched in the crest, on the left sleeve and on the white stripe of the rear hem and let us not forget the crudely stitched Captain’s “C” or the board burns on the left shoulder! This picture sure does tell a story! Bourque donned this sweater during his 10th season in the NHL, just as the decade of the 1980’s was nearing an end and as Ray was cementing his place in hockey history with 4 Norris Trophies in a 5-year span. This outstanding well worn and beautifully photo matched example sports the coveted letter of honor and features loads of team sewn repairs. This vintage gamer is now more than a quarter century removed from the ice and ranks as perhaps the finest #77 that we’ve ever had the pleasure of offering, Hall of Fame worthy, choice!
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