Peter Forsberg #21

Colorado Avalanche – 1995-96 Starter (Size 52) – Retail Authentic
Inaugural Jersey with Replica 1996 Stanley Cup Finals Patch. Same style worn for the Stanley Cup Finals Game 2 Hat Trick!
Customized by Liam “El Grande”

Liam aka “El Grande” absolutely nailed it with this jersey.  From stripping off the original kit, to hand drawing a replacement kit based on photos and measurements from actual game-worn jerseys, and reapplying the new kit, I am thrilled to have this one back with spot-on customization work that I’m proud to show off now!

​Scroll down to the bottom for photos of the jersey with the original customization work I did, when I thought I knew what I was doing.  Thankfully now I know that I don’t know what I’m doing, I have found others that do know what they’re doing to fix what I did when I thought I knew what I was doing 😀

When choosing who would go on my Inaugural Home jersey, Peter Forsberg’s hat trick in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals made it a pretty easy choice.

I bought this jersey on eBay, and despite it being a Starter Authentic jersey from El Salvador, it didn’t have a fight strap.  The Starter Authentic jerseys that were made in Haiti did not come with fight straps.  My theory is it was either removed by the first owner, or it was a factory error and one was never applied.

This jersey was one of the first authentics I bought, and before I really knew about all the nuances and variations of the Avs fonts and numbers in their Starter Jersey era.  I purchased a jersey kit from Customize Sports and sent it off to Hockey Authentic to get everything sewn on.  After sharing this project on the Hockey Jerseys Discord, I quickly learned that the kit was incorrect.

Thankfully this jersey, along with the Sakic is being fixed but one of the best in the Hockey Jersey Community.  I’ll post the new pics (and keep the old pics) for comparison once the jersey is back.

The inspiration for this jersey – “A PURE HAT TRICK FOR PETER FORSBERG!!! FORGET THE RATS, THROW THE HATS!” Here’s a video of Foppa’s Stanley Cup Finals Hat Trick! It was the first Hat Trick in the Stanley Cup Finals since 1993 and it didn’t happen again until Mark Stone did it in 2023. Only 33 players ever had tallied a hatty in the SCF 👀

Here are some side-by-side photos of how the jersey looked with the first kit I bought for it, compared to how it looks now. The jersey was not yellow-tinted at all, it was just the white balance from my camera being off…

Before

After