TRH Gameday 65 – Anaheim Ducks: Good Burger
Game #65
LA KINGS
29-23-12
70 pts, 9th in Western Conference
vs
ANAHEIM DUCKS
28-27-10
66 pts, 12th in Western Conference
Kings Lead Season Series 3-1
7:30pm, Staples Center
Los Angeles, CA
BEST PLAYER IN THE WORST JERSEY:
BEST OPPOSITION BLOGS:
Battle of California
Anaheim Calling
ARE THE LA KINGS IN THE PLAYOFFS?
NO.
Saturday night at Staples Center is the 3rd Annual Burger King Jersey Appreciation Day. The Royal Half has been your exclusive home for coverage of the first two Burger King Appreciation Days and we’ve even gone in-depth into the origin story of the jersey itself, a wondrous monstrosity that is well sought after amongst jersey collectors. So for this 3rd year of Burger King Jersey coverage… we present two amazing un-earthed discoveries from the vault of the Burger King Jersey Legend. Courtesy of Spike Coffman, long-time friend of the blog and current producer of The Fourth Period Radio Show on XM Home Ice… screengrabs from the Los Angeles Kings-Mighty Ducks of Anaheim game on January 27th, 1996… aka the 1st time the now-famous alternate jerseys of these two teams were seen by fans.
Honestly, those jerseys were so bad even the Fox Robots wouldn’t wear them.
Forget about the rarity of seeing these jerseys in action…
how about the rarity of seeing Valeri Karpov in a NHL game?
Original Gangster Robinson.
I mean… seriously… could you imagine anything uglier on the body of the Great One?
Close.
Closer.
Nailed it.
This game was sponsored by Zima. I think that says it all.
Hrudey’s on Duty Tonight.
Mopping up the puke from fans duty that is.
This is the one NHL jersey Mike Sillinger wishes he didn’t wear.
Okay… maybe this one too.
Never change, Fox Sports. Never change.
This jersey just proves my theory that Jari Kurri could score in anything.
I don’t know what amazes me more about this screengrab…
Robert Lang’s sexy glare…
or that Robert Lang scored the first 19 goals of his NHL career with the LA Kings.
Why yes, that is ex-NHL coach Ron Wilson in the upper right corner.
Wow, Sean O’Donnell’s dad played in this game.
WHAAAAA?!? THAT IS SEAN O’DONNELL?!?
A few years ago, friend of the blog Lisa Gansky, was digging through her high-school photography projects and found some amazing photos of the Burger King Jersey in the wild. And speaking of how incredibly old Sean O’Donnell is…
Sean O’Donnell was 24 years old during the 1995-96 NHL season.
He is currently 84 years old.
Lisa Gansky has one of the most impressive Nathan LaFayette game-worn jersey collections in the world.
Yanic Perreault, Nathan LaFayette and Eric Lacroix.
I’ll take “Some of the Worst LA Kings Ever” for 1000, please.
For all you LA Kings fans that are jumping on the Jeff Carter bandwagon…
never forget that Rob Cowie was the original #77 for the Kings. Well, right after Paul Coffey.
And while you are at it, never forget that Vitali Yachmenev (on the left) was tied for second in NHL rookie scoring
with Eric Daze during the 1995-96 season with 53 points, just 8 points behind Daniel Alfredsson.
Move over Nathan LaFayette and Robert Lang… and hellooooo Mike Sillinger #26???
Wait… did we just discover that Mike Sillinger wore both the Anaheim Ducks AND Vancouver Canucks
Alternate Jersey during the 1995-1996 season?!?
Holy shit… I think we just did.
Be sure to check out more of Lisa Gansky’s photography as well as her unparalleled collection of 1990’s hockey autographs.
