1990-91 CCM Home Replica
#11 John Cullen with Alternate Captain's "A"
Manufacturer: CCM
Size: L
Purchased From: Penguins Pro Shop at South Hills Village
Lettered by: Penguins Pro Shop at South Hills Village
The Story: As I became more and more of a hockey fan - and more and more of a Penguins fan - John Cullen became my first favorite player. He was skilled enough to be the Penguins' second-line center and stepped up when Mario Lemieux went down with injury. On top of that, he was a strong two-way player who wasn't afraid to drop the mitts when the situation warranted. He had my utmost respect. So since I already had a Pens road jersey, the next logical step was to buy a white one. But I wanted this to have the name of my favorite player! It cost me $90 to buy the jersey - a lot of money for an 18-year-old college kid in 1991, but I saved it up and treated myself.
With this jersey, I did a lot of things. First, I learned a lot about how important lettering is to a jersey, having seen the some of the poorly-lettered jersey that other people were wearing. And I also learned that it absolutely sucks when you have a jersey of a player who gets traded. I was shocked in March of 1991 when Cullen was the centerpiece of a trade with the Hartford Whalers that brought Ron Francis (another of my favorites as time went on), Ulf Samuelsson, and Grant Jennings to Pittsburgh. Without that trade, the Pens don't win their first two Stanley Cups. But I really missed John Cullen and I was thrilled to see him make a few NHL All-Star Games. He goes down as one of my all-time favorites. See that All-Star card in the upper right of this page? The jersey in that picture is what I refer to as "The One." I don't know how I'm going to do it, but it's one of my life's goals to get my hands on an authentic jersey like that one, with "11 CULLEN" on the back of it.
This jersey has definitely seen better days, and it's probably not worth five dollars. But it's one that I'll never part with!
Size: L
Purchased From: Penguins Pro Shop at South Hills Village
Lettered by: Penguins Pro Shop at South Hills Village
The Story: As I became more and more of a hockey fan - and more and more of a Penguins fan - John Cullen became my first favorite player. He was skilled enough to be the Penguins' second-line center and stepped up when Mario Lemieux went down with injury. On top of that, he was a strong two-way player who wasn't afraid to drop the mitts when the situation warranted. He had my utmost respect. So since I already had a Pens road jersey, the next logical step was to buy a white one. But I wanted this to have the name of my favorite player! It cost me $90 to buy the jersey - a lot of money for an 18-year-old college kid in 1991, but I saved it up and treated myself.
With this jersey, I did a lot of things. First, I learned a lot about how important lettering is to a jersey, having seen the some of the poorly-lettered jersey that other people were wearing. And I also learned that it absolutely sucks when you have a jersey of a player who gets traded. I was shocked in March of 1991 when Cullen was the centerpiece of a trade with the Hartford Whalers that brought Ron Francis (another of my favorites as time went on), Ulf Samuelsson, and Grant Jennings to Pittsburgh. Without that trade, the Pens don't win their first two Stanley Cups. But I really missed John Cullen and I was thrilled to see him make a few NHL All-Star Games. He goes down as one of my all-time favorites. See that All-Star card in the upper right of this page? The jersey in that picture is what I refer to as "The One." I don't know how I'm going to do it, but it's one of my life's goals to get my hands on an authentic jersey like that one, with "11 CULLEN" on the back of it.
This jersey has definitely seen better days, and it's probably not worth five dollars. But it's one that I'll never part with!