2011-12 SP Wheeling Road Game Worn
#19 Mikael Bedard with Nailers 20th Anniversary and various Sponsor Patches
Manufacturer: SP
Size: 56
Purchased From: The MeiGray Group
Lettered by: The Wheeling Nailers
The Story: Obviously, I'm a collector of Pittsburgh Penguins jerseys, first and foremost. However, I have a couple of Wilkes Barre-Scranton jerseys in my collection, so why not add one of the Penguins' AA affiliate, the Wheeling Nailers, especially given that they're only about 40 miles away?
The story behind this one was finding an incredible deal. I had been looking for a Nailers jersey for a few months, but everything was priced in the $225-275 range. To me, that's a bit pricey for a jersey used by a player that, most likely, I hadn't heard of. But I remained patient and kept checking every once in a while. In November, 2016, I saw a home jersey listed on eBay, and it was listed by The MeiGray Group, who is one of the leading authenticators of game-worn merchandise. I ended up missing out on that auction, but when a road jersey game up the following week, also from MeiGray, I wasn't about to make the same mistake! I'm guessing that they held onto this one for quite some time, as the listing was at $99! The auction went up a bit, but I ended up paying half of what the going rate was for Wheeling gamers!
I liked what I saw in the pictures, but this jersey really is a beauty, especially with all of the patchwork, though it does seem to help turn ECHL players into skating billboards. There are a number of sponsor patches, the Penguins logo patch, and the Nailers 20th Anniversary patch. It's also the first season-worn gamer I have. Most of my other jerseys were only worn for a few games, limiting the wear. This one, while not "hammered" (I hate that term, but it describes a jersey with a lot of game wear), has a couple of small holes, board burns, and stick/puck marks. I'm not one of those collectors who looks to find jerseys with a lot of game wear, so this jersey sits right on the edge of being "too worn," but given the fact that a black jersey hides a lot of the wear, I'm happy I didn't get the home jersey after all!
And it turns out that Mikael Bedard wasn't all that bad a player, at least at the ECHL level. In two years with Wheeling, he put up 30 goals and 70 points in 88 games before moving on to the Reading Royals, also of the ECHL. Not too shabby!
Size: 56
Purchased From: The MeiGray Group
Lettered by: The Wheeling Nailers
The Story: Obviously, I'm a collector of Pittsburgh Penguins jerseys, first and foremost. However, I have a couple of Wilkes Barre-Scranton jerseys in my collection, so why not add one of the Penguins' AA affiliate, the Wheeling Nailers, especially given that they're only about 40 miles away?
The story behind this one was finding an incredible deal. I had been looking for a Nailers jersey for a few months, but everything was priced in the $225-275 range. To me, that's a bit pricey for a jersey used by a player that, most likely, I hadn't heard of. But I remained patient and kept checking every once in a while. In November, 2016, I saw a home jersey listed on eBay, and it was listed by The MeiGray Group, who is one of the leading authenticators of game-worn merchandise. I ended up missing out on that auction, but when a road jersey game up the following week, also from MeiGray, I wasn't about to make the same mistake! I'm guessing that they held onto this one for quite some time, as the listing was at $99! The auction went up a bit, but I ended up paying half of what the going rate was for Wheeling gamers!
I liked what I saw in the pictures, but this jersey really is a beauty, especially with all of the patchwork, though it does seem to help turn ECHL players into skating billboards. There are a number of sponsor patches, the Penguins logo patch, and the Nailers 20th Anniversary patch. It's also the first season-worn gamer I have. Most of my other jerseys were only worn for a few games, limiting the wear. This one, while not "hammered" (I hate that term, but it describes a jersey with a lot of game wear), has a couple of small holes, board burns, and stick/puck marks. I'm not one of those collectors who looks to find jerseys with a lot of game wear, so this jersey sits right on the edge of being "too worn," but given the fact that a black jersey hides a lot of the wear, I'm happy I didn't get the home jersey after all!
And it turns out that Mikael Bedard wasn't all that bad a player, at least at the ECHL level. In two years with Wheeling, he put up 30 goals and 70 points in 88 games before moving on to the Reading Royals, also of the ECHL. Not too shabby!