2018-19 Adidas Home Team Issued
#6 John Marino
Manufacturer: Adidas
Size: 56
Purchased From: Joe Tomon/J & J Distributing
Lettered by: Lettering by Pro Knitwear, assembly by Pro Knitwear/KOSports Hockey
The Story: I've stated on other pages that I want my collection to include jerseys as close to the on-ice jerseys worn by the Penguins as possible. Back in the day, CCM on-ice jerseys were available at retail outlets. Once Starter took over the NHL's jersey contract, their on-ice jerseys had slight variations. CCM brought a return to normalcy in the the early-2000's, but Reebok and Adidas have made things increasingly difficult, to the extent that the only outlet I've ever found to buy a on-ice quality jersey is a team-issued or game-worn jersey from the Penguins, which are sold through J & J Distributing, who's distributed in the team's jerseys for decades. While the disparity between on-ice jerseys and "retail authentics" has grown with each change in manufacturers, the rareness of the on-ice variety has driven prices up considerably. As a result, when I can find a deal, I try to jump on it!
I did just that in August of 2020, when I found that J & J had a jersey that the Penguins prepared for Chris Wideman, a defenseman they brought in at the 2019 trade deadline and assigned to Wilkes Barre-Scranton. Wideman never got called up to the big club, so his jerseys never saw any game action - or even a pre-game warm-up. As a result, the price on these jerseys is much lower than that of an actual game-worn jersey, though the quality is identical. Years ago, this jersey would've been kept by the team and "recycled" to another player the following year by having the nameplate, or in some instances, the numbering replaced. The Penguins, however, don't much recycling anymore, so when the opportunity presents itself, I do it myself! It's the only way to get an on-ice quality jersey without spending an arm and a leg, and this one even had its original tags on it!
Wideman never did pan out with Pittsburgh and signed elsewhere as a free agent in the 2019 off-season. Meanwhile, the Pens assigned the number six to a rookie defenseman, John Marino, after he shocked a lot of people by making the team out of 2019 Training Camp. Marino was acquired via a trade with Edmonton in the summer of 2019 at the behest of Penguins scout Kevin Stevens, who had seen quite a bit of him in action for Harvard. After a visit to J & J Distributing to purchase the jersey and a quick removal of the original nameplate, and it was off to The House o' Hockey to have the nameplate replaced with one bearing Marino's name! Unfortunately, the longtime owner of the House o' Hockey had sold his business and was in process of moving outside the area, but given our history, he worked with the HoH team to have them put a new "Marino" nameplate on the jersey. While the quality of the work remained top-notch, the lettering they used differed a lot from the Penguins team specifications. As a result, I had to strip that nameplate and I had Pro Knitwear make one for me to team spec, but I had them cut it a bit long to cover any ghosting that may have resulted from HoH's nameplate. I was happy when I was able to get the nameplate off without any damage, but I had another issue: Pro Knitwear won't alter game-issued jerseys without removing any internal tagging associated with the team. I had ran into this issue on my Jack Johnson jersey a couple of years prior and didn't want to repeat it. Here's why: there are a lot of counterfeit jerseys out there, and the internal tagging includes a serial number that corresponds to the Certificate of Authenticity shown below. Without the tag and COA with matching serial numbers, and given that Made-in-Canada Adidas jerseys are only available to the team (and subsequently, through J & J Distributing), I'd have a much more difficult time proving that this is a legitimate, game-issued, on-ice quality jersey. Though I'd never purport this jersey to be game-worn, that's important to me. So I enlisted the help of KOSports Hockey in Canonsburg, and they were able to affix the new Pro Knitwear-made nameplate to the jersey. I'm left with a John Marino rookie year jersey (the 2018-19 and 2019-20 jerseys are identical) that is lettered to team specs, but has a serial number proving that this is a 2018-19 game-issued jersey (the "W1819" in the serial number denotes that this is a white 2018-19 jersey) that was, in fact, altered to become a 2019-20 John Marino rookie jersey.
While Marino finished his rookie season with a solid six goals and 26 points in 56 games (the season was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic and he missed time with a broken cheekbone), his most memorable moment was sure to have been scoring his first NHL goal (and sending Bruins goalie Jaroslav Halak into a meltdown) in front of his family and friends in Boston, his hometown. I'm excited to watch him grow as an NHL defenseman and I believe his potential could be very high. His hockey intelligence far exceeds his age and experience (hey, he went to Harvard!).
The Pens got a great deal in their trade for Marino, only giving up a sixth-round pick in return. And although I had to jump through some hoops, I got a great deal on this jersey, that I look forward wearing this one to games for years to come!
Size: 56
Purchased From: Joe Tomon/J & J Distributing
Lettered by: Lettering by Pro Knitwear, assembly by Pro Knitwear/KOSports Hockey
The Story: I've stated on other pages that I want my collection to include jerseys as close to the on-ice jerseys worn by the Penguins as possible. Back in the day, CCM on-ice jerseys were available at retail outlets. Once Starter took over the NHL's jersey contract, their on-ice jerseys had slight variations. CCM brought a return to normalcy in the the early-2000's, but Reebok and Adidas have made things increasingly difficult, to the extent that the only outlet I've ever found to buy a on-ice quality jersey is a team-issued or game-worn jersey from the Penguins, which are sold through J & J Distributing, who's distributed in the team's jerseys for decades. While the disparity between on-ice jerseys and "retail authentics" has grown with each change in manufacturers, the rareness of the on-ice variety has driven prices up considerably. As a result, when I can find a deal, I try to jump on it!
I did just that in August of 2020, when I found that J & J had a jersey that the Penguins prepared for Chris Wideman, a defenseman they brought in at the 2019 trade deadline and assigned to Wilkes Barre-Scranton. Wideman never got called up to the big club, so his jerseys never saw any game action - or even a pre-game warm-up. As a result, the price on these jerseys is much lower than that of an actual game-worn jersey, though the quality is identical. Years ago, this jersey would've been kept by the team and "recycled" to another player the following year by having the nameplate, or in some instances, the numbering replaced. The Penguins, however, don't much recycling anymore, so when the opportunity presents itself, I do it myself! It's the only way to get an on-ice quality jersey without spending an arm and a leg, and this one even had its original tags on it!
Wideman never did pan out with Pittsburgh and signed elsewhere as a free agent in the 2019 off-season. Meanwhile, the Pens assigned the number six to a rookie defenseman, John Marino, after he shocked a lot of people by making the team out of 2019 Training Camp. Marino was acquired via a trade with Edmonton in the summer of 2019 at the behest of Penguins scout Kevin Stevens, who had seen quite a bit of him in action for Harvard. After a visit to J & J Distributing to purchase the jersey and a quick removal of the original nameplate, and it was off to The House o' Hockey to have the nameplate replaced with one bearing Marino's name! Unfortunately, the longtime owner of the House o' Hockey had sold his business and was in process of moving outside the area, but given our history, he worked with the HoH team to have them put a new "Marino" nameplate on the jersey. While the quality of the work remained top-notch, the lettering they used differed a lot from the Penguins team specifications. As a result, I had to strip that nameplate and I had Pro Knitwear make one for me to team spec, but I had them cut it a bit long to cover any ghosting that may have resulted from HoH's nameplate. I was happy when I was able to get the nameplate off without any damage, but I had another issue: Pro Knitwear won't alter game-issued jerseys without removing any internal tagging associated with the team. I had ran into this issue on my Jack Johnson jersey a couple of years prior and didn't want to repeat it. Here's why: there are a lot of counterfeit jerseys out there, and the internal tagging includes a serial number that corresponds to the Certificate of Authenticity shown below. Without the tag and COA with matching serial numbers, and given that Made-in-Canada Adidas jerseys are only available to the team (and subsequently, through J & J Distributing), I'd have a much more difficult time proving that this is a legitimate, game-issued, on-ice quality jersey. Though I'd never purport this jersey to be game-worn, that's important to me. So I enlisted the help of KOSports Hockey in Canonsburg, and they were able to affix the new Pro Knitwear-made nameplate to the jersey. I'm left with a John Marino rookie year jersey (the 2018-19 and 2019-20 jerseys are identical) that is lettered to team specs, but has a serial number proving that this is a 2018-19 game-issued jersey (the "W1819" in the serial number denotes that this is a white 2018-19 jersey) that was, in fact, altered to become a 2019-20 John Marino rookie jersey.
While Marino finished his rookie season with a solid six goals and 26 points in 56 games (the season was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic and he missed time with a broken cheekbone), his most memorable moment was sure to have been scoring his first NHL goal (and sending Bruins goalie Jaroslav Halak into a meltdown) in front of his family and friends in Boston, his hometown. I'm excited to watch him grow as an NHL defenseman and I believe his potential could be very high. His hockey intelligence far exceeds his age and experience (hey, he went to Harvard!).
The Pens got a great deal in their trade for Marino, only giving up a sixth-round pick in return. And although I had to jump through some hoops, I got a great deal on this jersey, that I look forward wearing this one to games for years to come!