Historical Hockey and Sports Memorabilia Auction November 2024
Considered by many to be the greatest goalie the game of hockey has ever seen and certainly the best not born and raised on North American soil, Vladislav Tretiak first came to prominence in the Canadian consciousness while stifling the best of the best that the hockey-centric nation could muster during the famed Summit Series of 1972. Wearing the red and white of the Soviet Union in international competition at both the junior and senior levels between 1967 and 1984 while also playing with CSKA Moscow for his entire career, Tretiak would backstop the Soviet's to four (4) Olympic medals including three (3) golds, ten (10) gold medals at the IIHF World Championships, a gold medal at the 1981 Canada Cup and a gold medal/victory at the 1979 NHL Challenge Cup. Currently serving as the President of the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia, Tretiak was inducted into the inaugural class of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Hall of Fame in 1997 and was was voted one of six players to the IIHF Centennial All-Star Team in a poll conducted by a group of fifty-six (56) experts from sixteen (16) countries. Given the Order of Lenin by the Soviet government in 1978, the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union, offered here is this Soviet Union National Team jersey donned by Tretiak during the late-1970s and is attributed to the 1978 IIHF World Championships that was held in Prague, Czechoslovakia and resulted in the Soviet's winning their fifteenth (15th) World Championship gold medal.
Coming to us with excellent provenance, the jersey was acquired directly from Tretiak by a member of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Company in the late-1980s during a tour of the Soviet Union (we found evidence of the Company doing a tour of the Soviet Union in May of 1990). At the time of the meeting between the two (2) athletes, Tretiak offered the jersey in exchange for a shirt/jacket from the dancer and pulled it out of his hockey bag, signed it and then presented it to the dancer.
Made by Kisapuku, both a brand tag, displaying a size "54-56" designation, as well as a washing instructions label is sewn into the collar while the Kisapuku logo that is commonly found over the left breast of jerseys made by the company is not there and was never in place, helping us date the jersey as being the style that was in use before the start of the National Team's 1978-79 schedule as photos from the 1978 Izvestia Cup show the Soviets wearing jerseys with a different style and colour collar as well as the Kisapuku logo over the left breast. A lightweight mesh construction garment with durene material inserts over the biceps and hem, the front of the desirable shirt is decorated with "CCCP" in single layer white twill letters. Accented over the sleeves and verso with Tretiak's number "20" in matching single layer white twill numerals, no nameplate is in place over the top of the reverse with no evidence of one ever having been affixed observed either. Sporting a rubberized red diamond pattern over the hem on both sides, the jersey exhibits game-wear via numerous puck marks over the lower front and both sleeves, sweat staining in the durene knit inserts of the hem and both sleeves, red post paint transfer marks over the elbows, right hip and reverse number "2", dark marks over the reverse numbers and hem plus finally, pilling on the interior at the elbows and hem which is also seen on the exterior of the durene inserts of both sleeves. Signed by Tretiak through the top of the "2" on the reverse with a thin black marker ink signature that displays without issue, the jersey comes accompanied by a signed letter of provenance from our consignor with the story listed above.
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