Detailed Jersey Set Notes

1974-75   Home Gold

Comments:
The history of Michigan Tech Hockey preserved!... In January 2001 I purchased this jersey on eBay from a sporting goods store in British Columbia. The seller said it was from the 1988-89 season. However, when I began to inspect the jersey more closely, I started to doubt the era in which the seller placed this jersey. The material is a tightly woven heavy cotton/nylon and the jersey shows a few repairs. The biggest eye opener is that the jersey shows a number change at all locations: front, back, and shoulders. It appears that this jersey was #6 when first numbered and may also have had an "A" on the left chest.
In March 2001, I visited the MTU campus and spent an afternoon browsing through the photo archives of the sports information department. After several hours of searching I began to find matches in the 1974-75 season, the year of MTU's 3rd NCAA championship. I also received info from former player Richard Novak (1984-89), who provided the following:
"I also have one of those jerseys...We did not wear them from 84-89, they are older than that. They were given to the graduating players in 89. I believe they might be the set of jerseys used prior to the 84 season, because what I wore was the home white you have listed for 83-85. Home color was switched to gold in 88 or 89 I believe. The jersey has a lace up neck, correct? That in itself leads me to believe it could be really old, like early 70s..."
The jerseys being given to the players in 1989 would back the dealer thinking the jersey was from the 1988-89 season. A very historic item to say the least!

Photos:
Wash Tag
Lace-up Neck
Front Numbers
Back Numbers
Sleeve Numbers

1980-1981?   Home White

Comments:
Assuming the names on the back of the jerseys are correct, the two players that wore these jerseys played 1980-84 (Zuke), and 1980-81 (Turner). One unique feature is the black-gold-black two color neck. The jersey has a small black name sewn on a nameplate. The nameplate fabric is not the same type of material as the jersey and it is a much tighter knit.

1982-1983?   Home White

Comments:
A short chapter of MTU's jersey history, these Cooper Polyzorbs were worn in the early 1980s with the full length Cooperall pants that were popular at that time in the NHL. But as quickly as they arrived, they were gone. These jerseys are extremely small compared with other styles and were very form fitting. The cuffs on this size medium jersey are only 4.5" wide. Other features include cuff-to-cuff gold striping that goes up over the shoulders, and a small iron-on Cooper logo on the back hem. The crest and back numbers (no sleeve numbers or names) were two color gold on black sewn twill.

Photos:
Neck Tagging
Cooper Logo
Typical Repair
Front Numbers
Back Numbers

1983-1985?   Home White

Comments:
This set of jerseys was manufactured by Rawlings. The body of the jersey, and the black ends of the sleeves were constructed of a very large mesh, but all of the striping is a tightly woven cotten like material. The neck is solid black and is similar to the striping material. The numbers and the crest are two color gold on black sewn twill. Back numbers are 10", arm numbers are 4", and those on the front below the crest are slightly larger, 4.75". Black single color names (on nameplates) can be found on some jerseys and are identical in style to those used on the GoodSports jerseys. Again I don't believe that these were on the jerseys when they were worn, but I have not seen any photos to prove or disprove that theory.

Photos:
Rawlings Tagging
Typical Repairs
Front Numbers
Back Numbers
Sleeve Numbers
Nameplate

1989-1991?   Home Gold

Comments:
This set of jerseys were manufactured by Hooters Sportswear. These mesh knit jerseys had two color black on white twill crests, numbers and names all sewn down. The names were on nameplates of material identical to the jersey. The WCHA logo was embroidered in gold on a white patch which was in turn sewn on the jersey. Two piece tie-downs were also placed in the back of the jerseys.

Photos:
Hooters Tags
Hem Logo
Hooters "Flag"
WCHA Patch
Fight Strap
Front Numbers
Back Numbers
Sleeve Numbers
Nameplate

1993-1994   Home White

Comments:
A new era in the design of MTU's jerseys began in 1993. This was the first year of what has become known as the "Husky Head" design. This home white set of jerseys was only used for one season. Although they are similiar to home jerseys that were used in following years, they can be easily distinguished from other sets by the three color neck that these jerseys featured. I have not seen one of these jerseys since the final game of the 1993-94 season.

Photos:

1994-1995   Home White

Comments:
This second set of Bauer home whites had only one obvious design change. The prior three color neck was replaced with a solid gold design comprised of three overlapping layers of fabric. My guess is that this was the same neck design used other teams' jerseys that required multiple colors. The twill MTU remained at each elbow and an embroidered BAUER patch with a silver and gold outline was present on the back hem of the jersey.

Photos:
Bauer Tags
Back Hem
WCHA Logo
Back Numbers
Sleeve Logo
Sleeve Numbers
Nameplate

1995-1998   Home White

Comments:
This was the first set of home jerseys with the "MTU" shoulder patches. This set of jerseys can also be identified by the single thickness gold neck. Also the BAUER patch embroidered on the back hem, was outlined with silver only. The previous set had a two color gold/silver outline around the patch.
NOTE: During the 1995-96 season, color coordinating patches were worn to celebrate the 75th season of MTU hockey. At the end of the season, all of the patches from the home, road, and alternate jerseys were removed.

Photos:
Bauer Tags
Back Hem
Shoulder Patches
WCHA Logo
Back Numbers
Sleeve Numbers
Nameplate

1998-2000   Home White

Comments:
Although the overall design of the jerseys is identical to the previous sets, there are a few items both on the outside and the inside of the jersey that will help you tell the two apart. This set of jerseys featured the "Flying B" BAUER logo on the left chest. The BAUER logo on the back hem was redesigned from a patch to directly embroidered, single color, black angled, block letters. On the inside, the BAUER ProWear tag was still present, and an additional tag, much larger in size, was also sewn into the neck which had the size information on it.

Photos:
Std Neck Tag
Goalie Neck Tag
Hem Logo
Shoulder Patch
WCHA Logo
"Flying B" Logo
Sleeve Numbers
Back Numbers
Nameplate

2000-2003   Home White

Comments:
This 5th generation of the "Husky Head" jersey design marked a drastic change from the previous versions. A modern two color twill "MichiganTech" was featured below the front crest. Contrasting color shoulder yokes were added along with a more rounded and slanted style of numbering. The names were single color sewn on nameplates and were arched over the back numbers. The WCHA logo was emboidered on the right chest and BAUER was embroidered on the back hem. For the 2001-02 season, all WCHA teams added a patch celebrating the 50th anniversary of the WCHA (1951-2001) to the back of their jerseys. Michigan Tech left them on the home jerseys for the 2002-03 season as well.

Photos:
Bauer Tags
Hem Logo
WCHA 50th Patch
WCHA Logo
Sleeve Numbers
Back Numbers
Nameplate

2003-2006   Home White

Comments:
The 2003-04 season brought a new coach and a new look to the Huskies. For the first time in 10 years, the script "Huskies" was back as the primary logo on the home jerseys. The "Husky Head" logo was retained and moved to the shoulder area. The modern "MichiganTech" logo was also retained, but it was moved to the back of the jersey below the numbers. This caused the numbers to be place slightly higher on the back of the jersey. As a result, names were not originally worn on the jerseys. (Arched gold names on black nameplates were added to the jerseys prior to the start of the 2004-05 season.) The numbers went back to the block style used for most of the 1990's. The "SP" logo was embroidered on the back hem of the jersey and the "WCHA" logo was also embroidered on the right chest.

Photos:

2006-2008   Home White

Comments:
Very similar to the alternate jerseys produced by OT Sports, these jerseys were also made from "dazzle" material. The jerseys featured three color twill numbers, however the gold color is only a thin edging. The WCHA and MTU logos on the front of the jersey are embroided patches which were then sewn onto the jersey. The main crest on the front is gold twill with the black and silver sections added via embroidery. The gold inserts under the arms are mesh and are also edged with silver and black piping. The shoulders have two layers of material and the elbows have also be reinforced with very tight airknit type of material. Click HERE to view all the details on this set of jerseys as they sent to OT Sports for production. (Thanks Mitch's Misfits / MTU for the image.)

Unfortunately, like the last few sets of jerseys to be released by the team through jersey raffles, all of the nameplates have been stripped off the jerseys (per NCAA policy) and the jerseys were also autographed by the entire 2008-09 hockey team.

Photos:

Page last modified 11/30/2008
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