US World Junior Jersey Auction Includes Top Prospects

It’s been one of the season’s more memorable hockey games at any level this season.  Now, collectors have a chance to grab jerseys from the participants, some of whom will likely be skating in NHL arenas before long. A sale underway through MeiGray Auctions includes 48 jerseys worn by the bronze medal-winning U.S. National Junior Team at the International Ice Hockey Federation’s World Junior Championship Tournament that ended last month.

There are 46 jerseys on the block for the auction that runs through Feb. 28, with blue ones and a special Buffalo Bills-themed set that was used on Dec. 29, 2017, when the U.S. and Canada met at New Era Field — home of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills — in the first outdoor game in the tournament’s history. In that preliminary-round game, the Americans beat their neighbors to the north 4-3 in a shootout during snowy conditions in Orchard Park, New York, in front of a record crowd of 44,592.

Other games were played at the KeyBank Center and HarborCenter in Buffalo.

The U.S. squad would go on to win a medal for the third consecutive year. The Americans won four games in regulation and one in overtime while losing twice.

Among the jerseys offered will be those of forward Casey Mittelstadt, who was voted the player of the game in the victory against Canada and four goals and seven assists during the tournament. His blue and Bills jerseys are being offered in separate auctions. The jerseys of Kieffer Bellows, who led the U.S. squad with nine goals, also are up for auction, along with the 21 other members of the team.

Each jersey was manufactured by Nike and was bar-coded before the tournament to ensure authenticity. They were collected after each game by Team USA’s equipment staff and were security-tagged with an individually numbered serial tag.

The auction ends Feb. 28.

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About Bob D'Angelo

Bob has been a sportswriter and copy editor for more than 35 years and a blogger for a decade. He is celebrating his 50th year of card collecting, and still counts his 1965 Topps Mickey Mantle as his favorite. You can reach him at [email protected].