This is a post about jerseys. (And skates.)

One of the things I always wondered about as a Carbo fan is where his last NHL jersey ended up.  It's a white Dallas Stars jersey, with NHL2000 and 2000 Stanley Cup Final patches, which he wore during his final game on June 10, 2000.  Tonight I had the opportunity to ask Barry Meisel of the MeiGray Group about it.  He replied to me that MeiGray did market the Stars' 2000 Finals jerseys...but the Stars retained Guy's jersey.  Likely it was given to him.  And now we know.  :)

Guy in his final jersey.  (screenshot)

Now, in my previous post I mentioned that I had photomatched my own Carbonneau game-worn jersey.  Out of some belief that the jersey brings the Senators luck, I have been wearing it for all games during their series with the New York Rangers.  I'm three for six in it, and who knows how Game 7 will go.  Anyway...during one of the games I noticed that a tiny green thread was sewn into the "T" in "Stars" on the jersey crest.  I said to myself that if I could find photos of Guy from 1995-96, it would be an easy match.  So during intermission I looked at the hockey cards I had from that year, and voila!

Click to enlarge -- the image of the 1995-96 Upper Deck card is from CheckOutMyCards.com.

And as a bonus, here are my photomatched 1982-83 Carbonneau rookie skates.

Rivalries of years past, Selke news, and jewelry (yes, jewelry)

First of all, I found a fascinating read on the Vendredi Saint brawl of 28 years ago, which I previously blogged about here.  If you're interested at all in the Canadiens-Nordiques rivalry, you will find this an engaging read.  The article also links to news coverage from when the brawl happened, courtesy of the Google News Archive. The brawl, of course, is notable in Carbo lore because it began when Guy was shoved down to the ice by Dale Hunter as the second period of the game was ending.  The Habs went on to win the game, and the series.

In Selke Trophy news, Pavel Datsyuk is nominated for the fifth consecutive year, matching Guy's record (Guy was nominated every year from 1986 through 1990).  Patrice Bergeron is also nominated, and if he were to win, he would be the first Quebecois Selke winner since Guy won it in 1991-92.

I'm also going to use this post to show off a piece of Carbo-related jewelry:

This is my Carbonneau talisman, if you will.  The 21 pendant was a gift from my friend Kristin, years ago -- it is custom made.  It is paired with a heart locket, inside of which is a tiny piece of white thread.  The thread is from Guy's stick tape; in the early days at least, Carbo had a superstitious aversion to anything in the color black when playing.  He even used white tape on his sticks.  I'm rather shy about sharing anything that I deem to be silly or "fangirlish" on this blog -- but to me, the necklace makes sense, because it is a reminder to me to give 100 percent to anything I do in my daily life, as Guy did.

In the next post:  a jersey photomatch!  Yes, I matched my jersey to a photo of Guy wearing it.  Details to come.

Carbo on Hextall

The Habs have been searching for a new head coach and general manager and recently, the names of Ron Hextall and Luc Robitaille have come up.  Here are Carbo's thoughts on Hextall:

Former Canadiens captain and ex-head coach Guy Carbonneau knows "hockey love hurts" but he's not falling for Ron Hextall as the next Habs' GM.

Carbo pans the rumoured interest in the LA Kings' assistant general manager and former Nordiques and Flyers goalie.

But with the Canadiens widening the search to unilingual anglo candidates, Carbonneau has urged caution: "make the right decision...Jim Nill would be a really good candidate if he's well surrounded by people who speak french AND he's willing to learn, then I have no problem with that."

Nill has either rejected the Habs' or the Red Wings have used their right to snuff out Montreal interest.

Carbo is promoting Visa's "Hockey Love Hurts" contest, and in a wideranging conversation also discussed the hypothetical situation of a return to coaching with the Canadiens...for Patrick Roy as his boss.

Carbonneau predicts that Patrick will get either the GM or coaching job "if he wants to" and that he would be open to working for the Hall of Fame goalie he once offered a job to when Carbo first became Habs head coach.  (CJAD)

Also, in Real Man Challenge news, all the videos for Guy's and Wendel Clark's challenges are online at madeformen.ca and concupourleshommes.ca (in French); watch online and vote on who "manned up more."  And when voting, don't forget to vote Carbonneau!

Some notes.

First off, my sixteen-year-old Carbo gamer had the chance to be worn in an NHL arena again!  Though the Stars weren't in the game, I wore it for luck at last Saturday's Senators vs. Penguins game, despite a later admonishment on Twitter of a similar fan to "keep the Carbonneau gear at home."  The jersey brought my Sens fantastic luck -- they had an 8-4 win against the Pens. 

Guy had another Twitter chat last week as well.  @kyleroussel moderated this time, and among the things we learned:  Guy has had no advice for his son-in-law Brenden Morrow, who has struggled this season.  He stated that any advice he had for Brenden, he gave during the season the two played together in Dallas (1999-2000, which was also Carbo's last season as a player).  Also, though Guy enjoys the Beatles, he prefers the Stones!

I would also like to thank Guy for taking a photo with a friend of mine at last night's Habs/Caps game in Washington -- even though said friend was in Caps gear!  Guy was apparently there as part of the Delissio On The Road With a Legend contest, and my friend Kit spotted him and asked for a photo, which he kindly obliged.  It was a real thrill for her!