The greatest part of collecting game worn jerseys is when you can match a photo or trading card to one of your jerseys. The three most common ways to match your jerseys is by comparing stick marks, puck marks or team repairs. Unfortunately it is not as easy as it sounds since many jerseys are professional dry cleaned several times before being sold to the public or are dark colors which hide many of the identifying marks. Another challenge is finding enough photos of the specific player from the specific year to compare to your jersey especially when it is a few years old.

Sometimes a jersey comes with a history of when they were specifically worn (for example the Detroit 93/94 commemorative jerseys were only worn once). Even if you can find a photo of that night you still cannot be sure that it is of your jersey since some players wear more than one jersey a night. The most sure way of making a positive identification is from high quality photos that match your jersey's fingerprints.

Tips: subscribe to all the hockey magazines, attend sports memorabilia shows for photos and cards, visit your bookstore, contact teams for yearbooks, media guides, calendars and anything else with photos.

Here is an excellent photo match of Cam Neely's jersey. This Cam Neely jersey is a CCM Knit, #8, with CC stamp on outside hem in black. The jersey is a 1988-89 home, with original nameplate. This jersey is the 1st "A"  (assistant captain) jersey that Neely ever wore. To start the 1988-89 season Cam did not wear the trademark "A". That was until Steve Kasper was traded to the Kings for Bobby Carpenter during the second half of that season. This is the jersey Neely wore in his 1st game following the big trade. 1988-89 was also the 1st season that Neely ever lead the Bruins in scoring. The photo match is from the Steve Babineau collection. Many thanks to the anonymous submitter for sharing this great example.

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