from George Johnson of the Calgary Herald,
Joe Colborne was no different than any self-respecting, red-blooded Calgary kid back in the day. He had the merchandise.
“The sweater?” blurts the homegrown centreman, taken slightly aback that you even had to ask. “Oh yeah. Of course I had one. A No. 12. With the nameplate? What do you think? With everything.
“Can’t remember when I got it exactly. Christmas? Birthday? I don’t know.
“I got it just . . . just . . . well, just because. Because he was my favourite player. Because he was EVERYONE’s favourite player.
“It seemed every person in town had one of those sweaters. You’d see so many 12s walking around on game days you couldn’t keep count. Now it could be a Monahan or a Baertschi or a Giordano. Back then you knew what you’d see when you got to the rink — an awful lot of 12s.”
Apt to be a few floating around the Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday night, too, leftover remnants from what is now officially a bygone era, as Jarome Iginla marks his competitive return to this town.
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