Article by Don Schwartz, WG Authentic

Hockey is a sport for people of all ages, shapes and sizes. Yet the young skaters at the Frank Lacroix Minor Hockey Arena in Fort McMurray, Alberta might wonder exactly who would fit inside the giant Wayne Gretzky jersey rising above their rink.

At 10 feet tall and 20 feet wide, not even its namesake would come close to wearing the larger-than-life Edmonton Oilers sweater, which is estimated to be 330 percent bigger than a typical hockey jersey. Originally made as a showpiece for Wayne Gretzky Fantasy Camp VII last February, the jersey consists of approximately 23 yards of fabric – compared to the less than 3 yards used in a normal sized sweater – and took seamstress Patsy Elmer of Big Time Jerseys in Phoenix, Arizona about 35 hours to complete.

“It was really more fun and challenging to make than it was hard to do,” Elmer said. “This kind of work fulfills a passion I have in creating something out of the ordinary. To see my work hanging in an arena gives me such personal satisfaction.”

The larger-than-life fabric creation first served as an impressive backdrop during Fantasy Camp festivities, hanging high in the WG Authentic offices. Though it was never intended to become a permanent fixture, Camp participant Dale Unruh of Fort McMurray knew he had to have the jersey and quickly realized where it ultimately belonged.

“I asked if (WG Authentic’s Mike Brown) would sell it to me or if I could make a donation to the Wayne Gretzky Foundation,” Unruh said. “His response was ‘Where are you going to put it?’ I told him I would figure it out.

“After thinking about it a while, I thought, why not donate it to Fort McMurray Minor Hockey, so I asked Mike if Wayne would sign it and write a note to our hockey community.”

Signed across one of the 40-inch tall number 9s, the sweater now reads: “To the Gang in Ft McMurray, keep playing hockey, Your Friend Wayne Gretzky.”

“What a great piece of inspiration for all of our minor hockey players, volunteers, and donors,” said Unruh, who coaches the Scottie Upshall Select Atom AA Grizzlies and serves as Treasurer of the Fort McMurray Minor Hockey Association. “Coming from the best player and greatest person the hockey world has ever known means so much to every kid that laces up his skates and looks up at this mammoth jersey.”

Tags: dale unruh, fort mcmurrary, frank lacroix minor hockey arena, Gretzky, mike brown, patsy elmer, wayne gretzky, wayne gretzky fantasy camp, wg authentic

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 at 12:02 pm and is filed under Don Schwartz, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.