Each and every year, I get excited to go to the MeiGray expo. It is a once a year gathering of collectors to see game worn jerseys, talk the game, and share in the stories of the sport we love: Hockey! The stories are what make the show and the day. Each story is different and unique to the collector or fan. Whether it is being a game and throwing up your popcorn when your team and favorite player scores the game winner in OT or an experience meeting a player at an event, they all matter.
To quote the beginning of Christmas by the Who, off the rock opera album Tommy:
“Did you ever see the faces of children
They get so excited.
Waking up on christmas morning
Hours before the winter sun’s ignited.
They believe in dreams and all they mean”.
This is how I get each year and I hope that passion lay in some of you, reading this. I genuinely get this excited because it is shows like this that bring out jerseys and the collectors who own them. Will something I have never ever seen just show up or a long lost gem from years ago make a triumphant return? You just do not know.
As the sun starts to push it’s head over the horizon, I find myself double checking mentally what I have packed up to bring as well as contemplating if I should bring one more jersey… or dare I say two? “The Debate”, as I call it happens annually and I surely cannot be the only one who hems and haws over what to bring. Do I pull this jersey out and put that one in? Do I bring both? Fun questions and in the end, it is always better to bring them all. A forgotten jersey could mean the difference in a trade with swap-master extraordinaire Bert Woods, a share of an experience with said jersey, or a quick sale should a jersey you desperately want comes walking in available to be owned.
I wanted to explain my experience to you from beginning to end. The day is truly amazing and each year it seems to go by faster and faster. So this is my attempt to what I experience from those attending and those who cannot. So now is the time to grab some cold suds (SEE adult beverage: Beer) and hopefully enjoy.
Getting in my car, I grab a Gatorade for the road and some sweet beef sticks to snack on. I owe someone a pack as well, so I grab two packs. I will be meeting up with an old friend who collects and traveling East with him just past the MeiGray headquarters in Branchburg to Raritan, New Jersey. For those who enjoy facts, John Basilone, the World War II Medal of Honor recipient, grew up in Raritan.
The trip is always more enjoyable when you have someone to talk shop with. Dan Wesloskie or as he has become affectionately known as “WAS-Lucky” is a collector who resides in South-central Pennsylvania, but has roots in Atlanta and loves both the Hershey Bears and now the defunct Atlanta Thrashers. I refer to Dan as the LAST (Atlanta) Thrashers collector when I introduce him to people. It is a joke, but I cannot name another collector of the Thrashers and challenge anyone out there to find two others. Dan is fun loving collector who usually comes to NOVA shows with his wife Teresa who supports his hobby (or addiction if you will). Seeing other spouses, it is refreshing to see as that is not always the case with all of them concerning the hobby.
Dan greets me at the door of his home and soon we are packed up in his Jeep headed to Jersey. I met Dan back in 2007 and we drove down to New Jersey for MeiGray’s last show at a local hotel before moving to the Raritan Community College. That show would introduce us to each other as well as to the Reebok Edge jersey which would be the new style of jersey used by the NHL.
The great thing about our relationship is Dan and I can go weeks without talking, but then pick up where we last talked without missing a beat. Because you can never have too much hockey, Dan turned on the NHL channel on satellite radio and an old name we both knew was brought back into the light: Ilya Kovalchuk. Dan is a fan of Kovalchuk and as for me… Not so much. The show we were listening to spoke of Kovalchuk’s signing to the Los Angeles Kings and opinions of NHL commentators with specific references to the Olympics. Dan and I would chat over this, the sad passing of the Ray Emery and hockey in general. Time in the car always passes quickly and we joke constantly during our trek on Interstate 78.
Every year since 2008 the MeiGray expo has been at the Raritan community college and the room set-up is similar. Yet every year, upon arriving I immediately find myself with no plan of attack once I enter it to see collections and talk to people. For some of us, the expo represents that one time a year you have to meet up with someone and chat.
Take Ben Bradley from Albany, New York. He always finds a way to bump into me at MeiGray. Ben seems to always find me before I see him. He sticks out his hand for a shake each year and coy smile saying, “Hey Matt how’s it going?” I usually respond back with some joke and we both laugh. For a lack of better words, Ben and I regularly ‘shoot the shit’ when we see each other. Our conversations are littered with laughs, interesting stories on jerseys, and usually more laughs. Ben sometimes comes alone or with his wife and three daughters. I only met Ben through the expo and that is why it is key to come out to these events. Ben has a great website where you can see his collection of New York and New Jersey teams: Albanychoppers.com He has one of the best if not THE best Albany collections I have seen.
Passing through the room so many people extend a hand to shake that you may only see once or twice a year. I had not seen Derek Whitwer since the NOVA expo, but just like Dan Wesloskie and I, we can pick right up where we last talked. Derek is someone I can always get in trouble with. When I say trouble, we are like two kids goofing around trying to make the other laugh harder, while inserting conversations of jerseys, deals, and life into our nonsense. Derek who is also a car guy, decided to bring his Ferrari to the show and no, this was not a Hot Wheels or toy Ferrari. He has a particular taste for some of the finer jerseys with wear and walked around with a Bruins style jersey of a team I still have never seen before. The jersey looked like a Bruins jersey but was a Boston Cubs jersey. As they say, you learn something new every day!
Stay tuned for Part 2 of this story, coming soon.