For 8 glorious seasons, I was able to easily obtain nearly any and all jerseys worn by my beloved hockey team. They were marketed to the public using incredibly strict and stringent authenticity regulations. The company selling them replied to phone calls and emails quickly and honestly. In the rare instance that something went wrong, I can easily rattle off several instances where they more than made up for it. Yet with all of the wonderful praise I can heap upon MeiGray, the crown jewel of the Vancouver Canucks affiliation with them was the fact I had a long standing, 8 year preorder for Sami Salo's Stanley Cup Finals jersey if they ever made it.

This season, the Canucks decided to market their own jerseys. Prices for common game worn jerseys start at a minimum of double anything MeiGray charged. The rare 40th Anniversary jerseys were worn in two sets and while the first sold out at prices I have only seen on NHL Auctions, the second set was privately sold to one of the teams partners as a complete set rather than to the public.

I was thrilled to hear from the head of their game worn program in February that, like MeiGray, the team accepted my pre-order for Salo's SCF jersey if they made it. Imagine how much faith I lost in the team when I found out third hand from a collector on another board that the team decided to keep the Finals jerseys. They did not even have enough respect for a long time fan to notify me themselves. I fail to believe MeiGray's customer service would ever allow this to happen.

When I heard the team had decided not to resign with MeiGray, my biggest worry was the fact their price structure was insultingly outside market values. Being lied to and not being treated with enough respect to own up to it before getting caught with their pants down is frankly bush league pathetic. Considering the fact it comes after having the one other style unique to this season worn by my favorite player horded by the team for corporate sponsorship and the picture comes in loud and clear: Fans now only matter to the Canucks if they are willing to overpay for the common crap they make available and all jerseys of a unique or special nature will no longer be available to the average 22 season long fan.