1977-78 Los Angeles Kings #9 Ernie Hicke

Ernie Hicke was born November 7, 1947 in Regina, Saskatchewan. He played his junior hockey for the Regina Pats of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) from 1963 to 1967 participating in the Memorial Cup Playoffs in the 1966-67 season. The Pats were affiliated with the NHL Montreal Canadiens at this time. As a result Hicke was promoted to the Canadiens professional affiliate, the Houston Apollos of the CPHL where he played two seasons. He was traded to the NHL California Seals where he made his NHL debut and led the team in goal scoring his first season of 1970-71. He played one more season in California before moving on to the Atlanta Flames, New York Islanders, Minnesota North Stars and lastly the Los Angeles Kings. This jersey came from a private collection that originated with a Los Angeles Kings staff who informed him that the jersey was worn by Ernie Hicke in the 1977-78 season. He stated that Mr. Hicke had been up and down between the farm team, AHL Springfield Indians and the NHL LA Kings. As a result this jersey shows indications of a jersey that was assembled for Mr. Hicke to use as they did not have a number 9 jersey available. The jersey shows an outline of a number 16 on the back but no outline of a number 16 on the sleeves. This was Marcel Dionne’s number. The jersey is a size 46 which is consistent with jerseys worn by Marcel Dionne and would be a proper size for Ernie Hicke. I would not rely solely on the information presented to me by the collector so I contacted Mr. Ernie Hicke himself. The story presented by the collector was confirmed by myself through one of many phone conversations I have had with Mr. Hicke. He stated that he was struggling with a bad back at the start of the season and was sent back to the Springfield team a few times in the season for conditioning. His back did not get better and forced him to retire from the NHL. This home gold jersey shows light wear with a couple stick marks. The fight strap was removed from the jersey.  It has the Goodman and Sons tag in the neck.