Bill Goodspeed - the man behind my addiction

I was a fledgling hockey fan when the Denver Grizzlies came to town in 1994. I bought season tickets and my love for the sport grew quickly. I got to know several of the players and even attended their party in Kansas City after winning the Turner Cup. In 1995 the Quebec Nordiques announced they were moving to Denver and becoming the Colorado Avalanche. Because of my Grizzlies tickets I received priority for Avs season tickets and quickly signed up. Shortly after, I met Bill Goodspeed - a die hard hockey fan and avid collector. Some of you may have known him as Solo Lobo in the collecting circles, which was his name on the forums. Bill didn't collect jerseys - he collected "sweaters" as they are called by the old school fans. After the Avs arrival, Bill quickly started acquiring Avalanche game worn sweaters. When he invited me to his home to see his collection, probably in early 1997, I was amazed. He had stories about many of them. One of my favorite stories was about his home, 1995-96 Sandis Ozolinsh sweater. On October 26, Ozolinsh was acquired by the Avs in a trade with the San Jose Sharks - sending Owen Nolan to San Jose. The following day the Avalanche played at home against Buffalo. That didn't give the Avs much time to get a jersey ready. It turns out, they did not have a "Z" in the correct font to create his nameplate and instead of create a nameplate with one letter of a different font, they made a nameplate with letters that matched the Z. By the time the next game was played the Avs had found a Z in the correct font, made a new nameplate, and removed the original. Somehow Bill bought Ozo's first Avs sweater and got the original nameplate as well (the sweater had, and still has, the second nameplate attached). Bill continued to teach me many things about collecting and sweaters over the next couple of years, however, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and our time together declined. Shortly prior to his death he offered to sell me anything in his collection that I wanted. Being a recent college graduate, my funds were limited, but I bought everything I could, including that Ozolinsh sweater. I still have it in my collection, along with the extra original nameplate. Every time I look at it I think of Bill. And every time I ponder how much money I have spent over the years I think of Bill. But, without bill, I wouldn't have had the experiences, met many new friends and had the joy my collection has provided over the past 25 years. Thank you Bill for all you taught me and for changing my life forever.