Matthew Knies wore this royal blue set game worn jersey in a 3-2 victory over Germany
Knies scored a second period goal (his only goal at the Olympics) to put the USA up 2-1 in that game
The power forward was selected in the 2nd round, 57th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft
He averaged a point per game in his freshman season at Minnesota, scoring 15 goals and 18 assists in 33 games
Matt Knies was born in Phoenix and spent his minor hockey career playing for the Jr. Coyotes AAA program in Scottsdale
Knies’ selected by the Leafs made him the third highest drafted Arizonan as he was chosen 20 picks after his friend and fellow former Jr. Coyotes standout Josh Doan was drafted by the Coyotes
The royal blue sets were worn by the United States in one game which was a 3-2 victory against Germany on February 13th, 2022
Matthew Knies scored his only goal of the Olympics in this sweater in the second period of that game, and the jersey is photomatched to both the shot and the celebration thanks to a visible board burn in the right sleeve
These Nike jerseys are tremendously different from their adidas counterparts
The fabric of the jersey feels a lot like a windbreaker or other performance dri-fit fabric and due to that it would appear quite susceptible to showing wear
Most of the wear is found on the right sleeve where there are two long burn slash marks in the elbow near two other burn marks that are penny sized or a tad smaller
Between the two burn marks is an unrepaired hole from another board burn
On the left sleeve there is one burn slash mark and a large burn in the elbow, along with another faint mark and evidence of some wear/bobbles leading into the larger slash mark
The “USA” crest of these gamers has each individual letter applied as a rubberized patch that is sewn down
USA Hockey’s crest and the Nike swoosh are both rubberized material, as well
There are no patches on the shoulders as USA Hockey chose to put the sleeve numbers there, with the sleeve numbers being a kind of heavier duty heat pressed one layer numbers
The back numbers are sublimated twill that has been pressed to the jersey and doesn’t appear to be sewn
Moving above the numbers, the Knies nameplate appears to be sublimated but the letters can be felt individually as if they were twill
The back hem has a small Beijing Olympics 2022 patch
Nike’s jerseys have a very thin fight strap that is reminiscent of the fight strap found on my Barry Dean Phoenix Roadrunners gamer from the 70’s
Sewn into the back hem is a joint USA Hockey/MeiGray authentication tag
