2006 Russian Olympic Hockey

This is a Russian NOC hockey pin from the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy. The pin depicts the Russian cheburashka mascot with hockey stick and puck, the Torino logo and Olympic rings, snowflakes, an olive branch, and Russia written in both English and Russian. Its production was limited to 100 pins, thus making it a very rare item.

1956 Soviet Union Hockey

If you have spent any amount of time on eBay running searches for Olympic pins, then it is quite likely that you have previously seen one of these pins (or several variations of it). This pin, and many others like it, are routinely advertised as Soviet Union olympic hockey pins. So, you may ask, "What makes this an Olympic hockey pin?" It is clear from the tell-tale rings that the pin has something to do with the Olympics, and the familiar winter mountain image is that of the 1956 Cortina, Italy Olympic Games, but what makes it a hockey pin? For quite some time I had these same questions. Then, about a year ago I had an opportunity to review a document that was written in English but also included a Russian translation. Using the text from this Russian document, I reviewed the Russian letters/symbols on the pin above and found the same characters in the Russian text document. After stringing together several Russian letters in the same order as depicted on the pin, I used an online translation program to convert the Russian phrase to English, and here is what I got:

I know this method is far less than scientific, but I am pretty at ease now that this is in fact a Soviet Union hockey pin commemorating the Soviet Union's gold medal victory at the 1956 Winter Olympic Games in Cortina, Italy. Now, I just need to translate the dozens of other Russian text pins in my collection--but that can wait for another day.

1980 Roni Mascot Hockey Pins

Each Olympic pin, in my humble opinion, is a piece of art, historically preserving information that was particularly relevant during a single, or even multiple, Olympic Games. Whether depicting or representing a mascot, participating nation, sponsor, sport, venue, generic Olympic theme, or any other information, Olympic pins capture a moment in history. Take, for instance, this mascot pin depicting Roni the racoon, which was the mascot of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.With a eye for detail, you can spot this Roni mascot pin in the pictures below as it was worn by several individuals who attended the 1980 Olympic Games.

Of course, some people are more avid pinheads than others . . .

Below are a couple of other Roni mascot pins from the 1980 Winter Olympics. In total, I am aware of eleven such pins depicting Roni playing hockey.

*The two 1980 Winter Olympic photos depicting people at the Lake Placid games are from the book "Olympic Winter Games - USA 1980" written by Edgar P. Spallek, (C) 1980.

1984 Italian NOC Hockey Pin

I have spent several hours researching the background of this undated Italian NOC hockey pin in order to determine its origin. My research ultimately led me to an Italian Olympic Committee member who informed me that the pin was most likely used by the Italian Olympic Hockey Team during the 1984 Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. The Italians used a very similar pin ten years later, which is clearly marked "Lillehammer '94" on the pin (below).

1998-2010 Belarussian Hockey Pins

In December of 1991, the world watched in awe as the former Soviet Union dissolved into fifteen independent countries. This historic event had a tremendous impact on Olympic hockey. Prior to the Albertville, France Winter Olympics in 1992, the national hockey team of the Soviet Union was the most dominant team of all time in international play. The Soviets won Olympic gold in 1956, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1984 and 1988. In short, the Soviet national hockey team ruled Olympic hockey for decades. In 1992, the Soviet team competed as the "Unified Team" and again won the Olympic hockey gold medal . . . for the last time. From 1956 until 1994, the only other nation to win Olympic gold was the United States in 1960 and 1980 (which further explains why the U.S. victory at Lake Placid was hailed at the "Miracle on Ice"). After 1992, without the dominant Soviets in the way, Sweden (1994, 2006), Canada (2002, 2010) and the Czech Republic (1998) have each won Olympic gold.
~
Beginning in 1994, the former Soviet republic nations began appearing on their own at the Winter Olympics, and in 1998 Belarus made its first appearance as an independent nation in the hockey tournament--and they did so in style, from a pin standpoint, bringing with them an NOC hockey pin depicting the Nagano Olympic hockey pictogram, which measures 19mm in diameter. Belarus again participated in the Olympic hockey tournament in Salt Lake City in 2002 and again brought a dated NOC hockey pin to the Winter Games (along with their NOC team pin, also shown below). Their 2002 hockey pin measures 22mm tall by 27mm wide.

Belarus did not qualify for the Olympic hockey tournament for the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy, but returned to the ice for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, and returned with a vengeance from an Olympic pin standpoint. In addition to the Belarus 2010 Olympic Team pin, the national hockey team had nine other pins that had NOC pin collectors scrambling to get them all. It seemed like every day a new pin emerged--which got a bit pricey trying to collect them all.

Thus, having taken a lesson from its Soviet ancestry*, the Belarussian Olympic hockey team has quickly established a tradition of producing hockey-dedicated NOC pins for the Winter Games.

*See March 27, 2010 Olympic Hockey Pin blog entry regarding Soviet hockey pins through the years.

2010 Canada Hockey Place Mascot Pin

This pin features one of the 2010 Olympic mascots, Quatchi, adorned in goaltender gear with the Canada Hockey Place venue in the background. (Note: Because corporate sponsorship of venues is not permitted during the Olympics, Vancouver's GM Place arena was renamed "Canada Hockey Place" during the games.) The pin measures 31mm tall by 32mm wide. It is a cloisonne with a clutch and post fastener. The text on the back side of the pin states: TM/MC (c) 2008, VANOC/COVAN, Artiss Aminco-4, China/Chine. The pin is not truly a venue pin because it was not offered for sale solely at the hockey venue, but rather was readily available at numerous retail outlets during the 2010 Winter Games.

1980 - The Beast

This German made "pin" from 1980 is, quite simply, HUGE. Frankly, I do not even know if it technically qualifies as a pin because it is so large--maybe more like a small piece of body armor. The pin dwarfs the U.S. quarter shown next to the pin to demonstrate scale. The lower portion of the pin measures 86mm tall by 70 mm wide; the upper portion is 17mm tall by 55mm wide. The pin face includes the following text: 1980 4. Int. Wandertag Eisingen Olympische Winterspiel Lake Placide USA. The reverse side of the upper portion of the pin has a safety pin closure and no text, while the lower portion includes the text, "Selent 6970 Lauda 3." The pin appears to be made of pewter and is painted with a fine enamel. Of course, among the featured Winter Olympic athletes on the pin there is a hockey player in the top left portion of the lower piece.

2006 Team USA -- A Curious Pin

In the past couple of weeks this "Team USA 06" pin has appeared on eBay. Though I do not specifically recall this pin making an internet appearance during the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy, it is a nicely designed pin. The goaltender and U.S. flag pictured on the front of the pin are painted with fine enamel (not a cloisonne), the back of the pin has a clutch and post fastener but no text or symbols. The pin measures 21mm wide by 26mm tall. Whether the pin is a genuine USA Hockey pin is unknown, but it is an attractive pin.

2010 Participating Nations Goaltender Mask Set

Beginning in 1988, there has routinely been a participating nations Olympic hockey pin set for each Winter Olympic Games (the only exceptions being 2002 and 2006). Of all the participating nations sets, this goaltender mask set from the 2010 Winter Olympic Games is, in my opinion, the nicest. The pins are cloisonnes with clutch and post fasteners. Each pin bears the Olympic rings, the Vancouver Inukshuk symbol, the "Vancouver 2010" text, and each pin measures 32mm wide by 32mm tall. On the back side of each pin appears the following text:

TM/MC (c) 2009, VANOC/COVAN, Artiss Aminco(R)-4, China/Chine

In regard to the Canadian and United States pins, in addition to those produced for the set above, there were identical pins produced for sale in the United States upon which the text on the backside of the pin varies slightly (also shown in the photo below):

TM/MC (c) 2009, VANOC/COVAN, 26 USC 220506, Aminco(R), China

Thus, counting the duplicate Canadian and United States pins, there are a total of fifteen of these participating nations hockey pins for the 2010 Olympic Games.

1976 Bulgarian Olympic Hockey Pin

This classically styled pin dates back to the 1976 Winter Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria. Measuring 28mm in height and 12mm wide, it is a true cloisonne with a stick pin that bears no markings on the back side of the pin. In 1976 the Bulgarian hockey team finished 0-5-0 in the consolation round and was the only team in the Olympic hockey tournament to not win a single game . . . but they were one of the few teams with a hockey-dedicated NOC pin.

1964 Innsbruck, Austria Hockey Pin

This is a very unique pin because it is actually ceramic. The center of the pin has a ceramic glazed finish and the edge is a painted gold--mine has a couple of chips in the gold paint as you can see. The pin relatively large, measuring approximately 47mm in diameter (it is not a truly round pin, so the measurement varies depending on the point at which you measure). With a safety pin closure, the back of the pin is otherwise blank.

2010 Russian Olympic Pins

As I have previously posted (see March 29, 2011), I was fortunate to attend the 2010 Vancouver Olympics (many thanks, again, to my lovely wife who tolerates my Olympic pin fetish--it was her idea that I go to the 2010 Games, after all). I remember how excited I was while trading pins with the dozens of traders that had set up shop near Vancouver's Olympic flame cauldron. I will also never forget being duped on my very first pin trade of the 2010 games. Eager to start acquiring 2010 Olympic hockey pins for my collection, one of the first vendors I came across had the Russian pin, below, among her 2010 Vancouver pins. She assured me that she had obtained it directly from a member of the Russian Olympic Hockey Team, and that it was the team's official NOC pin for the 2010 games. My first instinct was one of skepticism--Why would the official Russian NOC hockey team pin not include the Olympic rings, not mention the words "Vancouver" or "Olympic" (the Russian text on the pin reads, "Federation Hockey Russia"), and/or not contain the Vancouver Olympic Inukshuk symbol? Despite my skepticism, another pin trader standing nearby was also interested in the item having heard the vendor's story so I figured if I didn't make the trade I might very well miss my only chance to get this NOC hockey pin--if in fact it was one. As it turns out, the pin is neither an NOC nor an Olympic pin.
It is nonetheless a handsome Russian Hockey Federation pin, of which there were several being traded at the 2010 Winter Games, such as those shown below.

The next day, as I was in line to enter the Olympic men's hockey venue to watch a couple of games, I met a man selling a set of the real Russian NOC pins, including the Russian Olympic Hockey Team pin shown here (below). Because his asking price was a little steep, I didn't buy the pin the first time I met him, or the second time, but on my last full day at the games I met this man again and he finally accepted my counteroffer price . . . and the pin was mine! (Come to think of it, it is actually pretty amazing that I happened into this vendor three different times on three different days in the vast sea of people attending the Winter Games.)

This official NOC pin includes the Olympic rings, and is individually numbered on the reverse side (but they happened to misspell "Vancouwer"). There were several other Russian Olympic team pins available during the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, some of which are shown here.

Olympic-Sized Pin Pet Peeve

Four Olympic hockey pins: 2010 USA Hockey; 1988 Participating Nations; 1980 Roni Mascot; and 1992 USA Hockey. So, what do these 4 pins have in common?

Reader: "Is this a trick question, I can't see anything they have in common."

Can't guess? Well, maybe if you look at the back side of the pins: broken post; broken post; broken safety pin clasp; and broken post. UGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! In 21 years of Olympic pin collecting, my single greatest pet peeve is getting a damaged pin.

Reader: "So why would you buy a broken pin if they bother you so much?"

Me: "Great question! Glad you asked."

Imagine the following scenario. You've been searching for a good price on the 2010 USA Hockey pin for three months because during the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games you were not willing to pay the $65.00 to $90.00 USD this pin was being sold for on eBay and you were also not willing to part with three to five trader pins to get this one in your collection. But you wanted it in your collection nonetheless. And then, finally, after months of daily Olympic pin searches on eBay and other pin sites, you find one that is reasonably priced; $10.00 plus $2.00 shipping with a Buy it Now option. Perfect. Sold! You immediately forward payment via Paypal, because that's what a good eBay buyer should do, and then you wait. The pin is being shipped from Canada, so it takes a few extra days to arrive. At last, after seven or eight daily trips to the mailbox, the Canadian post marked envelope has arrived. However, right there on the front of the badly worn, unpadded envelope is a tell-tale sign. A rip in the paper revealing a broken post and a missing clutch. The sender failed to securely package the pin and it arrived damaged, and was even missing a piece. This has happened to me several times over the years. It is always frustrating, but it is far more frustrating when the pin is an older item, meaning it is much more difficult to replace. For instance, a 1964 NOC pin--good luck finding a second such pin if your first find arrives damaged. So I suppose this is a public service announcement for senders to package pins securely to withstand the rigors of shipping. Remember, in addition to being treasures to us private collectors, these pins are pieces of history, especially NOC pins, and they often find their ways into museum collections.

1964 Poland Olympic Hockey Team

This Poland Olympic hockey team pin is from the 1964 Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria. Measuring 27mm tall and 22mm wide, it is one of the first NOC pins produced for a country's national hockey team. The pin has a screw-back fastener, and has no markings on the back side of the pin.

United States Olympic Hockey Pins

This a decent sampling of United States Olympic hockey team pins dating back to 1980, though there are several others not shown here. The USA Hockey logo is a consistent theme, especially in recent years. However, my favorites tend to be those designed specifically for a particular Olympic Games. For instance, the Nagano 1998 U.S. Olympic hockey team pin in the center of the fourth row of pins, above, with the flower design. If you look closely at the flower, its petals are pictograms of various Winter Olympic athletes--much more creative than the USA Hockey logo.

2010 Men's & Women's Hockey Pins

For the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada there were a series of four pins produced which depict the country flags of the men's and women's teams that participated in the respective hockey tournaments. The pins pictured above were far easier to come by than the women's Olympic hockey pin pictured below, which is one of the most innovative designs in the history of participating nations' flags pins.

In Memorium: D. Steven McCann

Yesterday, I learned of the passing of a fellow Olympic pin collector, Dan Steven McCann. I first met Steven as a member of the Salt Lake Olympic Pin Club during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. For several years thereafter, I was privileged to know Steven and visit with him as we traded and talked about pins. Steven was a kind and thoughtful person, and he will be truly missed by family and friends alike. The pin collecting world has lost a dear brother.

1984 Campbell's Soup Hockey

So, how many times have you seen this pin set for sale on eBay? The original set was produced by Campbell's Soup as a sponsor for the 1984 Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. At present, you can pretty much find this set available every day of the week either in an auction or an on-line store. But why is that the case, when other pins from the 1984 Sarajevo Games are so difficult to come by. I have my unfounded suspicions. Consider the two pins below. There are several minor variations between them. First, obviously, is the color of the pins. The pin on the left has yellowed in the 27 years since the 1984 Winter Games, while the pin on the right is nearly perfectly white. The font used on the "Sarajevo '84" text is quite clearly different on the two pins, and the blue ink used for the pin on the right appears to have bled and thus blurred the original trademarked Sarajevo Olympic logo and the "Sarajevo '84" text. Neither pin is date stamped or otherwise marked on the back, so it is difficult of make any comparison based on the back side of the pin. Though I am not one hundred percent certain, I believe it is pretty clear that these pins were produced at different times, and I suspect the "whiter" pins that you find so readily available today are re-makes of the originals.

And for those avid collectors out there, here is another wrinkle--the Campbell's Soup prototype pin. This pin lacks the apostrophe in front of the year in the "Sarajevo 84" text, does not include the Sarajevo Olympic logo, and places the Olympic rings at the bottom of the pin instead of the middle. It is a rare find . . . good luck hunting for it.

1988 Calgary Hockey Pins - The Circles of Flags

A series of seven Olympic hockey pins was produced for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada that were the beginning of a decades-long trend in Olympic pins that continues today. Specifically, the pin type is what I refer to as the "Circle of Flags" pin style. These Calgary hockey pins measure 32 mm in diameter and contain the flag of each nation that participated in the 1988 Olympic hockey tournament. (The black and yellow centered versions of this pin are not shown below.) These pins are, in my opinion, some of the most beautiful hockey pins produced for any Olympic Games. In various Olympic Games following the 1988 release of the above hockey pins, the Circle of Flags pins have remained popular. The pins below represent the following Games:

• 1992 Albertville - the French rooster mascot with hockey stick encircled by flags of nations participating in the 1992 hockey tournament;


• 1994 Lillehammer - Coca-Cola 14-pin set (referenced in the "Error Pins" blog entry on April 9, 2011) including a circular flag pin layout for the 12 teams participating in the 1994 hockey tournament;


• 1996 Atlanta - A generic pin for the centennial Summer Games;


• 2002 Salt Lake City - one of a 3-pin (gold, silver and bronze inner circles) hockey set bearing several nations' flags, but not necessarily the flags of the 14 nations that participated in the men's hockey tournament (or the two additional unique nations that participated in the 8-team women's tournament);


• 2004 Greece - a Coca-Cola pin containing various nations' flags;


• 2006 Torino - an opening ceremonies pin, two hockey pins (one each for both the men's and women's tournaments, representing the 12 men's and 8 women's teams that participated in the respective tournaments),


• 2008 Beijing - a generic pin for the Summer Games,


• 2010 - two generic pins, one hockey pin with the flags of the 12 teams participating in the men's hockey tournament, and one closing ceremony pin.

I am quite certain that I have omitted several "Circle of Flags" pins, but the foregoing is a representative sample of the continuing legacy that the 1988 Calgary participating nations Circle of Flags pins had on subsequent Olympic Games.

Mascots on Ice

Dating back to Schuss, who was introduced for the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, France, the Olympic Games have had a mascot or mascots for every Olympics since (with the exception of the 1968 Mexico City Summer Games and the 1972 Sapporo, Japan Winter Games). Beginnning with the Lake Placid Winter Games in 1980, mascots have learned to skate, pass, shoot and even tend goal, and as such they have made regular appearances on Olympic hockey pins. Often times these puck-crazy mascots are found on generic Olympic pins bearing the Olympic rings, symbol, location and date of the Games, as is the case below with Vuuchko (Sarajevo 1984), Howdy (Calgary 1988), Magique (Albertville 1992) , Tsukki (Nagano 1998), Neve & Gliz (Tornino 2006), and Quatchi & Miga (Vancouver 2010). Sometimes, a mascot will earn its way onto an NOC pin in support of a particular participating nation, as Roni did below (Lake Placid 1980). Others promote hockey venues, as did Haakon (Lillehammer 1994) for the Gjovik ice hockey venue, and the truly talented players might even land themselves a lucrative corporate sponsor deal and appear on a Olympic sponsor pin, like Coal, Copper and Powder did for Panasonic during the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games. However, not only Winter Olympic Games mascots love hockey. Below, the 1980 Moscow, Russia Summer Olympic mascot, Mischa, laced up the skates and grabbed a stick to pose for this rare, hard-to-find mascot pin.

And speaking of Summer mascot pins, though they have not yet taken to the ice as far as I know, what in the world are the 2012 London, England mascots? Wenlock, shown here dressed as a Queen's royal guard, and Mandeville, wearing a traditional Beefeater outfit, have already made their way onto dozens of pins over a year prior to the 2010 Summer Games . . . but I have no idea what species they might be. I am pretty sure they are the first single-eyed mascots to represent an Olympic Games.

Perhaps they are distant relatives of Izzy, the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics Games mascot that took his name from the query, "What is he?"

Error Pins

Life's not always perfect, and so it is with Olympic pins. This, of course, adds another wrinkle to collecting--even more pins to acquire! Below, from a 13-pin Russian made set for the 1992 Albertville Olympics, are two Russian hockey pins. The set of pins to which these belong include one pin for each of the 12 teams that participated in the 1992 tournament, and a 13th "Albertville '92 Hockey" pin, which also bears the Albertville Olympic flame symbol. The pin on the left, below, was made without the famous Hammer & Sickle from the Soviet flag, and the "CCCP" lettering is unclear. The manufacturer got it right the second time around to include the Hammer & Sickle and the proper CCCP--the second pin is a much nicer item. More unwitting flag issues are found in the following pins manufactured for Coca-Cola in 1994. These are from a 14-pin set (again one pin for each of the 12 participating nations, and two additional Coca-Cola center piece pins). This time, the manufacturer inverted the colors of the German flag, erroneously putting the yellow on top and the black on the bottom. Again, practice makes perfect, which was achieved with the second pin, on the the right, that properly depicts the colors of the German flag.

And not all errors are flag or color based. The pin below, from the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, simply misspelled the word "hockey". Thus, the manufacturer created a unique "Ice Hocke" pin. Regardless, they all look good in a collection.

2002 Ukrainian Olympic Pins

The United Hockey Club Dynamo is represented by the two Ukrainian pins above which were produced for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. These were two of the most difficult pins to find during the games--in fact, to date I have only been able to obtain the pin on the right for my personal collection. However, there were several other Ukrainian pins available in 2002. Below are three such pins. The Ukraine Olympic Hockey Team pin pictured below (left) was one of several individual sport discipline pins in a multi-pin NOC set.

Little Things Matter

One of the keys to Olympic pin collecting is knowing your collection. And I mean really knowing your collection . . . down to the finest detail (the gnat's lashes, as one might say). At first glance, quite often two completely different pins may appear to be similar--especially if one of those pins is at home in your collection, and you are staring at the other pin at a collector's show wondering why it seems a little different to you. Consider the following four examples. First up, the USA Hockey pin from the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, Canada. At first glance, other than perhaps some photo quality differences, these two pins appear similar. But pay particular attention to the registered "(R)" symbol in the lower left corner, below the skater's stick, in the photo on the right. Which pin do you have in your collection? Can you remember with looking? Or how about the Series V Hockey Nations pin set, also produced for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary? This was the first set of its kind--each pin depicts a hockey player and flag for each of the 12 nations participating in the 1998 Olympic Hockey Tournament. Since 1988, each Winter Olympics (except Torino in 2006) has produced a variation of the 1988 Hockey Nations set. So, if I want to collect the complete 1988 set, I should look for one pin from each of the 12 participating nations, right? Wrong! Again, there are little differences like the home versus away jersey versions of the USA hockey pin. You are more than likely to have the blue away jersey pin in your set, as I have found the white home jersey is a little harder to come by.

As was the case with its 1988 version, the USA Hockey pin for the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France also has multiple variations. In the two pins depicted below, one contains the "Hockey Team" text below the famous USA Hockey logo while the other shows just the logo.

As a final example, consider the following Canadian NOC pins from the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. The pin on the left appears to show details of the hockey player's face, while the pin on the right depicts a hockey player with a mask-covered face. Also, the pin on the right includes the word "Canada" below the player, and the "Lillehammer '94" text is on a raised section of pewter at the bottom of the pin. Meanwhile, the "Lillehammer '94" text at the bottom of the left side pin is on the flat surface of the pin.

Pin variations can make collecting a bit more challenging . . . and expensive. If you are like me, you must have all of the pin variations in your collection. When you become a serious (okay, obsessive) collector, you may also begin to notice differences found not only the front side of your pins, but on the back side as well. For instance, there may be variations in the clasp type (screw back, stick pin or clutch & post) or the language quite often printed or engraved on the back side of the pin. Details, details, details. They make pin collecting fun.

Olympic Pins in the NHL Era

The 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano saw two major changes in Olympic Hockey. First, the ladies took to the ice for the first time as Women's Hockey debuted in 1998 as an Olympic medal sport. The United States women's hockey team won the inaugural event as commemorated by this 1998 USA Hockey pin. The second major change in 1998 was the introduction of professional NHL players into the Olympic hockey tournament. And with the NHLers came a new form of Olympic hockey pin--the NHL sponsored pin. In 1998 the NHL and Olympic sponsor Coca-Cola teamed up to produce this colorful crossed-stick pin, while the New York Rangers produced a five pin set in honor of its team members participating in the 1998 Winter Games on the Canadian, Russian, Swedish and United States olympic hockey teams. There were at least twelve different NHL pins issued for the Nagano games. More NHL pins followed in 2002 with a series of three NHL/NHLPA pins produced for the Salt Lake City Olympics, however I am unaware of any NHL-related pins being produced for the 2006 Olympic games in Torino, Italy. However, the NHL pins were back in Vancouver as the NHLPA produced a classic pin simply bearing the NHLPA logo and the Vancouver 2010 Inukshuk symbol. Meanwhile, one of my favorite pins from the 2010 Winter Olympic games is an "unofficial" pin (which to me means the pin bears neither the Olympic rings nor the Olympic symbol). Specifically, players from the Chicago Blackhawks' represented three countries in the 2010 Olympic games: Canada, Slovakia and the United States. This pin depicts a mock jersey from each country surrounding the Blackhawk indian profile. I think it is a great looking pin.