Wednesday
Sep242008
Sabres Repaint Center Ice
17 Comments
According to our friends over at Sabres Not Slugs, the Buffalo Sabres are going retro with the paint job on center ice at HSBC Arena.
Charlie has pictures posted of the rink.
credit: Charlie @ Sabres Not Slugs
This news isn't too surprising. A lot of you noticed that the center ice circle was empty at Puck Drop 2008. Obviously, having this logo painted there at that point would've given away the secret that the team was going with the vintage look this year with their third jersey.
Reader Comments (17)
Why isnt the logo covering the entire circle?
I like
A sign of things to come I hope! ;-)
Drew, no need to hope! :)) You can take it the bank that within a year or two, the REAL Sabres crest will be the full-time crest. Just remember what Pittsburgh did when they brought back the Skating Penguin or when St. Louis brought back their original Bluenote without the red as third sweaters. It's US Canuck fans who have to hope that the Orca is gone and is replaced by the Stick 'n Rink(original or modified) or the Johnny Canuck V.
I was hopping more of the lines of a tribute to the Memorial Auditorium's ice if they slapped the modernized logo on the ice (2 small logos, one facing TV camera)...but this works too...
I'm loving the face-off circle and hope that Drew is right.
Andre: even as a Sabre fan, I hope the Canucks change their logo. I'm a big fan of the classic (rink and stick), but the Johnny Canuck V isn't too bad either. I hope (there's that word again) that we both get our way!
I think 90% of Hockey Fans Agree, the Orca needs to go. Sabres not Slugs worked....how about Canucks not Whales.
Andre, I fully support the return to the stick in rink! Those throwbacks a couple years back were absolutely killer. I hope they find their way back full time.
Congrats Buffalo Fans. Die hard Pens fan since '80. I hated/still do, the Howard Baldwin "Pigeon Logo" and was thrilled when Mario brought back the Skating Penguin. Now hopefully the Ownership will finally restore the real Sabres logo full time next year!
OMG THIS IS SO SWEET!!! a 100000000000000% upgrade lol. i was hoping they would do this when i noticed there wasnt a logo. i cant wait to see it in person.
Just wanted to add that the picture circulated was taken by Derek Renner and I just found that out and want to give him proper credit.
I don't like that vintage style logo. If it's a sign of things to come and that's going to be their primary soon, then that's disappointing. I hated the slug, but now it's grown on me and I like it.
What I'd love to see is a mix between red and black Sabres, with the current.
Well faithful, I'm waiting on some official confirmation, but apparently this is only for preseason as per mandate of the NHL/Reebok. They want all teams introducing third jerseys to put their new logos on the ice to try to sell the new jerseys.
Ol' Slugaroo will be back out there all season long.
Lame. Very, very lame.
Regardless, I'm still voting with my wallet, and that third jersey is coming home.
It looks really cool, but doesn't it look like it'd be difficult to see a puck in the blue area of the logo?
Drew: heard that, but look at the list of third on the right side of your screen; how many have been released? Some are old designs, but not all. So, not everyone can do that. Plus, what do the wordmark teams do? Will Tampa Bay's circle just have "BOLTS" written across it?
Like I said to you at the Sabres Not Slugs post, I'm just repeating what I've heard. I hope that it's not true and they intend on keeping the classic logo at center ice all year.
Guess we'll know soon enough. Just seems silly to me to bring it out for preseason in an effort to sell merchandise, when preseason isn't even televised, or even sold out for that matter. Seems to be a pretty weak marketing effort if that's the NHL's plan.
We'll see.
And Plus.... The Bruins still have their center ice painted with the traditional Hub...not the new Bruins shield. It would make no sense to start training camp with a blank circle, melt the ice, paint the vintage logo, melt the ice again, paint the slug, refreeze the ice and play the regular season. All for 2 preseason games that aren't on TV anyways. Seems like that would negate all the profits of selling 3rd jerseys that people are going to buy regardless of whats at center ice. It better stay there.