Hurricanes Third With Third

That's really as far as I plan to count. I'm sure it's getting annoying. The Carolina Hurricanes' third jersey made its debut on the ice tonight — as scheduled.

However its coming out party was crashed by the Detroit Red Wings. But I'm not your source for game scores, so here are some pictures instead.

They look good. Wouldn't want them going black full time though. That's Lightning turf.

If my schedule is accurate, we won't see any third jerseys on the ice for two weeks. But keep in mind that this schedule isn't comprehensive. Plenty of teams are keeping their schedule to themselves. I'll of course keep my eyes peeled in the meantime.

Icethetics Season Preview, Part IV

NEW NHL LOGOS

The Icethetics Season Preview is winding down. All week I've been getting you caught up with what's new in the world of hockey as it pertains to the right side of your brain.

Unlike last season, no NHL clubs are introducing new primary logos this season. However with the re-introduction of third jerseys this fall — and I'll go deeper into this tomorrow — a handful of teams will have new marks for their new duds.

There's no better team to start with for this topic than the Buffalo Sabres. I know a number of tradition-loving fans are thrilled at the prospect of the team's original logo making its' return — even if it is on a part-time basis.

The updated classic logo with a darker blue and silver lining will be worn on the Sabres' third jersey this season. Some are even hoping this logo will eventually be promoted to full-time status. It's not unprecedented for a third jersey logo to eventually become a team's primary. The Blue Jackets and Blues both did it.

Speaking of the St. Louis Blues, they've also unveiled a new logo to go on their new third jersey. The main feature is the use of the Gateway Arch imagery but it's also got the classic circle style — similar to what the Wild did when they introduced their first and only third jersey in 2003.

It's a beautiful design and use of color and stays true to the original Blue Note. You have to hand it to the Blues for really getting this one right.

Technically, the Carolina Hurricanes also have something new on their new third jersey. This dark version of their primary logo can be found on the shoulders. It's nothing spectacular, but it sure is a nice touch. And I assure you it looks much better in context, on the black jersey.

But that's all for new NHL logos — officially. But leaks happen and there's no group in the world that can really keep a secret — except the ones that kill people. So over the course of the summer, a few logos have make their way to those of us interested enough in finding them.

We'll begin with the Los Angeles Kings, who will be unveiling a new third jersey next month. The logo seen here fits the description for what we've heard about this particular sweater. It was discovered on a governmental trademark web site. And while those web sites generally tend to use only black and white images, it's believed this logo as well as the jersey will be black and white — and maybe silver.

So I trust this image and fully expect to see it on the front of the Kings' new third jersey in November.

Another team with leaking logos is the Phoenix Coyotes. Two brand new logos turned up over the summer.

The logo on the left is expected to be on the front of the Coyotes' new third jersey — also expected for release next month. The one on the right, if I were to guess, will probably be on the shoulder of this jersey — if they use it on a uniform at all. It could just be one of those alternate logos that only gets used on a handful of merchandise. The Canucks, Senators and Sharks all have logos like that.

Along with these other leaked logos were a couple of new scripts that turned up for the Coyotes and the Boston Bruins.

This new script logo for the Bruins matches much better with the new logo they unveiled last year.

The New York Islanders and Edmonton Oilers are expected to go retro with their new third jerseys this season.

Technically, these aren't "new" logos but they are new additions for this season.

And that's that. We're expecting to see something new when the Thrashers, Lightning, Stars and Senators unveil their new third jerseys, but rumor has it they'll simply be text logos across the chest.

If you think I missed anything, shoot me an email and I'll be sure to add it. Otherwise, that does it for the this edition of the Icethetics Season Preview. Tomorrow is the last day of the Icethetics Season Preview (or is it?) and it's all about third jerseys. It's all the intelligence we've gathered this summer wrapped up in one big post.

Icethetics Season Preview, Part II

NEW CENTER ICE DESIGNS

The Icethetics Season Preview continues. All week, I'm doing my best to get you caught up with what's new in the world of hockey as it pertains to the right side of your brain.

Every year, every NHL team repaints its ice rink. In fact, this happens several times a year. But usually, they paint the same logo down on center ice each time. For the 2008-09 season, a half-dozen clubs are giving their manmade ponds a makeover.

In this post I'll be using concept images to show you what the center ice logos will look like. They are not entirely accurate representations of what's painted on the ice, however the logo dimensions are correct. The arena names have been left off along with the center line design which can vary from team to team.

A couple of teams are just enlarging their primary logo under the main faceoff circle.

The Dallas Stars increased the size of their logo and also added small stars to dot their red line. The Toronto Maple Leafs actually removed one. Previously, the Leafs center ice featured two logos, one facing the television cameras and the other facing opposite.

Two other teams are using their center ice circle to celebrate their anniversaries.

The Montreal Canadiens' 100th anniversary logo replaces the classic CH logo this season while the Edmonton Oilers are going with a simplified version of their 30th anniversary mark, which includes the vintage logo.

Finally, two other teams are going with their third jersey logos at center ice.

The Buffalo Sabres will use their updated vintage logo while the Carolina Hurricanes are going with the storm flag and small square storm flags along their red line.

There are unsubstantiated rumors circulating that these designs are temporary for the Hurricanes and Sabres, meant only as a marketing tool for the preseason in creating awareness of the teams' new third jerseys. I'll keep an eye out when the regular season starts to see if the primary logos find their way back to the ice for these two teams.

I'm only covering the NHL with this part of the preview, but if you think I missed anything, shoot me an email and I'll be sure to add it. Otherwise, that does it for the second day of the Icethetics Season Preview. Tomorrow, we're looking at minor league teams introducing new logos this fall.

Monday Afternoon Notes

I've got a few things to talk about this morning. I'll start with the IceHL. I had to disqualify a bunch of team names that were up for rating in the Central Division. It was pointed out that several of them have already been used by obscure or defunct pro teams.

I asked that you guys not submit ineligible names since I don't have the time to search everything submitted. Anyway, some of you may want to go back and adjust your ratings based on the names that were disqualified. There are links to those pages in the pollbar.

In other Icethetics related news, we surpassed the million-hit mark. Did it in under three months too. Thanks for continuing to check in, everyone. According to my stats, we've had over 400,000 unique visitors following Icethetics in the last three months. You guys are the reason I do this every day. Thanks again!

...
SANFORD'S MASK GETS PAINTED
Vancouver Canucks goalie Curtis Sanford decided to wear a fan-designed goalie mask this season. And after choosing his favorite last week, it's now been painted. The team's official web site had photos of the new mask.

It doesn't quite look how I thought it would, but I think it's still a great looking mask. I like the green eyes at the top.

...
REBRANDING THE NHL & PROJECT: IHA
Been getting a lot of questions about both of these. First, I can tell you I've talked with Matt and since school and work — designing logos — have him very busy and without much free time, it may be about six weeks before we see his Blues rebrand. Hope you don't mind waiting a little longer. If you do, too bad.

Nicolas, creator of the IHA, will have a statement for everyone later in the week regarding the future of the league we designed logos for here at Icethetics. At that point we'll also begin accepting logo submissions for the league itself. The IHA will need its own logo as well.

...
NO THIRD JERSEY NEWS
Over the weekend, the Sabres and Blues unveiled their new third jerseys but I was keeping an eye on the rest of the league to see if anyone else would have theirs on display at various fan events. The Senators, Coyotes, Blackhawks and Lightning all held festivities over the weekend but none showed a third jersey. We'll probably have to wait until November for most of them....
FAKE THIRD JERSEY NEWS
I've been getting a lot of emails from people saying they've found pictures of all the new third jerseys on various message boards. Well, what they're seeing are the concepts created by JerseyDatabase.com based off Howard Berger's descriptions. I'm writing this hoping to get those emails to stop.

Let's take a look at the concepts JB.com did versus the actual jersey — all of which they have on their site. We'll start with the Hurricanes.

Berger wrote about stars across the bottom but we know the images he had were really bad quality so it was probably difficult to make out. Though I think seeing dots around the sweater, it would've been a better guess to stick with the storm flag design. Next, the Bruins.

It seems this concept wasn't based entirely off Berger but maybe a little wishful thinking. The main differences are the drawstring collar, the gold stripe at the bottom and the word BRUINS in the logo. Berger never said it would be the BOSTON logo and the earlier images we saw kind of confirmed that. Now the Sabres.

Berger did say it would be a throwback but the low quality images probably precluded him from noticing the slight modifications. And finally, the Blues.

For this, I'm betting Berger was looking at something similar to the image I posted on Saturday. Because of the terrible quality of the image, the jersey appears to have black stripes on it and the gold's been washed out entirely. It's also hard to tell that the ends of the sleeves are white.

So there it is. JerseyDatabase.com appears to be basing their concepts off of good descriptions but these are by no means the actual jersey designs. For that, we'll have to keep an eye out the next few months. I'll be here keeping track of all of it.

Hurricanes Unveil Third Jersey!

The Carolina Hurricanes became the first team to unveil their new third jersey. They did so at a new conference this afternoon which was streamed live via their official web site.

We even did a live blog today here at Icethetics.

As you can see from the picture, the new sweater is black with the team's secondary logo with the storm flag on the front. It features thick red and silver stripes around the arms and a red stripe around the waist. Above that red stripe is a stripe of storm flags similar to the ones on the regular home and road sweaters. The difference being the flags are black with silver outlining and a silver square in the middle. On the shoulders is the primary logo in black and grey.

These images are from the live video stream of the event.

The team made the following image available on their site so you can see the complete look.

It was announced that the jerseys would go on sale to the public at the Caniac Carnival next weekend. And on their official web site, there's a fact sheet outlining some interesting information.

The team began development on this jersey in October 2003. The release states, "With the popularity of the secondary logo and the way in which the Triangle is represented in that symbol, it made sense for it to serve as the focal point. Since our primary team colors are red, black and white, and our other sweaters are red and white, it made sense to choose black as the main color of this new look."

The release also confirms the new sweater will make its on-ice debut on October 13 when the 'Canes play the Red Wings. They also list the dates of 14 other home games when the jersey will be worn. Check out their official site for more information.

By the way, a reader who attended the event sent in some pictures from his cell phone.

All in all it was a short event but to the point. They brought out the players, talked a little bit about the design and development and said goodbye.

The jerseys look great and it's nice to finally see them. Up next: the Buffalo Sabres on September 20!

UPDATE (9/11 12:10 AM): Just like I did last year with the Rbk EDGE jerseys, I'm keeping galleries for each new third jersey that gets released.

You can now find photos of the Hurricanes' alternate sweater by clicking here. Check out the slideshow on the right.

But wait, there's more. In case you missed it, the Hurricanes posted the video from the unveiling on their web site. You can watch it there or on YouTube.

I think that about does it for the coverage of Carolina. Moving on to Boston next.

'Canes To Stream Unveiling Event

Great news for those of you interested in seeing the Carolina Hurricanes unveil their new third jersey today but can't make it to the event. According to an email to fans, you'll be able to watch the unveiling live on the team's official web site.

The news conference will take place today at 12:30 PM EDT and I'll be doing a Live Chat/Live Blog here at Icethetics starting at about 11:30 AM EDT. The live chat will probably run until about 1 PM but I definitely plan to cover the big unveiling.

So I highly recommend you have two browser windows open this afternoon. One with Icethetics for the live chat, and the other with the streaming video of the Hurricanes' news conference. If that doesn't sound like fun, I don't know what does.

But seriously, back to work for me. I'm reorganizing the third jersey section of the sidebar. Just trying to clean things up around here.

Concept Art Is Back

It's late. I'm bored. Seems like the perfect reason to write my first random concept art post in over a month. Obviously it's going to involve a lot of third jersey speculation. So let's start at the beginning.

Tomorrow afternoon, the Hurricanes will become the first team to unveil a third jersey in the Rbk EDGE era. You can even join us for a live chat as it happens! On to the art, now.

The one labeled "a" seems to be based on the standard rumors. The other one is pure fantasy. Unique. This same artist has been working on speculative designs for a few other teams. He's got the Kings and Sens covered.

Sens, what a joke. Guess I won't be laughing so hard when my team wears jerseys that read "Bolts" across the front. Our friend Vlad also took a stab at the Thrashers.

Again, rumor-based on the left, fantasy on the right. I really hope Atlanta can do better. I do have another concept design for the Thrash which came before the real text design leaked.

Aside from the choice of font, it's a nice set.

This next one seems to be half-based on rumor. It's a concept for the Blues featuring the Arch but their new third jersey is alleged to be navy.

And we'll finish with an artist just having a little fun with the Devils.

Stare at that logo a little while. You'll start seeing things.

So anyway, time to get excited about all the new third jerseys. The fun kicks off tomorrow when we'll know for sure what at least one of them will look like.

Hurricanes Put Flag On Ice

Seems like the Carolina Hurricanes have been dominating the news coverage here lately. Anyway, it looks like RBC Center crews are in the process of painting the ice with a new logo.

Check this out.

An image grabbed from the arena's webcam shows that the secondary logo will now be front and center. The logo — which depicts a tropical storm flag tied to a hockey stick and waving in the wind — has long been rumored to be on the front of the team's new third jersey which will be unveiled on Wednesday at this very arena.

For the record, last year the Hurricanes' 10th anniversary logo donned center ice. Before that it was the standard primary logo.

Thanks to Scott for the tip and link.

Hurricanes Tease Alternate Sweater

There's a new image on the front page of the Carolina Hurricanes' official web site teasing the unveiling event for their new third jersey next week.

The image and story link to the same article I wrote about yesterday. The only thing I found interesting was this new image.

What I'm interested in is whether they're actually going to use a black and white version of their primary logo as a shoulder patch on the new sweater or this is just a stylized/greyscaled photo. The white circle in the center of the logo makes me think the logo will be black and white.

Personally, I'd be a big fan of a clean, black and white logo. I'm not sure any other team has actually changed the colors of their logo for a third jersey. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

For reference, the Hurricanes will unveil their new third jersey to media and fans at a news conference on Wednesday, September 10. I'll post photos here as soon as they're available.

'Canes To Unveil Third Next Week

According to their official web site, the Carolina Hurricanes will become the first team to unveil their new third jersey for the upcoming season.

We previously believed the new sweaters would be shown first at the Caniac Carnival on September 21. Turns out that date is still significant since it's when the jerseys will initially go on sale. Here's the story from the team's web site.

Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team will reveal its new alternate uniform at a news conference on Sept. 10, at the RBC Center at 12:30 p.m. Media and fans are invited to attend the event and be the first to see the Hurricanes’ new look, which the team will wear for 15 home games this season.

Hurricanes center Eric Staal, defenseman Tim Gleason and goaltender Cam Ward will model the uniform at the press conference, skating out onto their home ice in the jerseys for the first time. Television and still cameras will be permitted to shoot the event from ice level. In addition, Rutherford will be available to comment on the sweaters and the process of developing the new look.

The alternate jerseys will go on sale to the general public for the first time on Sunday, Sept. 21 at the Caniac Carnival, the team’s annual season kick-off event. The Hurricanes will debut the sweaters in a game on Oct. 13, when they host the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings at the RBC Center.

So the excitement begins. We'll have photos of the new Hurricanes' third jerseys in less than a week!

I'll post photos here on the blog as soon as they are available. If any of you attend and want to send me pictures to post, I'd be more than happy to oblige.