Around The AHL

I don't plan to make a habit out of it, but I was just catching up on some news around the AHL. I'm more of an NHL guy but I figured there might be some stuff out there of general interest. Came across a couple of things.

A reader recently pointed out an unusual logo currently appearing on the Binghamton Senators' official web site. He noticed it in NHL 09 and wondered if it was a new logo the team plans to use.

Did some quick research and found that this is a specialty logo designed by a local artist for the B-Sens for an Ottawa-themed jersey almost two years ago. The jerseys were worn on February 23 and 24, 2007. It looked like this.

As far as I know, there are no plans to recycle the logo this season, but then I don't really have my finger on the pulse of the AHL. If any Binghamton fans have heard anything, let us know.

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The Norfolk Admirals — affiliate of my Tampa Bay Lightning — unveiled a 20th anniversary logo a few weeks ago. It incorporates blue into the logo which the primary lacks despite being on a blue jersey. The blue was added to the team's color scheme when they hooked up with the Bolts.

I don't know how or if the Admirals plan to make the logo part of their uniforms this season. I would assume there will be a shoulder patch. But for sure, folks in Norfolk (ha) will see it on a lot of promotional materials.

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The Bridgeport Sound Tigers are going green! No, they aren't changing their colors despite what the image below might suggest. That's just a Bridgeport PR guy having some fun. Everybody wishes they had Photoshop skills.

No, they mean "going green" in the sense that they're saving the environment. Anyone who works in media or has been in the media box of any hockey arena knows about the stacks of stats sheets you get handed when you walk in. You've easily wasted an entire ream of paper after a few days worth of games.

To help curb the tree-killing, the Sound Tigers will begin offering all of that information on reusable USB drives.

Sounds cool to me. Makes you wonder whether the NHL will join up.

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I know the season hasn't begun yet and these may just be preseason jerseys, but it seems NHL 09 had the jersey designs wrong for the AHL's newest team — the Iowa Chops. The image below, a still from the game, shows sweaters based off the design of the Anaheim Ducks, with some colors changed.

On the Chops' official web site is the following image which shows a jersey that looks nothing like Anaheim's. It also lacks the obnoxious CHOPS text beneath the logo.

Now this may or may not be the actual jersey. The story it's attached to is talking about a rookie tournament. But this is why I don't inherently trust video games for accurate jersey depictions.

Anyway, that's all for this afternoon. If there's anything I missed, feel free to email me.

Around The League

Time to get caught up on a bunch of news items from around the NHL. Get comfortable. This is a long one.

Vancouver Canucks goalie Curtis Sanford has decided on the fan-designed mask he'll be wearing this season. Hundreds of designs were submitted and the winner was announced yesterday on the team's web site.

I'll follow up when pictures of the final mask start popping up.

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The Chicago Blackhawks recently attended a White Sox baseball game — I'm guessing to show the other hometown ball club that they don't love them any less than the Cubs even though they'll be playing in the Winter Classic at Wrigley Field. But they were wearing some unusual jerseys for the occasion.

See what I mean? Let's just hope they never make it on the ice.

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The Los Angeles Kings continue to pimp their season tickets by offering a free third jersey no one's ever seen. Guess that's one way to avoid complaints. You can't whine about something that's free (...oh, wait a minute). There's an ad on their web site showing that ol' question mark jersey.

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I got an email from an Atlanta Thrashers season ticket holder who asked his account rep about when the team would be unveiling their third jersey so he could get tickets for that game. He was told Friday, November 14 when they play the Hurricanes. That date coincides with what I've had in the sidebar....
Recently, a handful of new Phoenix Coyotes logos leaked and now it seems the team's own web site has some confirmation of at least one of them. A version of the new script logo in that post can be seen in the CoyotesFest logo.

The event is this Saturday at 11 AM. The team hasn't indicated any plans to unveil their third jersey... but neither did the Bruins.

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Speaking of third jerseys, aside from the Sabres and Coyotes, a handful of other teams are holding fan events this weekend. Only the Sabres have mentioned anything about unveiling their third jersey, but it'll be worth keeping an eye on these other guys.

The Ottawa Senators will have their Fanfest on Saturday from 8 AM to 1:30 PM. They really want you waking up early for a Saturday morning. Anyway, on the agenda for the day is the grand opening of The Sens Store. Might they have certain new merchandise for sale? (Wink, wink.)

The Chicago Blackhawks have Training Camp Festival 2008 on the books for Saturday from 8 AM to 4 PM. The Bruins unveiled their new third jersey to very little fanfare. I'd expect the same from the Blackhawks who are likely to go with their standard black alternate that's been in service for over a decade now. Will they have it on display at this event?

The St. Louis Blues will hold FANfest on Sunday from 11 AM to 4 PM. There's a Q&A scheduled with head coach Andy Murray and president of hockey operations John Davidson with season ticket holders at 1:45 PM. I can almost guarantee someone will ask about third jerseys. What will the guys say?

That wraps things up for today. I wanted to get as much new information as I could in this post since it might be the only one I write today.

Oil Shows 30th Year Patch

The Edmonton Oilers are showing off their new 30th anniversary shoulder patches at the Oil Country Rookie Tournament going on now.

A photo gallery on their official web site showed a picture of a bunch of white jerseys with a new patch.

If you're looking for it, the gallery is titled Rookie Camp: Day 3 and there's a direct link from the home page. I mentioned on Saturday that the Oilers put a simplified version of this logo at center ice for the coming season.

The reader who sent in this picture also mentioned that it was only on the right shoulder of the jerseys being used in the tournament.

I can't say for sure whether this logo will be on the home, road or third jerseys for the regular season. I also don't know whether this patch would be worn on both shoulders or just one. We won't have to wait long to find out though. Season starts in three weeks.

Oilers Put 30th On Ice

A photo of Edmonton Oilers rookie Taylor Chorney on the team's official web site reveals the new paint job on the ice at Rexall Place. It's the traditional Oilers logo with a giant "30" at the bottom.

You can go to their site or see the image below.

By the way, I said "traditional" because you'll notice the distinct lack of a red circle encompassing the logo. It's what I anticipate seeing on this season's third jersey.

Thanks to Darren for the tip on the photo.

It's a simplified version of the 30th anniversary logo I posted last month. That logo was found in public document filings by journalist James Gordon. For a refresher...

I imagine that or something similar will serve as a special patch somewhere on the Oilers' jerseys this season.

Bruins LEAK Third Jersey!

UPDATE (10/28 11:05 AM): Some of the information in this post has changed. This "unveiling" was technically a leak by the team. The official release date for the Bruins' third jersey is November 24. Click here for more info...

According to HubHockey.com, the Boston Bruins unveiled their new third jersey tonight at the State of the Bruins event.

The jerseys are basically what was expected — black with the secondary logo on the front and the primary logo on the shoulders. Sound familiar? It's exactly what we saw in the preview back in February.

Here are some pictures from Chris at HubHockey.com of Milan Lucic in the new sweater.

credit: Chris @ HubHockey.com

I find it a little strange that this news comes without any big fanfare. I guess the Bruins wanted to treat their season ticket holders to something special before taking it to the rest of the world.

My thanks to Chris at HubHockey.com for the heads up on this news and for posting the great pictures.

When the Bruins post something official on their web site, I'll be sure to let you know.

UPDATE (9/11 9:48 AM): Still no official pictures of the jersey from the Bruins, but they do have a quick little bit on their web site. In an article discussing the State of the Bruins event was the following.

A very special surprise came at the end of the festivities when Milan Lucic walked onto the ice to unveil the Bruins new third jersey. ... A touched Lucic said, “I love you, too” after being lauded by the crowd when he entered the rink.

And despite having a photo gallery from the event online, there are no pictures of Lucic in the third jersey. Still waiting...

UPDATE (9/12 10:20 AM): I've added a photo gallery for the Bruins' new third jersey. Because the Bruins have yet to post anything official, the gallery is currently made up only of photos from Chris at HubHockey.com.

I'll post more as I find them.

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.

Canadiens' New Center Logo

The Montreal Canadiens said a couple weeks ago that they would be using their new 100th anniversary logo at center ice instead of their primary logo.

We now have a photo of what that looks like.

Complete with new Bell Centre text around the circle and everything. Very classy.

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.

Toronto's New Ice Logo

I've got a quick follow up on a story form Tuesday talking about how the Toronto Maple Leafs are redesigning center ice at the Air Canada Centre this season. It's now been revealed in a video on the team's official web site.

You can see a screen grab from the video currently appearing on their home page or see it below.

I'd call it a huge improvement. What do you call it?

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.