Jersey Tributes Across Canada
Hope some of you had a chance to catch my interview on NHL Home Ice this morning. I'll try to get it posted here later tonight if you'd like to take a listen. In the meantime, I've got some pictures to share of some things that went on over the weekend.
We'll go east to west, starting in Montreal. On Saturday night, the Canadiens paid tribute to Patrick Roy with the retiring of his No. 33 sweater. Down on the ice, all of players wore Roy's jersey during warm-ups. Great picture here.
At the same time, it was Wendel Clark Night in Toronto as the Maple Leafs retired honored his No. 17 jersey. Just like in Montreal, players paid tribute during warm-ups by wearing Clark's sweater.
And across the continent in Vancouver, the WHL's Giants honored the gone-but-not-forgotten Millionaires with throwback jerseys on Friday. My thanks to Sean for this photo from the game.
That's some uniform isn't it? Complete with the white pants and everything.
I saved this stuff for today because I didn't want it to get lost in the shuffle of Third Jersey Weekend. It's nice to see teams paying tribute to the past, especially with their uniforms.
Chris
This is a response to Jason's comment below. I was not aware of the Leafs' habit of "honoring" players' numbers without retiring them. In case anyone else is curious about this, I've looked into it a little.
Below is an excerpt from the article on the Maple Leafs' web site.
The Clark ceremony is one of two the Maple Leafs have scheduled for this season. Toronto will also honor the No. 93 of Clark's old linemate, Doug Gilmour, on Jan. 31 before the game with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The respective No. 17 and No. 93 banners for Clark and Gilmour will join those of Syl Apps, Ted Kennedy, Walter "Turk" Broda, Johnny Bower, Tim Horton, George Armstrong, Charlie Conacher, Frank Mahovlich, Darryl Sittler, Clarence "Hap" Day, Leonard "Red" Kelly and Borje Salming.
The Maple Leafs historically only retire numbers of distinguished players that have died or had their career shortened due to tragic or catastrophic circumstances while being a member of the team. Irvine "Ace" Bailey (6) and Bill Barilko (5) are the two represented in this category, and both have banners in their name at Air Canada Centre.
So there you have it. Nos. 17 and 93 will be raised to the rafters this season but future players are welcome to wear those sweaters. Though who in his right mind is going to do that?
Reader Comments (35)
Dude. I totally want white pants now. And slap bracelets. Lots of slap bracelets.
Notice the Leaf Sholder patch? thats just a normal leaf. I thought they had a Small Version of the Mapleleafs logo there?
The jerseys the Leafs are wearing are throwbacks from Clark's early era, the 1980's.
Also note that on the bottom right of the Leafs jerseys are the old NHL shield in orange and black and jersey provider, CCM.
Yeah Moosehabs i know that but i was just saying i guess that i dont remember that leaf on the sholder but a white Mapleleaf logo on there with out the word.
Those Leaf jerseys are leaps and bounds better than the pajamas they got stuck with after the Edge rollout.
MikePho3nix,
Those jerseys that TML wore were from 1970 to 1992:
" In 1970, the year the Leaf jersey was completely redesigned, White officialy became the "Home" colour. An extention of the blue yolk from the neck to the wrist replaced the arm striping and the thin-thick-thin waist striping was replaced by a thick single stripe. They didn't stop there either, as minature leaves were also to the shoulders to complete the new design."
Wendel Clark played for TML from 1985-1994, 1996-98, and for 20 games in the 1999-2000 season.
Sources:
TML history http://www.tmlfever.com/History.html
Wendel Clark http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=1018
Thanks for the history lesson. i was saying that i just dont remember the leaf looking like that on the sholder. it looks like the maple leaf off the canada flag. not the Toronto Maple leafs Logo. I live in toronto i know about all this stuff. its just that one thing i dont think is right.
the leafs logo is the Canadian Flag Maple leaf with their name in it...
How many people out there agree with me that the new Reebok Edge jerseys are ugly,
compared to the classic CCM style? They look like a mens dress shirt with the front and back
tails! Something your girl would wear to bed to impress you.Anyone agree?
Bill
I beg to differ the Toronto Maple leafs Logo is not the same as the Canada Flag Maple leaf.
Mike,
You would be correct,in that the leafs logo is NOT the same as the leaf on the nation's flag.
They are very similar though,especially at a quick glance.The leaf on the flag looks a bit more
like a real 'leaf' than the TML version.
Anyone else sort of like Vancouver's throwbacks?
Seriously though. Where can i buy white hockey pants? I'd love to stick out like a sore thumb during beer league. lol
hey man that should be the nuck's third. It would be more creative.
No way. The Canucks third is just about as perfect as they come.
Clark's number wasn't retired. They don't do that. They just raise banners and have special nights, the numbers stay in use.
MikePho3nix,
The leafs on the shoulders were definitely wordmark free.
http://www.homeoftheleafs.com/images/vaive.jpg
http://www.nhluniforms.com/1970s/Images/MapleLeafs4.gif
http://www.torontocardshow.com/images/vaivethumba.JPG
Bwayblueshirt, i agree completely. i can't believe they used the edge jerseys for the ceremony, it changes so much. those rounded hemlines are by far the worst part of what's left of the edge system, and i hope that is the next part they get rid of.
i love that the leafs used CCM jerseys. just like the habs did with their 1945 throwbacks. i hope that this all means that rbk's stranglehold is slipping
i LOVE those vancouver throwbacks. i do wish the canucks 3rd jersey would become their currents, and those V jerseys could be used as the third, or perhaps a special occasion throwback (can you imagine PCHL throwback games?!). good luck finding those white pants though. personally i hate them, just like the caps did in 1974.
my biggest question, considering that the giants wore white pants, despite the changes the red wings have made to the cougars' sweaters (laceup, wing logos on the shoulders), will the Red Wings (accurately) wear white pants for the Winter Classic?
I was their at the Giants game when they played in the Vancouver millionares uniforms, they are spectaculor. They were classic, way better than Canucks third jersey and the logo is way better than the Whale!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Canucks should put "Canucks" in the "V" of there new logo (on the shoulder of their new third jersey) simular to the Millionares and have that as there home and away jerseys.
It would be nice if the third jersey's for the Canucks had the striping of the millionares jerseys, but with the Blue or Green not the Maroon!
That would sell like hot cakes here. I was so suprised how many people bought sweaters at 210 bucks, t-shirts and jerseys for this event. It shows you how badly the city wants a hockey team uniform they are proud of. Eveyone makes fun of the Whale, that should be the case for your home team!!!!
Pretty cool tributes for both teams to wear Clark and Roy's numbers. I think those Maple Leafs jerseys from the 80's were quite interesting without the lettering inside the leaf. I look forward to listening to your interview on Icethetics Chris, because sadly I could not catch it on radio today. I think the Millionaires throughbacks for the Giants look pretty neat too, for old-school jerseys. I can forgive the white pants, they are actually kind of funky looking!
oh wow, they ARE different.......haha, I'm not a leafs fan so i never noticed xD
I'm watching St.Louis and Nashville on Versus.Boy,those Blues 3rd jerseys are very nice.
They scream 'old school'...which is right up my alley! No stupid piping all over the place,or stripes going every which way.It's too bad I can't say the same for most of the other ones.
I do like the Canucks third jersey,but I wish they would've left the small tweak to the main logo,alone.The blade on the stick looks huge! Good job in keeping the green & blue....definately
a Vancouver staple.
I was at that leaf game, and those jerseys 100x better than the ones they wear now. my favourite leafs jersey of all time for sure!
i love the vancouver millionaires jersey!!!! and the white pants are wicked
hey if we bring back the white pants, we better bring back the COOPERALLS!! IMO this would complete the Flyers new old look ahahah!!
i agree bwayblueshirt, they look fantastic. they photograph a little dark though, which is a little disappointing, but it makes the yellow SO much brighter. the stark contrast is very modern, but the jersey itself is very vintage. it is by far my favorite new jersey of the edge era.
Does anyone know where/if one might purchase those Vancouver Giants/Millionaires uniforms? I'd love to have one.
you can buy the sweaters at http://www.vancouvermillionaires.com/ the jersey's haven't been released by RBk for sale on any website that I'm aware of they had a limited number at the game for sale. Possible email the contact on the millionaires website and see if they can help you.
Hey HockeyWeek......is this your username,or are you actually affiliated with HockeyWeek
publication? You're not the only one that thought the Blues 'blue' was too dark. It would've
been nice to see the original '67 blue back on the jersey. But I'd have too agree,it's the nicest
3rd jersey this year. Tonight's Tampa is pretty nice....although I'm not a big fan of letters instead of a logo! Pretty weird coming from a Ranger fan, isn't it? lol
Chris what is up with the lack of posts?? This is my favorite page but the past few days we have got nothing?? Whats up??
it IS crazy, but they're some good jerseys with a lot of potential.
the only publication i'm associated with is Hockey Week in Review (that i co-host), a tv show in the Erie, PA area produced with Mercyhurst College, so that's probably a no.
however, in my initial research on google never got any results for "hockeyweek" or "hockey week", so i'm very interested in this magazine you're talking about.
Ace Bailey may have worn #6, but so did Ron Ellis, so it took some time for the number to be retired.
HockeyWeek....Thanks for the explanation. I guess I was referring to an older newspaper that I used to buy at newstands, called Hockey Weekly. It was an in-depth look at the nhl and all the minor leagues as well. USA Today published it....along with Baseball Weekly.
Any time you'd like to talk 'old school jerseys'.....give me a holler! I am a collector of vintage jerseys from CCM,complete with the players names and numbers. I hope they never stop making them.
#6 is retired by the leafs, not #4. Jeff Finger wears it now.
Ellis received permission from Bailey to wear #6.
definitely bwayblueshirt,
i'm a collector myself, http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b394/johnious/ this is my collection as of a while ago, i'm at 78 jerseys right now. i refuse to buy RBK, but that might change if the edge system bites the dust. not all of them have names and numbers, but i've paid retail for only 2 of them, so i'm doing ok. here's hoping you're right, and while i'm keeping my hopes up, idk that CCM jerseys will always be made.
i apologize to Chris for the shameless plug, but i'm at hockeyweek.blogspot.com, and it'll go active again soon when the full show crew is back from hiatus. (actually Chris, if you're reading this, i'd love to do some kind of ad-swapping between this site and my show, let me know if you're interested. i'll keep fighting the good fight against rbk, it's good to know that others think the same way on this site.