Flyers at Fenway?
Flyers fan Sal wrote to me this afternoon with a slew of good questions.
I was just wondering if you've heard anything about what the Flyers were going to do this season. I've heard different grumblings that the orange retro jersey would become our home sweater and the black jersey would be used for special occasions. Does this mean the Flyers will change their away jersey to match the retro design? Also, since the Winter Classic game at Fenway Park between the Bruins and the Flyers seems to be official, what jerseys do you think the Flyers will wear?
So I sat down to do a little quick research. Looking into the Icethetics archives, I reported back in February that the Flyers would be making the third jersey swap this fall. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
The orange retros will be the new standard home uniform while the blacks will take on a secondary role. As far as the road whites, I have no new information at this time that would indicate a redesign to match the throwbacks. If I were to guess, I'd say they will remain the same as last year, at least for now. But hold that thought.
That brings us to the 2010 Winter Classic. We know the Bruins are hosting it at Fenway Park, but that may only be half the story. On June 19, TSN reported that the Calgary Flames would be also be hosting an outdoor New Year's Day game, creating hockey's first open-air double-header.
The Flames' opponent remains a mystery, but that may no longer be the case for the Bruins. It's not official yet, but on Tuesday, Delaware County Daily Times beat writer Anthony J. SanFilippo wrote on his blog that the Flyers would be making the trip to Fenway Park — not the Rangers, as I would've expected.
By the way, I highly recommend a read of SanFilippo's article as he goes into detail regarding the circumstances that led to this. Apparently, the NHL wanted the Capitals so they could promote Ovechkin but NBC was unhappy with the Rangers-Capitals TV ratings during the playoffs.
So this brings up an interesting question. All four teams that have participated in Winter Classics have done so donning classic attire. With the Flyers taking their classic attire full-time this season, how will they manage to make this special occasion stand out?
Unfortunately, while I have no solid answer for you at this point since nothing is official yet anyway, remember that thought I told you to hold on to earlier? This would be the perfect opportunity for the Flyers to introduce a white version of the orange retro sweater. With the Bruins hosting, they will likely be in gold or black. And in case you missed it, I posted a great concept on Twitter, showing a uniform the Bruins could wear. (Great work by Bruins 37.)
While we're on the topic of the Winter Classic, don't forget that the Chicago Blackhawks said that last year's black third jersey will be replaced by their Winter Classic sweater. Those will be fantastic to see on the ice more than once a year. Unfortunately, there are no plans for the Red Wings to do the same.
That reminds me. At some point this week, I'm going to have a post to get everyone up to speed on which teams we're expecting third jerseys from this season. And I'll be accepting concepts for what they might look like. Who's excited?
So we've got some theorizing to do in the comments today. What will the Flyers wear to the Winter Classic? What will the Bruins wear? Who will face the Flames in Part II of WC '10? And will anyone look cooler than the Blackhawks in their third jerseys this year?
Chris
Looks like I didn't do my homework on one aspect of this post and I apologize for that. Several of you have written in to point out that the TSN article suggesting there would be a second outdoor game at the 2010 Winter Classic hosted by Calgary was not set in stone. A follow-up story this past week pointed out that in fact there will be no Flames-hosted match. At least not on January 1, 2010.
The NHL's competition committee met last week to discuss the topic, saying that there may still be a second special event on New Year's Day in a Canadian city. Perhaps the Habs playing a game at Montreal's Olympic Stadium as part of their 100th anniversary celebration? Maybe against the Flames. Or Leafs?
Once again, I apologize for not being up to speed on this and I appreciate the help from those of you who wrote in to set me straight.
Reader Comments (14)
I'm gonna guess the Flyers will wear a white version of their retro.
From what I've read recently, the game in Calgary is likely no longer taking place. Asfor why the B's wouldn't be playing the Rangers, NYR is hoping for their own WC next year or in the future.
My guess is the Flyers will stick with their road whites from last year for this year as well, but introduce a retro white jersey (basically a colorswapped version of the orange ones) for the Winter classic which will become the official road jersey in the 2010-11 season.
Break out the Cooperalls, Flyers!
If Calgary is hosting an outdoor match, it would probably be against the Oilers, seeing as they've been playing back-to-back New Year's Eve/Day matches for the past few seasons against each other.
Quakers throwbacks perhaps? Please? Pretty please? I would buy one in an instant....
They would also go great with the age of the uniforms the bruins will probalby be wearing.
From the looks of it, I think that the Calgary game has a close to 0% chance of happening, even with the NHL discussing putting it on a different day.
I hope the Flyers will wear the white version of their retro.....
It was rumored the the Flames were going to play the leafs on Sportsnet.. but it doesnt even look like the game is going to happen anymore.. which really sucks since i am a leafs fan. I think a double header winter classic, one day game one night game, would be awesome but i guess Gary thinks different
Winter Classic 2010: Obviously the Bruins will be wearing something nostalgic. I'm thinking something with a B on it is a safe bet.
The Flyers, will use the away jersey that matches their home jersey, after that it will become their permanent away jersey.
Flames Winter Classic: If this ended up rising back from the dead...I see the Flames going with either their original Calgary Jersey or an Atlanta Flames throwback.
If their opponent was the Oilers, they would pull off the same promotion as the Flyers by reintroducing the white versions of their home jersey. Than that would become the permanent away jersey.
If it was the Canucks, it would be a no-brainer to use either their original 1970 uni or go with the often used 72 uni. However, I'd rather them go yellow and bring in the Flying-V. That would make nostalgic Canuck fans cheer, and make everyone else vomit. But maybe instead they would go back to the WHL days and bring in the full bodied Johnny.
Habs Centennial Outdoor Game: Let me make this clear, if this game goes ahead, it will be against the Leafs. I'm sure I don't need to explain why.
It's simple, Habs will wear their original inaugural jersey, Leafs should wear either their original Toronto Arenas Jersey or a St. Pats Jersey.
on a point of order: have there not been 3 winter classics and 6 teams:
EDM/MTL
BUF/PIT
CHI/DET
Not counting the Oilers/Habs game is ruling it out on a technicality... Winter Classic, Heritage Clasic.. Tomato, Tomato...
If the Flyers wear throwbacks in the Winter Classic, they would wear the orange sweaters, because they were the road jerseys at the time. And to the man who wants the cooperalls: Cooperalls were banned after the 81-82 season because they created harder collissions.
I would have said the Bruins and Flyers, if they are playing in the WC together, should wear the jerseys they wore when they played eachother in the Stanley Cup finals, but the Bruins have pretty much the same jersey design (except the B was yellow back then, still in the spokes, and the shoulder patch was different). I don't think they want to try and market ANOTHER black jersey that looks identical to their current home (since thats pretty much what their third is).
Matt: Detroit wore white at Wrigley, but Buffalo wore white in Buffalo - so its a toss up.
Jeff P: I doubt they'll wear Quakers unis. Detroit got away with wearing Cougar jerseys, because it just had D on it. Unless the Flyers put a Flyers logo on a Quakers jersey, I doubt you'll see it. Not to mention, the Flyers already have an orange third, so its unlikely they'll want to market another orange alternate (which is all the Quakers had).
If it were up to me, the Flyers shoudl wear white versions of their current alternates, and the two retro jerseys should from then on be their main unis while the black is a third jersey (and get rid of their current whites, ugh).
The Bruins, with two black jerseys already, should go for a dark jersey that has brown in it, or that is predominantly yellow. I'm thinking these:
http://nhluniforms.com/Bruins/Images/Bruins04.png
But maybe color in the white part with brown
OR
http://nhluniforms.com/Bruins/Images/Bruins18.png (the yellow one)
Picture Credit: NHLuniforms.com
Philly should never have switched to black as their main jersey color. They wore orange from the day they first showed up in the league and that's how it should have stayed. It's about time they went back to it.
In fact, just do away with the black alternate jersey entirely, the league has far too many teams with plain black jerseys.
I Agree With Ya, Ian. Black Dosen't Seem Quite Right For The Flyers. If It Does, Not As Much As Orange.