In Transition
Just wanted to give you guys an update on my transition. If you haven't yet heard, I'm in the process of leaving Florida for a new job in Seattle. I'm doing my best to keep Icethetics up to date with all the big news, but the little things are taking a backseat temporarily.
If you're looking for more frequent updates from me, keep an eye on Twitter for the time being. The Social Media block on the sidebar (right) always has the most recent updates and links. Regular updates will return along with the rollout of a brand new site feature by Christmas time.
Chris
This picture was too great to let it get buried in the comments. For those who haven't been following along, a debate has regarding fans wearing certain hockey jerseys to games. And a commenter named Don Brandt spotted this photo from a Canucks game on ESPN's website.
We've counted as many as nine different Canucks jerseys in just this small part of the stands, across many eras in Vancouver's history. I don't think there's any other NHL arena where you could find this kind of variety.
Reader Comments (56)
So does that mean your going to become one of the many, many, many Canucks fans we have on here or are you all for Yzerbolt?
Seriously? I thought we were all hockey fans here. I thought we all knew how this works. You don't pick your team. Your team picks you. The Lightning picked me way back in 1992. No geography or Brad Richards trade could ever change that. However, I might now support a relocation of the Lightning to, say, Seattle at some point in the future — with heartfelt apologies to all my fellow Tampa-based fans. Obviously, this means I'll probably be attending more Canucks and Thunderbirds games — still wearing my blue Bolts jersey, of course.
Have fun on your cross country journey Chris. We'll try not to bitch too much while you're busy.
Best of luck Chris
congrats on your new job chris. and your right, the team picks you. the sabres picked me in 1997 with one shot from derek plante in a game 7 OT. that one moment got me hooked on hockey. good luck with your move.
Promise me you won't wear your Bolts jersey to T-Bird or Canucks games (unless the Canucks are playing the Lightning). I have no bigger pet peeve than people wearing 3rd party jerseys to games.
Every game I go to, without fail, there's like 100 people wearing completely random jerseys, as if to say "Look at me, I enjoy sports". I'm sorry, you fail. You are not allowed to wear a jersey of a team who is not competing that night. The only possible exception is perhaps a national team jersey of your home country with the name of a player who is playing that night (example, perfectly fine to wear team Canada Luongo jersey to Canucks game, but not Henrik Sedin Sweden jersey).
And for good measure, no adult shall wear a sports jersey as everyday wear. You may only wear a sports jersey if you are: a) going to the game, b) watching the game at a buddy's house/bar. So, to you, guy I saw wearing a Hartford Whalers Brendan Shannahan jersey last St. Patrick's day, just because Shannahan is an Irish name does not mean it's acceptable to wear said jersey in public.
That felt good to get off my chest.
Welcome to the Pacific NorthWest!!
best of luck
Hi Chris, welcome to our neck of the woods (I'm in Vancouver - close enough!). I'm not sure if you've been to an NHL game in Canada, but it's a little different up here than down in the sun belt (I've been to a game in Phoenix game before...kinda like TB? Close enough? heheh) Also, prepare to spend some $$...no free tickets up here haha :p
Love the site, keep up the great work, man.
Have fun moving to a really rainy area. You should boo all the Canucks you see!
Man, I could totally dig the Bolts moving to Seattle.
Come to the dark side Chris. The Canucks await you.
You have a blue Bolts jersey? I thought you cared about design!
Enjoy it up here, Seattle and Vancouver are great cities, next time I go to a Canucks game [tickets are expensive and hard to find] if I see a guy in a BOLTS jersey I'll remember
enjoy the rain and long horrible winters Chris. you'll miss Florida in no time.
Mark wow dude calm down, its a jersey, as a fan you wear it with pride to show your support for your team AYWHERE you go. If chris wears a Bolts jersey to a Canucks game obviously everyone there will assume he is a Bolts fan, which he is. Plus im pretty sure jerseys are meant to be um... whats the word... oh yeah WORN!! why would you not wear your jersey? LIke the shanahan jersey, why would that fan not want to wear it? All im saying is that if you get upset about people wearing jerseys you need to calm down a bit.
Good luck on the move. Also, looking forward to seeing much more CHL content now that you are living in a WHL city! Keep up the great work on the site. I agree with you, your team chooses you.
Haha, Mark! Your manifesto declaring when and where it's permissible to wear a hockey sweater is nothing if not laughable, especially for the Icethetics crowd. But we all need a good laugh every now and then, right? Thanks for pitching in!
But seriously, it is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read on this blog and people have written some pretty crazy stuff. You really don't know the people who visit this site, do you? We are hockey jersey enthusiasts, dude. How boring would it be if you looked around your favorite NHL arena only to find no more than three different types of jerseys in the stands? It'd be like living inside one of those NHL video games.
Thanks to Fraser52 for making the points I now don't have to. And as I said, I will proudly sport my blue Bolts jersey at any hockey game I go to — anywhere.
And Glen, I am a supporter of good hockey sweater designs. But I'm a Lightning fan first. If the blue Bolts jersey is good enough for my team to wear... it's good enough for me. Plus, as a fan, I like that it says Bolts and I've waited years for a blue jersey. Is it the best design? Maybe not, but that's why I have the black one too.
haha, now you will know the pain of being a transplanted fan. not being able to see your team play at home. being surrounded by opposing fans when you visit the closest arena the two times a year your team makes an appearance.
sigh
anyways, good luck to you!
I think Mark is bang on with his statement, there is a time and a place. When you go to a Flames game you must wear a jersey or something red at the very least otherwise you stick out like a sore thumb. There are plenty of appropriate occasions to wear it, going to a game, on game day, or going to the bar to watch game. Going to movie.....not. Dinner...not
Would you wear sweatpants to a movie or going out for dinner.... no. Besides if you're going to a Canucks game get a Canucks jersey and jump on the bandwagon while you can it's going to get kind of full come April. Tampa probably plays the Canucks like twice a decade so you might as well store your Bolts jersey and buy a nice Blue Canucks one. It's the best in the league anyway.
Get used to seeing no hockey fans in Seattle, it's pretty dry. Nobody knows who the Canucks are up here.
I agree with the post that said to move the Lightning to Seattle.... heck, I'll take any team. I want to see the NHL in Seattle!!
Don't worry, you can go to Canucks games and find way more than 3 types of jerseys, and they will all still be Canucks jerseys.
Mike, like this?
That's taken from the Buffalo/Canucks game in Buffalo. I count 8 DIFFERENT Canucks sweaters in that picture alone.
Awesome picture, I believe there could be another 3 or 4 added to that picture. No classic "V", or the "salmon" third jersey, or the original home and aways. It's been a long and winding road to find an identity. Though we went to two cups with the Black, orange and yellow so those have good memories. Bure in the these jerseys was an awesome time to be a Canuck fan, he was electifying!
Don Brandt
Sweet link, ain't nothing wrong with that picture haha.
So...I kinda understand what Mark was trying to say up there, but I can't agree...I personally wouldn't wear my canucks jersey at a Toronto/Detroit game, but whatever, if someone else did that, all the power to them.
Great pic. Missing the Yellow V. Black V, Red "Salmon" skate, the red-to-blue tie dye....what else?
Welcome to Seattle!
Feel free to wear your Lightning jersey at a T-Birds game - just be ready to be recognized, because I'll say "Hey! Aren't you that guy...".
@Sam S - I'm a hockey fan with T-Birds season tix and I agree, it's pretty dry around here. Think nobody knows who the Canucks are? Ask them about the T-Birds.
Mark, the only time I find it unacceptable to wear a jersey is at a game in which the team on the jersey is not playing. Other than that, it's fine. I wear one pretty much everyday. And it is NEVER unacceptable to wear a Brendan Shanahan jersey in public.
I wear my Sharks jersey to Manitoba Moose games all the time :P
Best unrelated jersey I have ever seen at a game was worn by me, an Evgeni Nabokov Metallurg Magnitogorsk jersey that I wore to a Moose game :D
Whats really funny about that picture.... is its in Buffalo. I was at that game. The sabres beat Vancouver. They were loud as hell. Just saying.
At flyers games I see their 1982-2007 white, 1982-2001 orange, 1998-2007 black, 2003-2007 orange, 2007-2010 white, 2007-2010 black, and their current home and aways on a regular basis.
Hey Chris, still loving the site after years since you started the blogs.
Regarding your move to Seattle. I've lived in Vancouver the last 10 years after moving from Cranbrook where I grew n Cranbrook BC, home of the Kootenay Ice (WHL) for College. Cranbrook is one of those typical small canadain cities that is close a few hours drive away from a NHL team in different directions and you pretty much have fans for every team here, mostly for Canadian teams. But if you go to a WHL game you will see people with Jersey's from more than a dozen different NHL teams and even other CHL teams.
As far as a team going to Seattle, good luck. They do like hockey there, they have fans driving 3 hours each way to Canucks games, some even have season tickets, that's crazy. The reason Seattle won't get a team is that there areana is too small. They had the Supersonics NBA team there and the city and the owner could work it out to build a new building and they then lost the SuperSonics to Oklahoma City Thunder. But no problem, you can go to WHL games, they are much cheaper, like 1/5 the cost and they are better hockey in a lot of ways. These guys are trying the hardest to make it to the NHL and they skate like mad and do whatever they can to get noticed by scouts. I think you will find that you'll be happy you moved there. Also the Thunderbirds have a lot of specialty Jerseys that they wear for one game and then auction off for charities and stuff. If you type in Seattle Thunderbirds jersey into google image search you get a crap load of different jerseys.
All the best.
I sport the Olde English D and the Winged Wheel every time I go to another cities arena, mostly chi-town, regardless of who's playing. I've been to a few Hawks games and Cubs and Sox too, that didn't feature my teams. I dont cheer for any of them, why would I wear their apparell? I go to the games because I'm a sports fan first and foremost. And you can bet your boots that I'll be sporting my teams colors for any and all games that I attend. Also, for the record, while at a Hawks/Oilers game in '07 I did participate in a "Detroit Sucks" chant while wearing my Stevie jersey. A good time, indeed.
I like it when people wear different jerseys at hockey games I find it interesting seeing all the jerseys.
So Mark a Ranger fan can't wear a Lundqvist Sweden jersey to a Ranger game? Lundqvist didn't do anything in that jersey except win a gold medal you know.
AND... this picture was in BUFFALO. Great
I think marks point is about people wearing say for example a stars jersey to Canucks and flames game.
T hat picture is nothing. I could wear 14 different Pens jerseys to a game, granted all replicas, make it 21 if you count practice jerseys. Soon to be 25 with the winter classic, digital camo, and the two new practice jerseys. Not rich or braggng, I just love and collect hockey jerseys.
I think its weird to wear a third party jersey to a game. When youre at a montreal toronto game and you see a bruins sweater... its just weird, and irrelevant. Like that person got lost and went to the wrong game, they look stupid to me. I dont like it either.
But, To each their own.
Let's identify them all, just to be safe:
1. Edge home blue (x2)
2. 2003-04 Vintage
3. c.1997-2007 white (shoulders cut off; can't narrow it down further)
4. Edge blue stick-in-rink alternate (x2)
5. 1992-97 road black (x2)
6. 1997-2003 Orca road blue (no shoulder patches visible)
7. 1985-89 home gold
8. 1992-97 home white (at least, I think it's the darker red and lighter yellow)
9. Edge road white (player on ice)
It's funny because this game was in Buffalo, by the way my 2 fav teams, nucks and sabres.
I'm only counting 8 (not 9) different Canucks jerseys in the photo, with 11 Canucks jerseys overall and 1 (likely) Sabres jersey.
For the Canucks, it should be
2 blue '72-'77 jerseys (and what looks to be a sliver of a third)
1 white '72-'77 jersey
1 yellow '85-'89 jersey
2 black '89-'97 jerseys
1 white '89-'97 jersey
1 white '97-'07 jersey
1 black special '97-'07 jersey
2 blue '07-present jerseys
Are we counting the jersey with the finals commemoration patch on it as a distinctly separate jersey, I suppose? Because that's the only way I'm counting to 9. And I'm not sold that the other person wearing a black '89-'97 jersey doesn't have one on as well (we can't see the shoulder where it'd be located). As such, I think it's a stretch to say "at least 9." It should be more like "at least 8," with the possibility of 9.
That picture isnt even a Canucks home game! I can tell from the seat color and the guy with the Sabres hoodie on that this is from a game in Buffalo
I wear my jersey anywhere, anytime.
Best part of that picture is that it was taken in Buffalo not even in Vancouver.
I get Mark's point but it's a little over the top, Probably had a few beers before writing that I'd bet. I dig that Yellow Nucks jersey though on the subject of the photo. Does anyone actually know the protocol on "jersey rules" in this day and age in the NHL? What I mean is and still is the case in the NBA... like the lakers wear yellow home purple away, when the kings first came out if a recall they had the same scheme yellow homes purple away jersey's... I know the lakers have a white alt now but the nucks according to NHLuniforms.com wore those yellows as home sweaters for a period and black away's... What is condoned/allowed as a Home (now road) jersey or I should restate as this question refers to when whites were worn at home prior to 2003/2004.
I guess in that day what was acceptable as a "home" jersey circa 1970-2003? obviously yellow was allowed as two teams sported that look, but was that the only accepted alternative to white?
I can agree with some jersey etiquette, but shouldn't be too restrictive.
Wearing the jersey of a team not connected in any way to the teams or players on the ice is a little off, IMO. It's as if you're saying 'I'd rather be at the Lightning game', which would irk some home team supporters who can never find/afford tickets. But, I suppose it's better to be passionate about hockey someplace than be one of the many suits in the stands that get all the corporate tickets and stifle the atmosphere.
But I am of the mind that you can wear jerseys at other times. Jerseys are not exactly sweat pants - they're a little more expensive than that! I thought the green Shanahan jersey on St. Patty's day sounded awesome. Following the strict jersey rules proposed, that jersey could never be worn because Shanahan is retired and Hartford doesn't have an NHL team (yes I'm aware they moved to Carolina).
That picture isn't quite an anamoly. There's other teams with just as much a variety of jerseys that haven't had quite the identity crisis of the 'nucks. The bruins have their RBK edge shirts (3) winter classic, 90's with arm tops, alternates pre rbk edge (2), and the old boston garden jerseys (2). That's just since like 92 or so too. Oh also the 75th anniversary alternates.
Hell the whalers have had quite the variety of uni's too.
Chris, if you're looking for real hockey fans in the US, take a trip to San Jose sometime. The fans are great. LA seems to have fairweather fans, as do the Ducks. Phoenix doesn't really have fans.
I gotta say, while i disagree on the idea that I cant wear a hockey sweater around town when i feel like it, it has also always bugged me when people wear third party sweaters to hockey games, and I figure i feel that way BECAUSE i'm a hockey sweater enthusiast. It just never makes sense to me. But I mean I always thought people did it because, like mark said, they seemed to want to say "look at me, I'm a sports fan" but I mean if you do it Chris, I recon I'll be remembering that next time I'm ready to pass judgement on someone, they're clearly not remotely all that way.