Thursday
Feb252010
Olympic Observations 2010
I've been really fascinated by Olympic hockey in the last few weeks. Never used to be a fan. Didn't really care about international hockey. After having watched all or parts of every single game of the men's tournament in Vancouver, I've changed my mind.
Now that we're a day away from the games that determine who will play for the gold, I thought I'd share some observations I've made. Feel free to share yours as well.
Pavol Demitra #38The Vancouver Connection Most teams are using the same fonts on their jerseys. Obviously, Nike was heavily involved in making all the uniforms look uniform, but I think it's strange that 7 of the 12 teams in the tournament use the same font found on the Vancouver Canucks' jerseys: United States, Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latvia, Belarus and Germany. (It's called Agency.)- Canada's Tradition I thought it stranger still that Team Canada is the only one using traditional/standard block letters and numbers, similar to the San Jose Sharks. Interesting that 4 members of the Sharks play for Canada. Coincidence?
- Seeing Red Every team except Sweden has red in their uniforms. Seven of 12 teams have red jerseys (if you count Latvia's maroon as a shade of red). Ten of the 12 countries represented have red in their flags, which usually symbolizes courage and sacrifice — as in sprawling out in front of a Zdeno Chara slapshot. Only Finland and Sweden do not use red in their national flags.
- Another Option The United States is the only team with a third jersey. In terms of striping, it's a dead ringer for the New York Rangers' white sweater. It's meant to be a throwback to the jersey worn by the Americans in 1960 at Squaw Valley, commemorating the country's first gold medal in hockey.
Pavel Kubina #77Czech Out the Numbers The Czech Republic uses the same number font as the Atlanta Thrashers. So Pavel Kubina's No. 77 looks the same on both jerseys. (Would've worked for Ondrej Pavelec's No. 31 too but he never saw action.) The Czechs still use Agency for the nameplate though. Only Belarus has a unique number font.- Neutral Numbers Switzerland the Scandinavian nations, Sweden, Finland and Norway, all use a Futura-type font for their sweater numbers. The nameplates appear to be something like Akzidenz-Grotesk, if you care to know.
- Canada's Collar Modification The white stripe around the collar of Canada's new sweaters mysteriously disappeared before the first game. Graeme wrote in to say it made the collars too tight and "the players had trouble getting them on."
- Which Hossa is Which? Normally when brothers play for the same team, their first initials will be used on the nameplates. For example, on the Czech team Zbynek Michalek's jersey says Z. MICHALEK while his brother Milan's says M. MICHALEK. Same with Daniel and Henrik Sedin of Sweden. The trouble starts when you have a situation like Marian and Marcel Hossa. Oddly enough, Marian's jersey says M. HOSSA. Marcel's just says HOSSA, no initial.
- Don't You Ever Wash That? The Swedish team never wore anything but their yellow jerseys throughout their run in the Vancouver tournament. According to the IIHF, Sweden had a blue jersey available, but did not get around to wearing it before being eliminated by Slovakia in the semifinals. All other teams have worn both dark and light-colored jerseys at some point.
Here are some other non-uniform-related observations:
Ryan MaloneRyan Has the Puck! Seven of the 23 players named to the U.S. team are named Ryan: Goalie Ryan Miller, defensemen Ryan Suter and Ryan Whitney, and forwards Ryan Callahan, Ryan Kesler, Ryan Malone and Bobby Ryan. Ryan is of Gaelic origin meaning "little king." Team Canada has yet another Ryan in Ryan Getzlaf, for a total of 8 at the 2010 Olympics.- Too Much Tomas While scratching your head over all the Ryans, it's easy to overlook the 5 different guys named Tomas playing for the Czech Republic: Goalie Tomas Vokoun, defenseman Tomas Kaberle, and forwards Tomas Plekanec, Tomas Fleischmann, and Tomas Rolinek. Tomas comes from the Aramaic name Thomas and means "twin." The Slovaks added another with Tomas Kopecky.
- Sibling Rivalry It was cool seeing the Swedish brother-sister duo of Tobias and Tina Enstrom playing for their country. Tobias was eliminated last night. Tina still has a shot at the bronze when the women's medal games get going today.
I'm sure there's more I'm not thinking about at the moment. Did you guys notice anything interesting, jersey-related or not? Comment and I'll add some of the good ones to this post.
Update on Saturday · Feb 27 · 2010 | 9:13 AM PST by
Chris
Chris
If you haven't been reading through the comments, here are a few things worth noting that Icethetics readers have brought up.
Seeing Double?The Vancouver Connection, Redux Bando makes an interesting observation. Is it a coincidence that Germany's dark jersey is nearly identical in design to the black one the Canucks wore from 1989 to 1997? Check out the striping. It's awfully similar. Or maybe we're just seeing what we want to see.- Canada's Type Dallas, who works at a jersey shop, commented on the lettering font used on Team Canada's jerseys. Earlier, when I said it was similar to the Sharks' I was speaking in general terms so as to draw attention to the large number of San Jose players on the team. But more specifically, Dallas tells us the numbers and letters are actually the same as what the Oilers and Stars currently wear.
Ruutu vs. RuututRuutut? Tom added a funny image to the discussion. I don't think this was seen by American viewers, but on TSN it was pointed out that prior to one of Finland's games (I'd assume the first one), Tuomo Ruutu skated out onto the ice for warm-ups with his name mispelled, RUUTUT. His brother Jarkko, however, had the correct spelling. Obviously, it should've said T. RUUTU. Chalk it up to seamstress error.
Thanks to everyone who contributed observations!
Reader Comments (41)
A lot of people don't like the black in Canada's uniform (although there's thankfully less on the jersey now). Would people find an all-red uniform to be too boring compared to all those other red ones? What are some alternatives? White pants? :D
in regards to the nameplates, i find it odd the nameplates (and by extension the numbers) are placed so close to the neck (right on the shoulder)
I'm wondering if it was a jersey restriction from Nike, because it's traditionally flush square on the back (along with the number).
Watching Canada play in white versus Switzerland in Red was weird. Looked like exact opposites
What about some members of the Russian team wearing green gloves? It seemed to me that they were KHL players exclusively. I'm sure not a coincidence of so. But why? What's the logic? Any clues?
I'm a big fan of the slightly modified collar design the US and a few other teams have been using, it looks much better than the usual cut in my opinion
Perhaps the M is missing from Marcel Hossa's jersey because it's the same initial as Marion???? But that's just a wild guess ;-p
This is less about the actual look, but did you notice there is no #17 on Russia? Ilya Kovalchuk was wearing #71 in these games. My guess is that Russia either officially or unofficially retired Valeri Kharlimov's #17 sweater.
Eric, it's down to the fact that all those players that have green gloves on the Russian NT play for a KHL team called Salavat Yulaev Ufa, who have predominantly green jerseys and all players on that team wear green gloves. Head coach Vyacheslav Bykov also is the head coach of the team. Kazan AK Bars are also wear green kits.
Eric beat me to it... why were some of the Russians wearing green gloves? I didn't notice who was, or whether they were KHL or not, but that's why you're here, Chris!!!
I dont like how the little shoulder thing (example: US away) is so common. Should have let each federation design their own jerseys, and not be restricted to the Nike template.
I can confirm that the font used by Team Canada is, in fact, the Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars' font on the new Edge jerseys. I help out at a cresting shop and we have had to do all kinds of emergency cresting for the teams playing in the World Juniors, not to mention the ridiculous number of Eberle jerseys we've made!
As for alternatives to black, I'm a huge fan of the use of gold as a trim colour (no pressure, boys!).
I'm pretty sure the KHL players with green gloves were wearing their home clubs gloves instead of switching to new ones.
Ian K is right, the only players with green gloves on russia all play in the KHL. Also, referring to the Russian #17 that Bryan brought up, it is not that the number is retired, but rather that Kovi has used #71 in all his past national team experience and is apparently sticking with it.
Most of what you mentioned, I didn't happen to notice, but what I did notice was the numerous players wearing vintage looking gloves, Rick Nash for Team Canada is just one of the many.
I think Belarus is using the Tennessee Titans' font from the NFL. Could be wrong, but comparing a "2" made it quite evident.
I friggin love stuff like this. Random knowledge and facts. You've been pretty busy! This is by far one of your best posts.
Yeah, Kovalchuk's always worn 71 with the national team, but what surprises me is that Malkin wears 11. Kovy has 71, but why 11 instead of 17?
Nike doesnt make the jerseys fyi, they are all made by SP Apparel out of Quebec. They make all of nikes jerseys.
Am I the only one who hates Team USA's "square" necklines? It looks retarded IMO. Kills an overall cool jersey.
It's not a coincidence that the Canucks are using the same font (Agency) as the majority of international teams in this tournament. The Canucks president, CEO and marketing guru at the time the RBK uniforms were unveiled just happens to be the former head of Nike hockey - Chris Zimmerman.
There are obvious reasons for the Canucks to use this particular font being that the city is hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics. The numbers along with the "Vancouver" wording, and green and blue colours on the Canucks sweaters are strongly associated with the Vancouver 2010 Olympic brand.
In one of the games they pointed out that the seamstress made a mistake on Tuomo Ruutu's jersey. Tuomo went out for the skate with his nameplate saying "RUUTUT" , while brother Jarkko had it the correct way. It was corrected in time for the game though.
Image
I find it weird that the NIKE jerseys have a scooped hemline-- but only on the back. The front is a straight hem. So a 50% improvement on the RBK jerseys.
I do like how the numbers fit on the shoulder yoke. The captaincy patches (for Canada anyways) straddles the chest and shoulder yoke, and it looks good. Also a patch overlays the lower waist stripe and the elbow stripes. I'm used to keeping everything partitioned, but those jerseys look sharp.
I agree that the square neck hem on the USA jerseys pretty much kills what would be a great design.
Just rcvd my 1960 Replica..or shall I call it the 2010 3rd jersey. It is VERY nice. I must say that Nike (or SP apparel) makes a much better jersey than Reebok. The material is thick...the stripes are vivid..the neck collar and lace up front are heavy duty. Nike has made a product far superior to my best Reebok jerseys. When is there a chance for Nike (or others) to bid on the NHL jersey contract ? Reebok just isn't doing a good job for the players nor the fans as far as I can tell.
So Johnny.... if what you're saying about the Vancouver Canucks' fonts is true....... does that mean they're gonna change it once the Olympics is over?
As you can see here, the dark German jersey is quite the same worn by the Canucks in the '90s
11 is the childhood number of Malkin. I think that when he came to Pittsburgh he adopted 71 because 11 was taken by Staal.
I like Nike jerseys too, but I don't like how prominent the swoosh is - don't like seeing the corporate logo stand out
The Olympic colours aren't based on the Canucks - they are the city's colours which the Canucks used. I hate the fact Nike has turned the Olympics and World Juniors into Team Nike.
i know this is not related to jerseys but it still pretains to the uniform and i thought of it pretty interesting. Teemu Selanne is NOT using his famillier JOFA helmet but instead a modified version of it by Reebok. Not sure if this is going to be released or if its a custom one for Teemu. I know there is another one that looks exactly like the one the sedins used to use just with rbk branding but this one looks almost identical to Teemu's famillier Jofa just minor changes and Reebok branding. Pretty odd but cool.
I certainly hope the Canucks get rid of the Agency font numerals and go back to the traditional block-style. Block-style numerals are a lot easier to see from far away and a green border around the numerals would look even better.
The Marian/Marcel Hossa situation has arisen before. On two occasions, twins Rich and Ron Sutter played on the same NHL team. They opted for unique nameplates showing their full names.
Since 2004, Jofa is a part of Reebok. Reebok has phased out the use of the Jofa brand on its hockey equipment, in favour of its core CCM (hockey) and Rbk brands.
It's wikipedia but i already knew Reebok owned jofa.
I'm guessing because of the exposure of the olympics, Reebok didn't want to advertise a virtually extinct brand, so they slapped on a giant reebok sticker like they did to the rest of their helmets, i haven't seen any CCM logos either lol
as a precaution, if someone out there was planning on buying a nike jersey and already has a reebok jersey, order the nike a size smaller, they're ridiculously bigger then the edge jerseys
Concerning the Nike jerseys vs. the RBK Edge ones: while the RBK ones feel considerably lighter than their CCM/KOHO predecessors, anyone who has stumbled across an authentic Nike international jersey (I say stumbled because they're STUPID expensive... CTVOlympics.com is selling Canadian ones for $500 blank or $600 crested) would notice how light and "papery" the material feels! The material is called DryFit Ripstop, with a little bit of Lycra thrown in for stretchiness. And it is JUST a little bit, because there's very little give with these jerseys vs. RBK ones. The material is called RipStop because it's supposed to, well, stop from ripping, but I've seen big gouges taken out of some Latvian ones from the Juniors, so it's not perfect. It's also not waterproof on the front like the RBK Edge 1.0 jerseys. The sizing is also odd: they don't make them any smaller than size 56 (which I used to swim in during the CCM era), and I've seen them as big as 62. However, a Nike 56 is snug on me.... keep this in mind if you do have the cash to order one!
Someone brought up SP Apparel... in fact, Nike will subcontract to them (so it can say "Made In Canada") to make these jerseys, and SP will not be allowed to have their logo on them at all. They cost almost $200 a piece wholesale! Most interestingly, every single authentic jersey is WHITE to start and DYED the colour it needs to be! If you were to see an authentic Canada jersey up close, you might see a little bit of red bleed into the white stripes! Remember the dark red Team Canada jerseys based on the Canada Cup jerseys at the Juniors in '09? With the bizarre differing letter/number fonts? Those stripes on the front had quite a bit of bleed into the white; it's hard for them to do unusual custom jerseys like this. All the replicas used heat-sealed stripes.
In all honesty, as much as we've slagged RBK for taking the hockey jersey feel away (give me UltraFil any day!), I feel like I'm getting a lot more for my money from an Edge authentic than the strange, tight fitting, paper-textured Nike jerseys provide. I wonder what the players think?
Hey, this was REALLY cool stuff. Very interesting post, keep it up!
I didn't like the Nike replicas from the '06 Olympics because of that papery feel, but my '10 Olympic jerseys are really nice. The stripes are actually a different material attached onto the base jersey, and the jersey itself is a very comfortable material. Neck's a little tight, but that's nitpicking.
Can anyone tell me why the Jofa-style Reebok helmet is not offered/worn in North America? I see a lot of the European players wearing them, but when they come to North America, they switch to the ugly Crosby-helmets.
glen, i was thinking the same thing! what the hell! they are all over swedish and finnish guys in the WJC and other international events yet they are not available for sale anywhere.
Iv'e got a cool prophecy. 87(Crosby)-8(Ovechkin)= 79 on periodic table which is GOLD.Funny we beat the Russians and not only won Gold but Crosby scored OT winner.
The white line on the Canada red jersey collar is only on the semi-pro jerseys that you can buy in the shops. the white stripe is not on the authentic $400 jersey (feels like light tent material, real crap but nice to actually skate in). This wasn't changed at the last minute...watch all the nike ads....they've been going back and forth forever, look at the roster announcement.... really, they are showing either the authentic or semi-pro. there are actually 2 styles.
Did anyone else notice that Crosby was did not have the alternate captain's 'A' on his jersey in the final?