Winter Classic Logos Unveiled!
Tuesday · Jul 27 · 2010 | 9:07 AM PDT
At a press conference this afternoon, the NHL unveiled the logo for the 2011 Winter Classic along with the retro logos to be used by the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins.
The outdoor game will take place on New Year's Day at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. The logos were revealed on giant digital screens at the football stadium, which is normally home to the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers.
Unlike past Winter Classic logos, which have typically used a neutral color palette, the 2011 mark seems to feature only the colors likely to be found on the Penguins' Winter Classic throwback uniforms. To be fair, though, these are the colors most associated with the city of Pittsburgh itself.
And based on the news conference, it seems everyone in Pittsburgh is very excited to be playing in the NHL's most publicized regular season game for the second time since 2008 — though this is Crosby & Co.'s first time hosting.
A staple of the Winter Classic since its inception has been retro logos and uniforms. Every team involved has looked into its past for something special to wear. This year will be no exception.
The Pittsburgh Penguins will call back to their inaugural season, 1967-68 — for the logo at least. The uniforms won't be revealed for either team until the fall. The mark features the original skating penguin wearing a scarf, all set on a "vintage" white.
The use of this logo suggests the Penguins will also wear their inaugural uniforms, which were light blue with PITTSBURGH in diagonal text across the front. Again, we'll have to wait for the fall, but this is probably a fair assumption.
The Washington Capitals will also look back to their inaugural season, 1974-75. The logo is the original script mark used from the team's inception until 1996. The Caps' current logo, in use since 2007, is call back to this mark.
With the expection of the first Winter Classic in 2008, the host team typically wears the dark uniforms, with the visitors in white — as is standard in the regular season these days. That means the Capitals will likely wear their original white sweaters.
Of course talk about Winter Classic uniforms is speculative and premature, it's easy to make educated guesses based on history. I'd really be surprised if we get anything different — though I was definitely surprised by the Bruins last year!
The Capitals will officially unveil their Winter Classic uniforms on Oct. 2 at the Capitals Convention. The Penguins have said theirs will also be unveiled some time in the fall — no specific date just yet. You can read more about today's event at NHL.com.
Reader Comments (33)
Winter Classic logo is very representative of Pittsburgh and looks even better than I thought from the sneak peek we all had.
Wondering what the jerseys will look like for Pittsburgh considering that the Penguins logo shown was never used on a jersey, only pucks and letterhead. I think that the white jerseys that were used that 1967-68 season would look good, as long as they add the scarf wearing skating penguins logo to the shoulders. For the Capitals I would use the 1974-75 jersey as seen here since it is their inaugural season jersey, but incorporate a nameplate which is now required. This would put both teams in their inaugural season jerseys.
I think we know what the jerseys will look like now. I can't see the penguins wearing anything other than there first blue jerseys with the diagonal "Pittsburgh."
Let's see something REALLY impressive...have the Winter Classic in a southern market! Miami, Tampa, Atlanta, Dallas...now THAT would be something to see!
the caps rockin the shoulder stars again ? i hope so
with that pens logo, it looks like they will be going with their inagural script jersey. and when the uni's are unvieled how about a tournament of winter classic uniforms?
well, based on that logo it looks like Pitt blew it and isn't going with the yellow's from the early 80's.
I would love to see the ducks&kings play at the coliseum or the rosebowl. The kings could wear either yellow or purple jersey & it would give the ducks a chance to invent a new "retro" jersey
That's Penguins' 1967-68 logo. Is that relevant? Looks like theyre wearing baby blue.
If the Pens wear another version of the blue i'll be super disappointed. They've been wearing a version of the blue the past few years. From a buiness prospective it doesn't make any sense either. They could sell a ton more jersey's if they went with the yellow seeing how a ton more people already have a blue version.
I prefer the current iteration of the powder blue jersey, but these would be just fine.
Not another Blue jersey....BOOOOOO!! The logo wasn't even worn on a sweater, they had the diagonal Pittsburgh(not a fan of that either). However LOVE the fact that the Caps will be weaing the Uni's that I grew to hate over the years, why they ever changed to that Blue/Copper look is beyond me.
Even though I would have preferred a black & yellow-gold Pens jersey, I do like the simplicity and cleanliness of the inaugural jerseys.
Being from Pittsburgh, I am sort of disapointed with the logo choice. We used basiclly the same thing last winter classic. This was a perfect chance to have a tribute to the Pens old glory days with black and gold. There is alot of history here to chose from, and we decide to do something very identical to what we did before. This was a bad call by the pens. Hopefully they will put the logo the front of a jersey and try to salvage something. Tons of people here wanted black and gold, were getting tired of the blue (it's just not Pittsburgh).
The capitals were almost expected to chose that logo, hopefully they can do something cool with the jerseys.
The logo is very well done. Looks great!
-And teams do not have to use the same jersey as before! Hopefully a team can get creative and take history from another era and use it in a jersey. Like the Pens stanley cup jerseys in Dark blue, light blue and white.
The Pens current thirds (old WC jersey) are very intresting from a fan and marketing view. The jerseys are one of the best selling jerseys in the last few years, but most hockey fans seem to hate them. It would almost seem that fans who are not really into hockey really like them while other real fans hate do not like them at all. I am guilty of having one, I like them and liked seeing them be worn, but I am getting tired of non penguin fans saying that they should be their home jerseys. It was time for a change, but it doesn't look like we will get that with the new WC unis. Hopefully this years will not become the new thirds like we are expecting. (All based on premature thought of the logo)
"I would love to see the ducks&kings play at the coliseum or the rosebowl. The kings could wear either yellow or purple jersey & it would give the ducks a chance to invent a new "retro" jersey"
Yes that would be wonderful. Although it may be a BIT tricky to have an outdoor ice hockey game in southern California where on average the temperature would be 20 C and it would take place at 10 o'clock eastern time.
I really think the Pens choice sucks. Like everyone else is saying, it was never on a jersey and the Pens original sweaters were Ranger knock-offs. Black N Gold would have been sweet in that see of yellow-gold seats at Heinz Field. Just not impressed.
No it would not be tricky to have an outdoor game in 20c weather. It's only rain that's an issue. They held an outdoor preseason game in Las Vegas in the 90's.
I am really hoping that they make Penguins- winter classic Official Terrible Towels. That would be quite the scene with a sea of terrible towels waving the Pens on to victory
Someone tell me why Pittsburgh using this logo, instead of the near-identical-to-the-current-standard-logo, means that the black-and-gold is completely out of the question? Why can't this mean they are paying tribute to their origins in the logo and their Lemieux/Jagr years in the jersey? That's what I'm personally hoping to see, though I actually wouldn't mind seeing the 68/69 white unis...though, obviously, with them wearing the dark homes, that would not be possible.
"I would love to see the ducks&kings play at the coliseum or the rosebowl. The kings could wear either yellow or purple jersey & it would give the ducks a chance to invent a new "retro" jersey"
"Yes that would be wonderful. Although it may be a BIT tricky to have an outdoor ice hockey game in southern California where on average the temperature would be 20 C and it would take place at 10 o'clock eastern time."
The temperature wouldn't be the problem but the Rose Bowl would automatically be out of the running due to The Granddaddy of Them All. The Coliseum would be a good choice but I don't see a Kings-Ducks matchup happening,I think that if you want to make the Classic work you would need a good Western-Eastern conference game to bring in east coast viewers.
Let's do something different have 3 jerseys for each team, the pens wear the 1967 blue jersey in the 1st, the black 91 cup jersey in the second and , the gold home from the early 90's in the third, that would be awesome
I'm hoping that they throw us a curveball and use that logo on the front of a black and gold jersey. They are playing on Heinz Field where the Black & Gold Steelers play. Pittsburgh's colors are black and gold. Come on!!!! Please don't use the blue again. I love it, but I want something different.
Seeing as how both teams were horrendous in their first several seasons, maybe it would be better to celebrate an era where the two teams were actual playoff contenders, and division rivals who hated each other. While the Caps and Pens were moved to separate divisions in 1993-94, the bitter rivalry lived on for several years.
Perhaps it would be more appropriate to throwback to the early 1990s, where the teams had some heated playoff match-ups, and frankly, won some games. Bringing in the history of the series between the Caps and Pens in '91, '92, '94, '95 and '96 might also give the newer and younger Caps fans some understanding of why the longtime Caps faithful despise the Pens.
What I think the best part about the Pens wearing their inaugural jerseys would be is the return of one of my all time favorite fonts on the back. They used a shadowdrop (also borrowed, some would say, from the Rangers) effect on rounded numbers that just scream 60's! Check out a picture of it; the only thing I've seen that even comes close is the throwback Houston Oilers jerseys worn by the Tennessee Titans last year.
Also, let's see those white pants, Caps!
If anyone can take one positive from the fact that the Pens almost surely will not being going with the gold/black jerseys from the 80's and 90's is that all of those idiots with their jersey fouls in the form of Crosby on a gold/black jersey would actually have somewhat legit jerseys then. I like the fact that they stick out like a sore thumb right now.
@Drew
I see your point, but I'm talking in terms of winter classic jerseys. They are basiclly using the same logo as they did last winter classic. The Classic has become a place for teams to dig into the past and do different things with their jerseys. So why do something the already did? And Pens fans here would much rather see the slightly different version of the current skating penguin than a slighly different version of current thirds and what the did in the WC in 08.
Also, there is no rule that says home team HAS to wear dark. Occasionaly when we play Toronto they will wear their white thirds at their home ice while we wear our black jerseys. If the pens are going with blues and whites, I too would perfer to see them in white and light blue. (with the logo on the front. NO DIAGONAL LETTERING)
Sorry for all the posts, but I just noticed that there are 2 Gary's here. I will start using Punzak instead of Gary so nobody will confuse what we say. I did the first two posts that are from Gary and the post that is @ Drew.Sorry for the confusion.
I don't think we can rule the inaugural jerseys of the Pens the uni of choice. Remember the Bruins created a jersey reaching into a variety of past uniforms. The penguins could be potentially doing the same thing. I don't think Penguin management is going to make a poor decision with the unis.
Ugh, those blue Penguins WC jerseys were like pink Red Sox hats. The true sign of people who don't know anything about the team and just hopped on the bandwagon. Plus people bought them because they were the first to be widely counterfeited. I think I can count on one hand the number of legit blue WC jerseys I saw. Well, maybe two if you factor in once it became the third jersey.
I don't know if this indicates anything at all, but I was at the mall today, and Dicks Sporting Goods already has a small selection of Winter Classic garb, and all of it is predominately black and gold with no blue. They had white and black hats and gold and black shirts with the winter classic logo on it. No idea if this means anything at all, but I thought it was of note. Crossing my fingers that it will be black and gold at heinz field this New Years!
Perhaps the penguins will make there own jersey like the bruins did last year. I doubt they'll be going for blue again, they've already done that. Maybe a black and gold version of their first NHL jersey.
Colton, the Jersey you described is the '93 away jersey the Pens used after they switched to the "robo-penguin" logo.
Pens will NOT be using Black and Gold from the 80's and early 90's. Lemieux has already said he does not want to purposely invoke the image of the Lemieux and Jagr led teams of that era onto Crosby, Malkin, and the rest of the current Penguins. It is their time, not his. Now, speaking for myself, I'd love to see the Sunday Yellow jerseys with a twist, but since it looks like they will go to the inaugural season I hope they use the white version with blue striping and maybe switch the PITTSBURGH type on the chest to the logo we see above. Or just throw everyone off with something completely different!