AHL: New Thirds for Bears, Stars
Sunday · Oct 9 · 2011 | 3:34 PM PDTWhile I was away on vacation last week a couple of AHL teams unveiled new third jerseys.
The Hershey Bears announced they are bringing back another retro look as their new alternate sweater for the 2011-12 season. It will make its game debut on Saturday, Oct. 15 for the club's home opener as they host the Norfolk Admirals.
On Wednesday, the Bears tweeted a graphic that showed the design, though an actual photo of the jersey itself has yet to surface. It features the "skating bear" logo that's been seen on a number of sweaters throughout the club's long history.
The Bears previously wore a maroon version of this jersey as their alternate. Presumably they're switching to white to make it easier to wear at home. In the AHL, teams wear dark uniforms on the road, so if a club wants to don a dark alternate on their home ice, they need to work out logistics with the visitor in advance.
Lately, it seems whenever a new Reebok Edge jersey is introduced, the game we play is which NHL team's template is it based on? I'll give you a minute. If you came up with the Buffalo Sabres home/road jerseys, you got it. The colors may be different, but the design is the same.
AHL Stars' new jersey and logoThe Texas Stars are also introducing a new white third jersey this season.
Like the Bears, the Stars unveiled their new sweater online on Wednesday. But just over a week earlier, they first showed the new alternate logo seen on the shoulder. It's a wordmark that reads TEXAS with a star replacing the X.
Though this week's press release doesn't mention a specific date for the new sweater's debut, it does reference tonight's home opener a number of times. I'll keep an eye out for game photos.
Now a couple of pull quotes. Here's what the team says about the new secondary logo:
The new design was developed in coordination with the Texas Stars marketing department and the official jersey provider, Reebok. The new design will feature a centered two-tone gold star as the ‘X’ in Texas and will be comprised of the team’s existing colors with the addition of a new dark gold.
“We are excited to unveil the new secondary logo for the Texas Stars,” said Texas Stars President Rick McLaughlin. “The new design is important to our team’s branding and establishing a new way to identify us. The new design looks great and will help us stand out in the league.”
And the new jersey:
The alternate jerseys are primarily white and dark green, with gold accents. The Texas Stars primary logo serves as the jersey crest, while the Stars new alternate logo (unveiled earlier in the off-season) serves as the shoulder patch on the new jerseys. The nameplates will consist of dark green lettering on the backs of the jersey.
The numbers on the sleeves and the backs of the sweater will be dark green with gold trim. The Stars will wear black pants, black gloves and white helmets with their new alternate jerseys.
“We are excited to unveil the new alternate jersey for the Texas Stars,” said Texas Stars President Rick McLaughlin. “The new jersey is an important extension of our brand in central Texas, using a combination of our original logo and our new secondary logo. Fans will be able to identify us in a whole new way.”
This one uses the template of the Phoenix Coyotes' third jersey. It's not a bad look and I like that they're using their actual logo on the front of this one rather than the text they use on their home and road sweaters much like the Dallas Stars.
UPDATE (9:05 PM): The Stars did not debut their third jersey during tonight's 7-0 blowout of the Oklahoma City Barons. Guess we'll have to keep an eye on them over the coming weeks to get a glimpse of it in action. Their next home game is Friday, Oct. 14.
Any AHL fans reading? What do you think of these new thirds?
Reader Comments (17)
I love the Stars new third. I hope Dallas takes notice of how good the green looks.
I'm going to the bears game oct 15. I'm very excited to see my bears in a nice new jersey!
why cant the DALLAS stars have a jersey like those, they are amazing, also nice touch with the hershey throwback. LEGIT
Big AHL fan, i've always thought the Stars franchise (Texas and Dallas) has been the worst in the League (AHL & NHL). Their jerseys are bland and not aesthetically pleasing. that being said, i think this Texas Stars third is a giant leap in the right direction. i love the abundance of green in the sweater, and that black doesn't show up at all. The gold accents help make this sweater one of the best in the AHL IMO. Honestly, both Texas and Dallas need a uniform rebrand, not necessarily rebrand their entire identity.
Hershey nice, stars horrible
As much as I despise the Stars organization for their role in the demise of the Des Moines AHL franchise, those are the best jerseys either the NHL or AHL team has worn since the Reebok switch. They finally have something that looks as good as - or maybe even better than- what they wore when they were the Iowa Stars.
I still believe that one of the teams should bring back Iowa's jersey for their primaries. It was unique, tasteful, and free of black. I still wear mine with pride. This is a step in the right direction though.
It's always a shame when an AHL team blows their NHL affiliate out of the water in terms of jerseys (I'm looking at you Dallas).
I really hate the Texas Stars name but I love their jerseys. I like wordmark uniforms, and I think this is a nice addition. It makes sense for every team to at least have one jersey with the actual logo.
Love the Stars jerseys, would be great to see Dallas go in this direction; maybe this is a precursor to that kind of move. With new ownership coming into Dallas it's probably a safe bet they do away with their current horrible jerseys.
Man, Dallas really nailed it with the star-style jersey in the early 1990s (striping on the bottom half of the jersey in the outline of a huge star), and they've never come close to anything as good since then. This is close, but no cigar. Yeah, yeah, the star pattern doesn't work with the edge jersey. They also said the same thing about any kind of striping (hence the "practice jersey" look many of the first edge jerseys had), but all of a sudden horizontal stripes are re-appearing.
I love the new logo for the Texas Stars and think that this should eventually transition to the primary logo for the team. This is a great example of innovative thinking and great marketing. If I were in the market I would be proud to sport this logo on my shirts / hats. Kudos!
Remove the underarm "stains" and the piping on the Bears jersey and you've got a winner. I hate the Reebok use of those colored arm pits - looks horrible.
Word to Dallas: it's sad when your minor league affiliate has a better look than you do. I hope you get some ideas and get new jerseys like those next year. The DALLAS jerseys have to go. Franchises have found ways around the Reebok Edge template restrictions. These jerseys are the way to go. It brings back green and gold, there's room for the STARS logo, and the TEXAS state alt. patch will look great on the green shoulders.
The Stars logo is ok. but I don't think much of the jersey. Colors are fine, Collar is lame and all that stuff on the sides looks real bad.Too much going on.The shoulder patches logos while not bad, are still redundent to the main logo Like the Hershey Jersey, though!
Okay, now I'm convinced everyone praising the Texas Stars jerseys are blind.
Hershey Bears 3rds are classy, and honestly i think the Stars ahl unis are nicer than their horrible nhl edge unis. i dont love the star being 3dish but ill take it over Dallas's. It's be nice to see reebok work some way to allow the stars to wear their classic 90's jerseys which we all know resembled 94-97 all star jerseys. Heck i wouldn't even mind them bringing back their 93-97 look.
Let's face it -- ANYTHING is better than what Dallas is currently wearing. I think that secondary logo is pretty decent and quite a bit more creative than the main logo. We can only hope that new ownership in Dallas will eventually hire someone that incorporates some creativity (perhaps reworking that secondary logo to fit the NHL club) and class to a uniform set that has been desperately lacking since the new Reebok era.