Junior Jerseys You Should Know About
Wednesday · Feb 2 · 2011 | 11:43 AM PSTAmidst all the recent NHL news, Icethetics readers have been emailing in to let us all know about some rather fascinating specialty jerseys hitting the ice in the Canadian Hockey League. And these you need to see.
Nuclear Night jersey / John AllenOver the weekend, the WHL's Tri-City Americans, based out of eastern Washington, held a special theme night which required special sweaters.
Friday, Jan. 28 was Nuclear Night in Kennewick, Wash. And they wore some rather radioactive uniforms to mark the occasion. Just look at them.
Full graphic rendering of jersey
I don't know what to say about that. Except that it's awesome! (We're supposed to think it's awesome, right?) I mean just look at all the colors... electric green, fuchsia, to name a few.
Nuclear Night jersey (back) / John AllenThe event was announced Thursday on the team's website and that all of the jerseys would be auctioned off following Friday's game.
A special website was set up to take bids. (So if you have to have one of these, you know where to go.) It says the proceeds will benefit the Players' Continuing Education Fund.
Honestly, I love seeing this sort of thing in the minors/juniors. It's one night and it's fun. We'd never want to see it attempted in the NHL, of course, but if not for teams like this and their charitable causes, we'd never know what a Nuclear Night jersey would look like. Would we?
For the record, the Americans were victorious in all their atomic glory, defeating the Portland Winterhawks 5-2. And you know the Winterhawks didn't look this good.
My thanks to Josh S. for the tip.
If you though the Tri-City Americans had eye-catching jerseys, let's head to the Ontario Hockey League.
Alumni Night jersey / Erie OttersThe OHL's Erie Otters unveiled their Alumni Night jerseys last week.
These bright yellow sweaters will be worn this Saturday, Feb. 5, to celebrate the Otters' 1,000th regular season game.
These game-worn jerseys aren't going up for auction, however. (I think we know how that would go.) Instead, they'll go on sale following the game for $240 each (with a $20 discount if you're a season ticket holder).
Frankly, I'm not familiar with Erie's hockey past. Are there any readers who can shed some light on the history behind these colors?
Kudos to long-time reader Jeff S. for emailing this in.
Lethbridge throwback / from Joshua SchroederThe WHL's Lethbridge Hurricanes celebrated the 60th anniversary of a hometown team's world championship last week.
On Tuesday, Jan. 25, the Hurricanes hosted the Brandon Wheat Kings sporting the sweaters of the old Lethbridge Maple Leafs, who won the World Amateur Hockey Championship on the same date in 1951. They won 4-3.
This is a very cool tribute, and one of the few times "vintage white" is an acceptable color on a 2011 hockey uniform. They're honoring a team that played six decades ago. The cream color adds to the illusion that the guys are sporting the old club's sweaters. Even if we know better.
Now for all the links: Read a recap of the game on the team's website. Learn about the history of the Lethbridge Maple Leafs and the significance of the throwback night.
And while the auctions may be over, it's worth checking out what some of the sweaters sold for. One went for as much as $1,000! Who is Max Ross?
Thanks again to Josh S., our WHL watchdog.
I've got some other minor league jersey photos I'll try to get posted this week. Also preparing to give a stagnant Icethetics feature a big makeover. It'll give you another reason to keep coming back.
Reader Comments (19)
The only reason I can think that the Erie Otters would where yellow is to honor the Erie Blades American Hockey League team that lasted for one season [1981/1982] who had bright yellow jerseys with a skate logo on them.
To answer the "who is Max Ross?" question .... he's a local product of several generations, so it's likely that his family were very interested in winning that auction. To give you an idea of the Ross family's involvement in Lethbridge hockey, his grandparents were the billet family for the Sutter brothers when they played for the Lethbridge Broncos.
At least everything is vintage white on the Lethbridge jerseys and socks. Usually teams forget about little details like number outlines, laces, etc.
@ADAMEDG Gloves aren't.
Love that Lethbridge sweater, it's kinda restored my faith in vintage white!
The Niagara Falls Thunder, of Niagara Falls Ontario, moved to Erie after the '95 season. (And have been missed here ever since). Yellow must be from Erie's hockey past as Dp.Kerr63 mentioned. Niagara Falls Thunder colors were red, white and black and the jersey design similar to the Blackhawks.
those lethbridge jerseys are glorious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Lethbridge jersey looks awesome. If I lived in that area, I would buy one of 'em in a heartbeat..... so long as they sold for retail price. :P
Just to add more information about Mr. Ross and to add a little more back-up for Josh S.'s post:
Max Ross is a 20 year-old defenseman turned forward and a Lethbridge, AB native. He's listed as a 6'2" 205lbs left wing. He's currently ranked 5th on the team, 151st in WHL, in scoring with 13-13-26. For his career with Lethbridge he has: 121GP 18G 24A 42PTS
29 161PIMS. This season he has posted 94 of those penalty minutes and posted a +/of -12. So far the biggest piece of information out there about Mr. Ross is that, "Despite popular belief, Max is not related to 1st round NHL draft pick and WHL defenseman Nick Ross or Nick’s brother WHL 1st overall Bantam Draft pick Brad Ross who are both Lethbridge residents."**All statistical and biographical information came from the WHL official website and the official website of the Lethbridge Hurricanes
The Lethbridge jersey's are beautiful. A great jersey.
for the most part i dont really mind seeing these funny one time jerseys. It keeps things interesting
As mentioned, the Erie uniforms are an homage to the Erie Blades. The Blades existed in several different leagues from 1975-1987. There were several different incarnations of the team but one of their more distinctive looks was a yellow, blue and black scheme. They were also orange, blue and black for a time as well. The Blades were replaced in 1987 by the Erie Panthers of the ECHL, which were subsequently replaced by the Otters.
Nice Lethbridge jersey ...
I dont know about Erie .... the picture kinda sucks and it probably doesnt reflect the "good" yellow !
Only thing I don't care for with the "radioactive" threads is they are a Sublimination with the names and numbers...
Futher to Joe's post, on ERIE....
The previous home of Erie was Niagara Falls, Ontario.
The Thunder (RED & BLACK) had great junior players like (Ethan Moreau, Steve Staios, Kieth Primeau, Greg DeVries, and Manny Legace to name a few). Prior to that, Niagara Falls had another junior team called the Flyers (BLACK & YELLOW), which may be where the yellow comes from.
Old Flyers jerseys (the aways where black)
70's http://bit.ly/fPay6y
80's http://bit.ly/hX9d8r
Old Thunder jerseys (the homes were the same layout as Chi Blackhawks white).
http://bit.ly/e02orF
The petes were wearing some messed up jerseys saturday
I love that Lethbridge jersey
The only thing that was ever yellow in Erie was the Golden Blades, but they weren't that color. The Blades were Pittsburgh Steelers Yellow and Navy Blue. Certainly not Highlighter Yellow.
Ther Erie Blades colors were orange and black and the yellow from the jerseys comes from the otters gold in their jerseys and since they had already done red jerseys they cose to do yellow because they wanted to have a very different jersey for the occasion.The otters average about 3 special occasion jerseys and the players usually give the fans the jersey right after the game and autographing them on the ice for them.