Sens Announce 20th Season Plans
Friday · Aug 5 · 2011 | 11:37 AM PDT
Official 20th anniversary logo vs. March sneak peekThe Ottawa Senators announced plans on Thursday to celebrate their second decade of NHL hockey during the 2011-12 season.
The club also unveiled its official 20th anniversary logo which, as you can see in this side-by-side comparison (right), differs from the 20th logo we saw in March when the team gave us a sneak peek at the Heritage Jersey.
Two things bug me right off the bat. The official anniversary logo, which is no better than the prototype seen in March, is awfully generic. Generic fonts, generic banner. Nothing about it furthers the Senators brand.
The other thing is the beige, or vintage white as we've come to know it. It's trendy, we get it. The 86-year-old Bruins used it in their Winter Classic throwback jersey. The Rangers used it last year when they turned 85. A little less understandably, the Sabres did it at age 40. But guess what. Two years ago, the Montreal Canadiens celebrated 100 years without that dingy shade of white.
So why is a team that's barely 20 breaking out the antique colors? This is not the same Ottawa Senators club that was a founding member of the NHL in 1917. There was a massive 58-year gap between that team and this one.
I'm not against them celebrating their city's hockey heritage, I just think that trendy beige is silly. And it's just being overused now. I mean, look at that logo. It says 1992—2012 on what's meant to look like a white material that's been aging in the attic for a century or more. Silly.
The Senators did not unveil their new Heritage Jersey at yesterday's press conference, though the design was leaked on the blog this week. The official release will come closer to the season, and the team confirmed some details about when it will be used.
Twenty home games this season will be devoted to the first two decades of the modern franchise. Another 11 are being set aside to recognize the 11 Stanley Cups won by the original Senators, a founding member of the NHL and the league's first true dynasty. The current team will break out a new 'heritage' jersey on those occasions.
In Tuesday's leak we also learned that the Heritage Jersey will see action twice on the road, in Montreal and Toronto. The Canadeisn and Maple Leafs already have white throwback jerseys so I can't help but wonder if they'll wear them for those games against Ottawa.
Though it's not in the press release on the Sens' website, the Ottawa Citizen reported yesterday that the Heritage Jersey will make its game debut on Oct. 13 when the Senators host the Colorado Avalanche.
CTV falsely reports jersey unveilingThat brings me to some shoddy reporting that needs to be cleared up. CTV Ottawa said yesterday that the Senators had unveiled their 20th anniversary jersey. Which they hadn't. Le Journal de Quebec also used the same image in their story, though in their defense, a translation of their article from French reads "the jersey will be unveiled," not that it had been already.
And get this: The design these "news agencies" published was nothing more than a concept pulled straight from this very website more than a year ago.
On March 10, 2010, I posted artwork designed by Tyler Allen that, in terms of design, is identical to what was posted by these two news outlets. Only the shoulders, name and number have been altered (right). The overall design remains completely intact. Lay one on top of the other and you'll find no differences.
Granted, this design isn't far off from what was leaked earlier this week, but it is enough for us to notice. Check out the sleeves and the striping around the waistline. Plus, the numbers on the back are supposed to be white, not black. And where's the new shoulder shield?
I understand CTV Ottawa wanting to give their web vistors and viewers an idea of what the jersey will look like, but reporting "Senators unveil new jersey" is flat out false. They haven't yet. We'll certainly know it when they do.
I hope that clears up any confusion. I know a number of you had emailed me links and been left scratching your heads.
One other thing before I move on from the Senators. I thought this was pretty cool. The Ottawa Citizen referenced Icethetics on Wednesday regarding the leaked Heritage Jersey. They were able to get a response from the team on its validity:
“There have been a number of jerseys that have been produced online and speculated upon as the new heritage jersey,” Brian Morris, the Senators director of communications, said Tuesday. “We anticipate the heritage jersey will be well received by the fan base, but we won’t confirm its design until it is officially revealed prior to the season.”
Nice to see the site getting a little recognition from the big guys. Now one more item, unrelated to the Sens...
Olympiques go colorless in 2011
The QMJHL is getting another black-and-white team this season. The Gatineau Olympiques are going retro, switching back to the colors (or lack of color, as it were) that they wore when they were known as the Hull Olympiques from 1976 to 2003 — black and silver.
An article from LeDroit (translated) explains the transition and even includes a photo of the newly-painted center ice logo which is now black and white with shades of grey. The author says the team hasn't confirmed this change yet, but the writing is on the ice, as it were.
Plus, the new splash page on the club's official website features the desaturated logo. You can see it at the bottom of this post.
The Olympiques are the third hockey team this year to drop their distinguishing colors in favor of a black and white look. First the Los Angeles dropped the purple, then the Q's Montreal Juniors became the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and got rid of the red.
That Olympic torch logo may have had an unusual color palette — purple, yellow and orange with orange jerseys — but it stood out and gave the club its own identity. I know my argument falls down when you consider they're just going back to the colors they previously wore for decades, but it's just so bland.
QMJHL's Gatineau Olympiques alter logo colors / Olympiques
Reader Comments (18)
FYI ... Hull originally went to the Black, Silver & White template around the time that then owner, Wayne Gretzky, was traded to Los Angeles
The 20 font is pretty obviously meant to evoke the retro "O" logo, so I've got no problems with that part. It does seem that they've gone to simplifying anniversary logos, compared to some of the intricate designs of the past. I'd be surprised if we ever saw an anniversary patch in the future that compares to, say, the Minnesota North Stars' 25th patch. (That's not to say there weren't simple designs back then, either, though...)
The beige all over the homepage of Les Sénateurs does disturb me greatly too. I can only hope they have some sense and not use "vintage white" on the unis.
As far as I'm concerned, forms of beige should only be worn by teams that have it in their color scheme; i.e. the "sand" of Phoenix and the "wheat" of Minnesota. Chicago gets a pass for their tan, as it's based on the team actually wearing tan in the 1930s, and Boston gets a pass on their WC jerseys because of the offset effect of the uniforms being primarily gold.
Pretty weak to rip off a fan concept and claim it's an official release, especially when there's been no official release.
I think the beige in the logo is supposed to tie in to the heritage. If you read the articles the Senators are celebrating 20 years and also the history of hockey in Ottawa. (Not just from 1992.) So using the beige makes sense in that context. I like the logo.
I understand their justification for using the beige, I just disagree with it. In 1917, the original Ottawa Senators used actual white. Not beige.
Wow that's a huge change for the Olympiques... Considering their current home jersey is bright friggin orange. I don't mind a potential change though, my dad would take me to Olympiques games at the Bob when i was a kid, and they were always in black and silver, so it works for me.
That 20th anniversary mark is lame, how boring will that look at centre ice... or will it be the all star logo? Im curious to see what the Sens go with.
As for CTV Ottawa, well, their news and broadcasts are consistently sub-par in my opinion, im not surprised they took something off the internet and called it an unveiling, they definitely need ppl who do their homework lol.
Thanks for the entirely Ottawa region post :)
actually loved the armada b and w unis and overall design but not so sure about the olympiques. their logo is too complex to work with minimal colours. it worked for the armada because their logo and unis are simple, striking and contrast well. also im not against b and w per se but you definately dont want two teams going that route. going to look like watching tv in the 50s when the two teams play each other.
cheers
I don't know if i'm the only one who realised this but if you look at the tease pick from back in march, you'll notice it's actually white and not "vintage" white they are using. Now it's possible they could've changed the colour scheme a bit since then, but i doubt it considering the leaked photo is pretty accurate with the tease. Personally, vintage white or not, still better then the "Sens" jersey.
I'm equally happy with the Olympiques color change. My grand-mother used to bring me to games back when they were wearing those colors and won the memorial cup. This will bring back welcomed memories!
I'm really hoping the Sens jerseys themselves use white and not the beige. I'll probably buy one either way, but celebrating history doesn't mean you have to say "Look I'm old!" The use of the stripes and the "O" logo is the heritage part - keep some parts of it new. Or, as Chris says, the original Ottawa Senators used white, so why shouldn't the new jerseys? Time will tell I suppose. All I think of when I see jerseys with the throwback beige is that commercial with the "throwback night" for a hockey club where they wear the throwback equipment as well and get the crap kicked out of them.
The Olympiques logo is nice in design, though it's kind of screwing my head up since I've spent the last week looking at a black and white Senators concept design and trying to picture it in colour. In colour I'm sure the Olympiques logo really pops.
may seem stupid to ask this, but it mentions 20 and then 11 home games. That's only 31. The new jersey gets the 11 games, guess they meant to say the other 30 will be the usual jersey?
If the Olympiques just wanted a change to something more subtle, but not necessarily a total reversal to the old Hull look (after all, they're not in Hull anymore), why not a bronze, silver and gold color scheme. They are the Olympiques after all. Maybe a minimal amount of orange and red could be used in the torch flame; slight highlights along the flames' edges. But a medal-colors scheme for Gatineau could look great and would still be a much more subtle look than their previous orange, purple, yellow look. Anyhoo...
Carl: We cannot be sure what color was on that sneak peek from March for a number of factors: The image was projected up onto a screen and then shot with a video camera leaving anything white with a blue hue. I did my best to color correct what I posted on the blog, but there's still no way to be positive whether it was white or beige, no matter how it might look to you on your screen.
JB: The 20-game reference was about how many games would be devoted to 20th anniversary events and said nothing about what jersey they'd be wearing. An additional 11 games will be Heritage Jersey nights. That means the other 10 will probably just be standard no-frills home games.
Haha, it's nice to see my work is getting national attention :p
Materials that were once white lose their sharpness and turn beige with the passage of time. What's gonna happen to these jerseys with "vintage white" in them after a few decades in people's attics?
My rule of thumb for design is don't use any font that comes with Microsoft Office. The Senators' use of a font that is deeply evocative of Times New Roman, while thematically correct, looks bush-league. Then again, I despise the Senators so nothing they do is likely to impress me.
Actually Chris, if you look at one of the pics below that shows the "20th Anniversary" with former players on it, you can see 2 players wearing the old white sens jersey. That white matches the "tease" white pretty well. BUT! Who knows? I'm just excited that we're finally getting a sick jersey and an exciting team to watch.
Not how I see it. The 90s white jersey doesn't appear in the same image as the heritage jersey teaser photo and I color corrected each photo individually before putting them together. When colors get that light on a projection screen, it's too difficult to tell how it originally looked. But most of all, there's no reason to believe the Sens would've changed the jersey color at such a late stage because of Reebok production times.
As a huge Olympiques fan, I have mixed feelings on this. Sure, it hearkens back to an earlier time, but it also kills one of the most unique colour schemes in hockey.
I'll reserve judgement until Saturday when I first see them. Hopefully it's only the centre ice logo that is changing.
Also, Christopher, they do still play in Hull. They play in the same arena that they always have, it's just that Hull is now a part of the City of Gatineau.
@ Taoiseach: Thanks for the correction! :-) I had actually known that (I keep lists of leagues, teams, and team monikers) but had totally forgotten about it. What do you think about my idea of integrating Olympic medal colors into the new-old scheme. The silver is basically already there, but I think bronze and gold as parts of the torch flame would look great; making it more, um... fiery. :-) Hints of bronze and gold in the striping could then be added.
I went to school with a former Olympique; tough guy Roddie MacKenzie (from Bathurst, NB). Anybody remember him? He played for Hull from 1993-1995, then spent most of his last season with Moncton (during their inaugural year; when they were the Alpines), before playing 2 games with Drummondville to end his competitive career. He did get invited to a Canadiens rookie camp one season, I believe. Didn't know him well, but seemed like a nice guy.
Anyhoo...
I only moved to the area in 2007, and I only started to seriously follow the Piques then, so I never actually saw MacKenzie play, unfortunately.
As for the Gold/Silver/Bronze colour scheme, I absolutely love the idea! Have pale silver home jerseys (Québec has off-white home jerseys, so I don't see that being a problem) with gold & bronze trim, and then have bronze road jerseys, thus keeping the orange-ness alive! I think I'd still prefer them to just keep their current Orange/Purple/Black/Yellow colour scheme, but your idea is much better than just going back to the LA Kings colours.... I like my team having its own identity.