Loose Threads: Ending a Busy Week
Seven blog posts in seven days, and I even took yesterday off. But believe it or not, there's still more news to talk about. I have four items today I'll try to get through as quickly as possible.
Sens Release Partial Third Jersey Schedule
One of the big stories of this week has been the Ottawa Senators' new third jersey. They're calling it the Heritage Jersey and we got our first look at it on Tuesday. Then a few days later, the team officially announed its 20th anniversary plans.
In the press relase, the Sens confirmed the existence of the Heritage Jersey but, despite the leak, opted not to officially unveil it. That will happen closer to the start of the season. However, the team did post ticket package options online which tell us, in part, when the new sweater is scheduled to be used.
Ottawa Heritage Jersey (colorized)The Heritage Jersey will be worn for 11 home dates, but the ticket packages only reveal eight. Here's that list along with a couple more:
- Thurs., Oct. 13 — vs Colorado Avalanche
- Sun., Oct. 30 — vs Toronto Maple Leafs
- Sat., Nov. 12 — at Toronto Maple Leafs †
- Wed., Dec. 14 — vs Boston Bruins
- Tues., Dec. 27 — vs Montreal Canadiens
- Sat., Jan. 14 — at Montreal Canadiens †
- Tues., Feb. 7 — vs St. Louis Blues
- Fri., Mar. 2 — vs Chicago Blackhawks
- Fri., Mar. 16 — vs Montreal Canadiens
- Sat., Mar. 17 — vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
† Along with the 11 home games will be a pair of nationally televised road contests in Toronto and Montreal, according to information that was part of the jersey leak. I take that to mean Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts — which are on Saturday nights. The Senators visit the Maple Leafs for Saturday matches on Oct. 8 and Nov. 12, but the team has already stated the jersey will see its debut on Oct. 13. And the only Saturday game hosted by the Canadiens takes place Jan. 14. By process of elimination I think we can safely include Nov. 12 and Jan. 14 on the schedule. But that's subject to change, of course.
UPDATE (9/25/11): As it turns out, Nov. 12 wasn't a safe date to include. The Toronto Maple Leafs just released their full third jersey schedule which includes that date. And for TV purposes, we won't see blue versus black. So strike that date from the list. Must be a different nationally-televised game.
I've also taken the liberty of colorizing the leaked jersey design from earlier in the week to give us an idea of what it might look like. I've used vintage white since many things are hinting at that right now.
Kings Throwbacks Coming Back
Kings throwback jerseyIn March, LA Kings Insider Rich Hammond wrote that the Los Angeles Kings would be overhauling their uniforms next season. He added, "the vintage purple-and-gold jerseys will go into mothballs for a while now."
I've been citing that little nugget for months in the various NHL JerseyWatch updates. What I didn't know until I started scouring his archives is that just over a month later, Hammond changed his tune.
Buried in a mailbag-type post on April 30, where he answered reader questions, was the news that the Kings were in fact bringing back the throwbacks for at least three home games next season.
Minnesota Kings Fan asked: To add to the uniform questions what about something with purple & gold?
Answer: The current plan is for the Kings to wear the purple-and-gold vintage uniforms for three home games next season.
I feel bad I overlooked that little piece of information during the last few months, but thrilled that the Kings are bringing this uniform back in 2011-12. It looks great and fans love it!
It's also the perfect counterweight for a club with black and white primary jerseys. I won't call them boring because I actually like them, I just don't want to see them lose the purple altogether.
And for the record, neither does Luc Robitaille.
IceMen unveil modified logo, new jerseys
The Central Hockey League has been getting a lot of blog time lately, and they're about to get a little more. In just their second season, the Evansville IceMen will already be donning a new logo and jerseys.
It's not really a new logo so much as a modified version of their previous logo which was used during their inaugural season in the CHL last year. They're keeping the same "ice man" as before, but with a different posture and some new gear. As for the uniforms, they're completely new — even if they aren't entirely original.
IceMen unveil new jerseys for 2011 / IceMenManiacs.comThe IceMen held a press conference on July 14 to show off the (not so) new look. (Try to ignore the blatant headline misspelling.) They had a few players on hand to model the new jerseys (right).
Mark Cody (18) wore the alternate, Todd Robinson (19) had the blue and Brian Bicek (10) donned the white sweater. In the CHL, teams wear white at home for the first half of the season and then switch.
If you can look past the fact that all of these uniform designs come from the Pittsburgh Penguins' closet, what else do you notice?
We've seen it before, but never this bad. Not one color in the logo is found on the jerseys. Each one uses two shades of blue, neither of which match the single shade used in the logo. There's also no grey in the uniforms even though it dominates the primary mark.
I'm not oblivious to the fact that minor league teams have to spare expense by using existing jersey designs. But knowing that, why not make it look like you put some thought into the design and alter the logo colors to match? It doesn't look that bad, considering the logo they have to work with. But I'd lose the black.
That's all I really have to say about that because the truth is I love these jerseys — just not the crest. I think the colors and striping look great. By the way, I should give a shout-out to IceMenManiacs.com for the photo above and coverage of the unveiling.
Blazers celebrate 30 years with Oilers logo
On Friday, the WHL's Kamloops Blazers unveiled their 30th anniversary logo and it may look awfully familiar to you. That's because it's based on the Edmonton Oilers' 30th anniversary logo from 2008. The green craze is really hitting hockey design hard this year. Everybody's recycling!
The use of the Oilers' logo for the Blazers isn't as odd as it might seem at first. When the team was founded in 1981, they were known as the Kamloops Junior Oilers. So in reality, this logo works well as an homage to the team's own history. They became the Blazers in 1984.
The Blazers have announced some of the 30th anniversary celebration plans. Here are the ones of interest to Icethetics readers:
To celebrate 30 years, the Blazers have introduced a new logo that will be placed at centre ice for the entire 2011-12 season. The Blazers will also be wearing vintage jerseys to commemorate the anniversary this season.
I'll keep an eye out for that vintage jersey. Maybe that Kamloops Junior Oilers logo could be resurrected too. And I have to say that despite the obvious reuse of that Edmonton 30th logo, I do like how the team has worked in both the Junior Oilers and Blazers imagery into the design. Just wish they could've been more original.
I think that finally does it for today. You're now caught up on everything — that I know of. Next up, I'm working on a page that will be under the VOTE tab above. Basically, you'll be able to vote on all of the new logos and jerseys — even the unofficial ones — that we've seen this summer. Should give us an idea of where everyone stands on the new looks around the hockey world. Plus, it'll be a good recap with lots of links in case you missed anything admist all the crazy blog updates lately.
Chris
Gibbie from IceMenManiacs.com, who was at the IceMen's jersey unveiling press conference, commented with some additional details on the new look.
Sorry to ring in late, I just came across this blog. Thanks muchly for the link back! We just started the IceMen Maniacs site a couple of months ago and I'm thrilled to see it out in the wild. :)
They did tell us at the presser that the jerseys were mock ups, it's possible that the color scheme will be modified a bit. They could tone down the blue and I think it will be fine. Not all the blues on the three sweaters match either which bothers me but no one else probably notices. :) The official team colors are now supposed to be navy blue, sky blue and white as opposed to navy, white and black.
The whole issue of change is sensitive since the team has gone through major changes each of its four years of existence and is about to go through another very large one. While I appreciate why they wanted to change up the logo and jersey design, I'm glad it wasn't more radical. Besides I'm very fond of our club wielding, parka wearing man. :)
Reader Comments (9)
I like the Kamloops 30th anniversary logo. It's actually brilliant as it pays tribute to the team's original name and new name at the same time. Also loving the Icemen jerseys.
The best looking game of the year was between the Kings and Canucks when they both wore throwbacks without nameplates. Three home games is not enough for that beautiful purple Kings' jersey. I think most people like the black jerseys too - not a big fan of that pencil logo mind you. should have put the kings crown on it in black and white.
It doesn't bother me to see the icemen with different colours in their crest. I think it looks better sometimes when you have crests like that. The Blackhawks and florida panthers had two of the best uniforms in hockey and they didnt have matching colours. Ottawa Senators do the same thing and no one mentions them for breaking that rule.
I'm just happy that I'll get to see the Hawks play the Senators when they're wearing their new thirds.
Regarding the Kings, that is great news. The Gretzky-era black and silver colour scheme is sharp, but there is only ONE colour scheme for the Kings - purple and gold. Too much black and white becomes boring and generic. Just like teal should be the primary colour of the Sharks, purple should be the primary of the Kings. It's only too bad that the Kings didn't keep their classics when Gretzky played in LA.
I had no idea that Johnnie Knoxville played for the Icemen...
And I agree, the logo should contain the same colours as the jersey, which is why I don't like it if the Jets use baby blue, they could easily have put it in the logo.
To clarify, I'm not taking issue with some teams not using EVERY color that's in their logo on their jersey. As EL points out, the golds and tans used by the Panthers, Blackhawks and Senators would look terribly out of place on the uniforms. They're meant to be logo accents and that works. What I'm pointing out with the IceMen is that NOT ONE color in the logo appears on the uniform. It'd just be nice if they matched one or two is all.
Sorry to ring in late, I just came across this blog. Thanks muchly for the link back! We just started the IceMen Maniacs site a couple of months ago and I'm thrilled to see it out in the wild. :)
They did tell us at the presser that the jerseys were mock ups, it's possible that the color scheme will be modified a bit. They could tone down the blue and I think it will be fine. Not all the blues on the three sweaters match either which bothers me but no one else probably notices. :) The official team colors are now supposed to be navy blue, sky blue and white as opposed to navy, white and black.
The whole issue of change is sensitive since the team has gone through major changes each of its four years of existence and is about to go through another very large one. While I appreciate why they wanted to change up the logo and jersey design, I'm glad it wasn't more radical. Besides I'm very fond of our club wielding, parka wearing man. :)
Hi Gibbie, thanks for the update! I'll add your comment into the body of the post for readers who don't get down this far.
The Icemen used that 1st logo in their last two years of their tenure in the AAHL