Icethetics On Satellite Radio

Tuesday morning I'll be doing a live interview with The War Room on NHL Home Ice. If you have a satellite radio subscription, you can tune in to XM 204 or Sirius 208 around 11 AM EST (8 AM on the west coast). Obviously, we'll be talking third jerseys. The good, the bad... the ugly. Should be fun. I hope you can check it out.

Sorry for the late notice on this, but if you're unable to catch the interview live for any reason, I plan on posting it here on Icethetics later on. Let's hope I don't embarrass myself!

Bruins Unveil Third Jersey!

The Boston Bruins unveiled their third jersey this morning on their web site, making them the final team to do so for the 2008-09 season.

Though they were the last to officially unveil their alternate sweater, the Bruins were the first to leak it — multiple times.

NESN cameras were permitted to shoot a player skating around the ice in this jersey last February in video which later made it to broadcast and then the pages of Icethetics. Then in September at the State of the Bruins event for season ticket holders, Milan Lucic made an appearance wearing the new threads. This was mentioned on the team's web site at the time but no pictures were posted.

Until today.

I love that logo. And I like the use of the primary on the shoulders. But in my opinion, this is a rather lackluster jersey. Why black? Why the same stripes as the home and road sweaters? Why no tie-up collar?

I think the Bruins missed a golden opportunity here (wink, wink). I also think their home and road jerseys are among, if not the best in the league. So don't try to copy it, you'll only ruin it. And that's what happened. They should've taken a completely dfiferent tack with these, just like with their first third jersey.

But that's just my opinion.

And now that all 18 third jerseys are out, I'll be posting my complete ranking tonight or tomorrow. After that, you guys will get to vote.

Also coming this week, I've got news on a couple of teams with plans for alternate sweaters next season. Plus, now that the third jersey hoopla is coming to a close, I'm going to start to steer Icethetics back to its original purpose. I'll talk more about those plans later this week.

Lightning Unveil Third Jersey!

The Tampa Bay Lightning joined the third jersey ranks this afternoon when they unveiled their new sweater on their web site and debuted it against the Devils.

A picture featured on the front page of the site shows defenseman Mike Lundin in the new blue jersey. I think it looks good on a player. Now I'd like to see how it looks in action. I'll post pictures tonight when they're available.

In a video posted on the team's web site and narrated by radio play-by-play announcer Dave Mishkin, it's explained that the use of BOLTS across the front is a shoutout to fans who popularized the team nickname.

The video also features Marty St. Louis and goalie Mike Smith talking about the new threads. Smith is psyched about the fact that it'll match his gear. You can watch it right here.

As you can see in the video, the new socks to go with this sweater are more classic with horizontal stripes, but are broken at the calf similar to the New York Islanders' alternate socks. Little things don't usually bug me that much, but this is just strange. I'm curious as to the explanation behind it.

This unveiling confirms the previous leaks posted on Icethetics, right down to the TAMPA BAY text on the back at the base of the jersey. Not sure why it's there, but it's different and I'm a fan of that. The only difference is the number style — which is barely noticeable unless you really pay attention to that sort of thing. The new style makes the numbers appear bolder.

As a Lightning fan, I'm satisfied with this jersey. I like the striping pattern. I like the use of silver and I especially like that it's a blue jersey. My favorite thing is the underarm stripes (described in the video). I still think it's odd to have BOLTS across the front, but that's what I've always called them. The Bolts. I'll be buying one right away, that's for sure.

And again, I'll add pictures to this post when they're available.

Update on Sunday · Nov 23 · 2008 | 10:30 PM PST by Chris

I was going to grab some photos from the game to post here, but I've got something even better. Lightning photographer Scott Audette puts together these amazing photo collages every so often and did so tonight for the unveiling of the new jersey.

I highly recommend checking out the original version of the photo presentation available on the Bolts' web site. You can't deny this club looks good in blue.

By the way, my thanks to the Devils for ruining the debut of this sweater with a 7-3 rout. I won't forget this.

Third jerseys are now at 14-14 on the season. So as it turns out, they don't help you win and they don't help you lose. They just change the way you look.

Support Icethetics

First, I just want to thank everybody who's been visiting Icethetics for third jersey news and more over the past month. It's hard to believe Icethetics.info has only existed for 22 days now. Traffic to the site has been hitting all sorts of records lately and I couldn't be more excited.

However, with added visitors comes added costs. When I set up this new web site, I knew I'd have to shell out a little from my own pocket. Unfortunately, the more visitors dropping in and the more content being added, the higher that price is going.

The minimal advertising on the site provides a decent source of income that I'm able to put back into the site. However, it's not quite cutting it. Without going into detail, the cost of maintaining this site exceeds $50 per month, which is a lot when you consider I wasn't spending anything on the free Blogger account.

So I'm taking this opportunity to humbly ask that you consider donating as much or as little as you can to help with Icethetics' bills. There's a new button in the sidebar that reads Support Icethetics. If you click on that, you can complete a secure PayPal transaction. Supporters can choose to remain anonymous or be recognized by name on the site.

By the end of the year, I anticipate the launch of a new Concepts section which will include Featured Artists and tons of image content. This will increase bandwidth demand that will cost money.

I'm only able to spend so much of my own money on this site. So if you'd like to see Icethetics continue to grow and improve, I'm going to need your help. If you enjoy all that Icethetics has to offer, show it!

I appreciate your taking the time to consider helping Icethetics out.

Kings Unveil Third Jersey!

The Los Angeles Kings became the 16th NHL club to unveil a third jersey for the 2008-09 season, doing so tonight during a home game against the Avalanche.

As the leaked images showed us, the sweaters are black with a new banner-shaped logo on the front. On top are the letters LA and beneath is a black and white version of the current crown logo. Throughout the uniform are very sharp silver accents.

Have a look at Anze Kopitar in action tonight from the Kings' web site.

A quick glance at these sweaters in action certainly does the job of sending you back to the era of Gretzky, Kurri and the like. But what our leaks didn't show us was the classic script logo appearing on both sides of the helmets.

When thinking about the Kings, I think most people don't think about the history of this club. They've been around a long time and have had a lot of uniforms and logos. It's nice to see them remembering that past with this new uniform.

This is another design that has moved way up on my list after having seen it in action. I wouldn't put it at the top but it's certainly nothing to look down your nose at.

I do have one small thing to point out though. On the Kings' web site, it's pointed out that "the jersey was first seen night at 7:34 p.m. when Kings goalie Erik Ersberg entered the bench-area through the covered tunnel just prior to the game."

I hate to get technical, but actually it was first seen on Monday night when it was leaked during an Icethetics Live Chat. I'm just saying.

Can you believe it? After all of the anticipation of the summer, only two teams remain to officially unveil their third jerseys. Makes you wonder what all the fuss was about.

Tomorrow, my Bolts will debut theirs BOLTS sweaters and on Monday, we'll get our first "official" look at the Bruins. I still find it ironic that the jersey that was first to leak will be the last to be official.