The Blackness

Two quick items tonight — both dealing with new black jerseys.

First, the San Jose Sharks will unveil their new BlackArmor third jersey Friday morning at 10 AM on their web site. That's local time meaning it'll be 1 PM in the east if I've done my math right — though the countdown on their site seems to be indicating a 5 AM PST release. I'm not holding my breath.

I'll snag pictures from their web site tomorrow and have them for you here. But you've actually already seen this new black alternate sweater a few different times now thanks to the oodles of leaks.

Glad this isn't a ship.

In other news, the Boston Bruins sent out an email to fans informing them that Black Friday will be Blackout Friday at the Garden. We hope they don't mean an actual blackout, though this wouldn't be the worst time of year for that at a hockey game.

Seriously though, they want you to wear your black Bruins jerseys because the Bruins will be wearing black jerseys. Wait a minute, how is that— nevermind. Yes, the black third jersey we thought was the first to be unveiled way back when will actually turn out to be the last. I know, ironic.

I'm hearing Monday, November 24 for this unveiling but I'm not sure we have confirmation. It does appear that the new sweater will make it's official debut on Friday, November 28.

As always, you can rely on Icethetics for further news. More in the morning.

Citizen Runs Leaked Sens Pic

The leaked picture of the Senators' third jersey was printed in this morning's Ottawa Citizen if you can believe that. The Icethetics-watermarked image is next to two other concept designs that are labeled as "possible colours" for the Sens.

I can assure you they aren't. The one I posted the other day is the real deal. Here's what was printed in the paper today, via the Digital Edition.

You can read the story on the newspaper's web site.

And while I'm on the subject, it appears several stores across Canada are already selling unreleased third jerseys. Several readers sent in pictures. Here's one of them. I'll be adding more to the Sens' Third Jersey Central gallery.

So there won't be any surprises on Saturday. Here are the Kings and Sharks third jerseys also found on store racks.

Thanks to everybody who's been sending in pictures. You guys rock!

Bolts Confirm Unveiling For Sunday

In an email sent to season ticket holders, the Tampa Bay Lightning have confirmed that they will unveil and debut their new third jersey on Sunday when they play the New Jersey Devils.

Icethetics has had the unveiling date of Sunday for some time but the big news is that the new blue sweater will hit the ice for the first time the same night.

You can see a screenshot of the email below.

The email does not specify any other games where the Bolts will use this new sweater. I'll keep you posted as I find out more.

Sens Talk Black

There are a couple of new items on the Ottawa Senators' official web site regarding their new black third jersey. I posted a leaked picture of the new sweater last night.

The Senators have announced that the new alternate uniform will be unveiled to fans on Saturday at 3:04 PM when the Sens take to the ice against the New York Rangers. Hm, two jerseys with only text on the front.

An excerpt from the team's announcement outlines their third jersey past:

This is the club’s third alternate jersey. The first, which was primarily red, was introduced in November 1997 and then became the official away jersey for the 1999-2000 season. The second alternate jersey featured an updated version of the black road jersey and was first used during the 2000-01 season.

Sens alternate captain Chris Phillips had some interesting comments about the sweater.

"I think they look great," said alternate team captain Chris Phillips. "Simple – I love the black. I think they're doing a great job on them. Last year they sat the whole team down, had some different options to look at. They took input from the players and everyone around the organization from what they thought looked best, and this is what they came up with and they did a great job of it."

See? Not everybody hates black.

Along with the above news item, a feature was posted on the Senators' web site talking more about the jersey. The team's marketing VP had a little more to say about the decision to go back to black.

"We looked at a couple of different colours in terms of considering designs," said Jeff Kyle, the Senators' vice-president of marketing. "The feedback we received indicated black was the preferred choice, so we went in that direction." ...

New this time, though, are laces that tie together at the collar — a Senators first. It’s the ultimate in retro jersey styling.

"Doing that distinguishes it from the other jerseys that we’ve had in the past," said Kyle.

The Sens also confirm the jersey will be worn 15 times at home throughout the season, including the next four home games.

I'll be updating the sidebar calendar in the next day or so to reflect all the new third jersey schedules that have been released.

Coyotes To Unveil Third Saturday

The Phoenix Coyotes have announced their intentions to unveil their new alternate sweater on Saturday, November 22. It will happen during the first intermission of the television broadcast of the Coyotes-Flyers game on AZ-TV.

From the official release:

The Coyotes will debut the new third jersey at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale on Friday, Nov. 28 when the team hosts the Colorado Avalanche at 2 p.m. The new third jersey will also be available for purchase at the Coyotes Den team store at the Nov. 28 game.

Icethetics broke the original leak last month and we've since come across many more pre-release photos.

This weekend is going to be the busiest yet in terms of third jersey news. On Friday, we've got the Sharks doing their unveiling. On Saturday, they're debuting it along with the Kings and Senators. On Sunday, the Lightning are likely unveiling theirs. And the final official unveiling will be the Bruins' alternate on Monday.

So it's not like we'll be running out of new content anytime soon.