Baby Pens Unveil 3rd Jersey!

The AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have unveiled their third jersey for the 2009-10 season.

A picture of the new sweater was posted on the team's official web site recently. It's primarily black with heavy red and white horizontal stripes passing through the midsection.

In other words, it's the Chicago Blackhawks' Winter Classic/third jersey template sans the collar laces. Only the Pens managed to ruin it! (Didn't think that was possible.)

WBS Penguins third jerseyRegular readers know about my disdain for the baseless love the hockey world seems to possess for the Hawks' primary logo and jerseys. Why is it considered by so many to be the best? (None of your reasons will satisfy me so don't bother.)

Still, I was floored by last season's Winter Classic offering. That was a Blackhawks jersey I could get behind. I was even more impressed the decision to promote it to alternate for 2009-10. The more it's used, the better.

But nothing should be on the front of that jersey except for that classic Chicago mark — least of all this ridiculous penguin. Oh well. What can we do?

The team says the new threads will be worn for at least 10 home games this season. Interesting because the AHL usually wears darks on the road, right?

Thanks to Alex for sending in the link on this one. 

Amerks Unveil New Jerseys!

As expected, the AHL's Rochester Americans unveiled their new jerseys for the 2009-10 season at a press conference on Friday afternoon.

Basically, the Amerks are switching back to the same design they wore prior to the Age of Reebok. However, these are still Edge jerseys. Let's not get crazy now.

This photo was provided via the team's web site.

Rochester Americans unveil new jerseys

The Amerks were stuck with red jerseys when the change to Reebok was originally initiated.

Amerks' old red sweaterFor reference, to the right is a shot of Jason Garrison from last season. Clearly the threads above are a major improvement. Rochester has worn blue for as long as I can remember so the change was certainly odd.

Not only is the blue back, but the piping is gone from both sweaters and the horizontal stripes have returned. Guess Reebok decided to incorporate those lousy elements for no other reason than to promote themselves.

According to the web site, the blue road jerseys were last worn during the 2005-06 campaign. It's certainly nice to see that they're back.

One unrelated note now. The Icethetics Season Preview is just over a week away. It's a week-long event which you may remember from last season. Things kick off on Monday, September 21.

It's got everything you need to know to start the season — new logos, new jerseys — everything!

The next phase of the IceHL Project will be announced that day as well.

Amerks to Unveil New Unis

The minor league news seems to just keep coming lately. The AHL's Rochester Americans will unveil brand new home and road sweaters for the 2009-10 season, according to a blog that covers the team.

A post today on Let's Go Amerks! says the team will debut the new jerseys at a press conference on Friday, September 11 at 3 PM. The Americans will apparently be revisiting a classic look which is expected to be welcomed by most fans.

The team will be wearing white, blue, and stars and stripes jerseys for the 2009/2010 season. The white and blue jerseys will have the horizontal striping around the bottom of the jerseys. The stars and stripes jerseys are expected to be the same or similar to the ones the team wore during the 1995/1996 Calder Cup Championship season.

Icethetics will have coverage on Friday. So drop by to see pictures as soon as they are available.

B-Sens Unveil New Sweaters!

I've got some verified minor league news for you this evening. The AHL's Binghamton Senators unveiled brand new jerseys this week which will be worn for the 2009-10 season.

Our first look at them comes by way of FOX 40 WICZ in Binghamton, New York. The jerseys were on display at an event welcoming new coach Don Nachbaur. Icethetics reader Alex writes in with a few still frames from the video.

Binghamton Senators new road, home and preseason jerseys

Despite the use of the alternate logo on these home and road sweaters, I'm told the B-Sens will not be changing their primary logo from the big toothy one at the top of this post.

As for the black jersey on the right, Alex tells me he was able to get a better look at the placard in front of it. It's apparently not a third jersey but rather for 2009 preseason use only. That's interesting.

If you'd like to see the full length video from which the above still frames were grabbed, look no further. FOX 40 has made it available via YouTube.

The Lesser of Two Evils

With each passing season, I'm becoming more concerned over the unwritten rule that says minor league specialty jerseys have to make players look like clowns. I mean it couldn't be more literal than with the most recent entry into the club.

The Albany River Rats recently revealed the results of a poll allowing fans to choose which jersey design the team would wear for Ronald McDonald House Night. Perhaps it would be difficult to create a theme jersey around Ronald McDonald without looking clownish, but this is unbelievable.

Albany River Rats specialty jersey for 2009-10

I'm willing to look beyond this poorly made graphic (HOuse) but professional hockey players — grown men — will be wearing this outside the confines a McDonald's restaurant and without the security of identity-disguising make-up.

The winning design features a yellow body with white shoulders and red trim. Albany’s primary logo is emblazoned on the front of the sweater and Ronald McDonald House Charity patches are displayed on each shoulder. The jersey will be worn with red pants and with Ronald McDonald’s signature candy-cane sox.

All proceeds will benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Capital Region.

At this point you may be thinking, "Well, the fans made their own bed. They had an online vote and this is what they chose." But you don't have all the information. Why don't we take a look at their options?

 

As you can see, the fans clearly went with the lesser of two evils. "Classy" was not an option for the good people of Albany. On the second choice, I count 31 stripes! Seriously!

The first design was obviously created with Reebok Edge in mind while the other was not. Let's talk about that second one. Not only are stripes like that apt to induce seizures, but it inexplicably carries the storm flag stripe of their NHL parent team (the Hurricanes) across the mid-section. Relevance?

Given the choice of bad or indescribably bad, I would've voted the same was the River Rats' fans. But that doesn't make it right. We need to figure out a way to get minor league clubs to let Icethetics artists take a stab at these one-off sweaters if for no other reason than to avoid this kind of trainwreck on an annual basis.

We know specialty jerseys like this are a necessary evil in the minors. They don't have the kind of huge, established fan bases that NHL teams enjoy. For one thing, they tend to be in areas with smaller populations. To keep the team financially viable against those odds, they have to become a big part of the community. That means charity nights are important. 

But they don't have to look like this! This is where you guys come in. I'm challenging Icethetics readers to design a River Rats jersey with a Ronald McDonald House theme that doesn't look ridiculous. It'll be difficult, but it can be done. I'll post worthy concepts here.