Checkers Get New Uniforms

Following the lead of their NHL parent club in Raleigh, the AHL's Charlotte Checkers unveiled new uniforms on Wednesday. The redesigned sweaters are based on those of the Carolina Hurricanes, who revealed their look to the world on June 4.

Photos from Charlotte Checkers (via Flickr)

On first glance, it looks like they duplicated the Canes and swapped out the crest. But first glances can be deceiving. There are more differences than that and some are key to making this uniform work for Charlotte in a way it didn't for Raleigh.

By now you've probably read my review of what Carolina did. Overall, it wasn't great. But the Checkers have changed some details that really make their version easier to swallow. So let's go through them. The Checkers have made this very easy, outlining the differences on their website.

Some differences between the Hurricanes and Checkers' new jerseys

First, and most obvious is the black stripe on the red Checkers jersey. Come on Carolina, how hard would that have been? It wouldn't saved all the Team Canada grief you've gotten over the last week and a half. Then there's the lace-up collar on the white jersey. This isn't a big deal for me. A lot of folks bemoaned the non-matching home-and-roads in Carolina. I kind of liked that.

The Checkers also have a shoulder patch, something the Canes went without. Of course it's the standard Hurricanes logo, but at least it's something. Other changes pointed out on the Checkers' website include the Checkers retaining the shiny silver on the crest while Carolina opted for a matte finish. And, naturally, the collar doesn't have a row of storm flags like it does for the Hurricanes.

Photo from Charlotte Checkers (via Flickr)

The reason I like Charlotte's version better is quite simply the black stripe on the red sweater and the shoulder patches. Seemingly minor details can turn out to be important.

And there's something else. The Checkers identity dates back to the 1950s in the old Eastern Hockey League. That's about 60 years of history there. Because of that, a traditional-style hockey uniform works for them in a way it doesn't for the 16-year-old Hurricanes. Plus, it never made sense for them to wear those storm flags around their waist like it did for their parent club. Moreso now that the Canes themselves stopped using that particular feature.

So for Charlotte, this is an impressive upgrade to the look. They will be one of the AHL's best-looking teams in 2013. How can two teams wear jerseys so similar and yet look so different? Now you know. 

More photos of the new Checkers uniforms on Flickr

The Checkers have posted a series of artsy shots of their new uniforms on Flickr. I highly recommend taking a peek. There's also a video if you're interested in seeing the jerseys in motion.

Your turn. Did the Checkers make the right move? Share your take in the comments.

Draft Day Checklist

It's NHL draft day and a handful of teams around the Hockeyverse have jerseys and logos to unveil at some point tonight. So what good would Icethetics be if it didn't offer you a checklist of what's coming?

So here's how the schedule shakes out:

• 5:30 PM - Doors open at the New York Islanders Draft Party, where John Tavares, Matt Moulson and Trevor Gillies will be on hand to officially unveil and model the team's new white road sweater. A raffle will give fans the chance to go home with these jerseys right off the guys' backs, complete with a fresh autograph. [details]
• 6:00 PM - The AHL's Charlotte Checkers are unveiling their new uniforms at a draft day party at Buffalo Wild Wings in Charlotte. It's widely expected they will adopt a uniform design similar to that of their new NHL affiliate, the Carolina Hurricanes. [details]
• 7:00 PM - Hockey Greenville will unveil the name of its new ECHL franchise, formerly known as the Johnstown Chiefs. An email sent to fans today doesn't specifically say whether colors or a logo will also be revealed, but it is expected. The event takes place at the Hyatt Regency Plaza in downtown Greenville. [details]

Did I miss anything? Drop me a line if so. Otherwise, these are the new logo and sweaters we're keeping an eye out for tonight.

Update on Friday · Jun 25 · 2010 | 4:08 PM PDT by Chris

It's just after 7 PM and we can check everything off of our Draft Day Checklist above.

Islanders unveil new road sweater

Islanders unveil new road sweaterThe New York Islanders unveiled their new road jersey at their Draft Party tonight.

As promised, last year's No. 1 overall pick John Tavares was on hand to model it alongside Matt Moulson and Trevor Gillies. A couple of photos were posted to the Islanders' Facebook page.

As expected, the new sweater is a white version of the blue jersey introduced two years ago as an alternate uniform. Both are throwbacks to sweaters worn by the Isles during the first 20 years of their existence — colors and all.

Charlotte Checkers unveil 3 jerseys

Checkers unveil new uniformsThe AHL's Charlotte Checkers have unveiled their new home, road and third uniforms along with a special alternate logo.

They did so at their NHL draft party tonight in Charlotte. And as predicted, the home and road jerseys are carbon copies of what their NHL affiliate Carolina Hurricanes wear.

There was a surprise, though, that came by way of the third jersey. The black sweater features a brand new logo, which combines elements of Checkers and Hurricanes identities — incorporating the Canes' red storm flag.

Checkers' new alternate logoThe jerseys and logo were revealed by way of the Checkers' Twitter account tonight. The team has planned an overhaul of its website in July. While it currently features relevant news, the design is a carryover from their recent years in the ECHL when their colors were blue and red.

And on a personal note, I have to say I'm impressed with the new logo. Yes, it may seem weird that a polar bear is carrying a tropical storm flag on a hockey stick, but I just think the mark itself looks great!

The integration is nice so long as the Checkers and Hurricanes remain affiliated. When/if that ends, the logo becomes obsolete since, again, it's a polar bear with a tropical storm flag.

Greenville welcomes Road Warriors

The Greenville Road Warriors was revealed as the long-awaited name of the newest member of the ECHL tonight.

The team's name colors and logo were unveiled in an announcement by owner Neil Smith to fans in Greenville at the big event and on the club's new website, greenvilleroadwarriors.com.

A press release on that new site explained the symbolism of the team's name and colors, as chosen by the fans among the more than 5,000 name-the-team entries:

The name pays tribute to Greenville-Spartanburg’s current day business and cultural presence, while the logo features an intimidating warrior ready for battle. With the highway behind him, the fearless fighter appears on the road to victory.

The area hosts an integral piece of the South’s growing automotive industry — BMW manufacturing, tire manufacturer Michelin and Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research all make enormous contributions to the local economy — as well as a large and supportive communities geared towards cycling and race car enthusiasts.

Additionally, the team’s blue, white and copper colors mirror items unique to South Carolina. The blue and white represent the colors in the South Carolina state flag, while the copper highlights are similar to the sunset found on the state’s license plate — and typically on the horizon.

It wouldn't have been my first choice, but I don't live in Greenville. And you know what? It's better than Grrrowl. Isn't it?

Minor League Notes, No Joke

I have a big JerseyWatch update coming tomorrow. Not posting it today for obvious reasons. No one would believe me. Instead, just a few minor minor league notes. First, a new logo was unveiled yesterday!

The AHL's Syracuse Crunch officially unveiled their new colors just a week after announcing a new affiliation agreement with the Anaheim Ducks. The Crunch's tweaked logo now matches their new parent club.

The revised logo features the club’s classic moniker depicting the face of an ice gorilla biting through a hockey stick with the word ‘CRUNCH’ emblazoned in ice block letters above him and showcases the new team colors of black, ice blue, metallic gold and burnt orange.

In addition, the Crunch will unveil a brand new uniform design that includes the new team colors in the upcoming weeks.

What the team doesn't mention in that release is the color in the gloves of the ice gorilla, which are neither metallic gold nor burnt orange. Looks to be some kind of brownish gray.

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When the ECHL's Johnstown Chiefs franchise makes the move to Greenville, S.C. this summer, the team will allow fans to pick the new name.

Team owner and GM Neil Smith said the Chiefs name will be staying in Johnstown and a name-the-team contest will be held, according to the Greenville News. The newspaper also said "the horrendous moniker Grrrowl will not be back." We can all breathe easy now.

Greenville is hopeful that hockey will be a success again as it once was. After all, they've seen the Kelly Cup in that town. And everybody likes a winner.

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Finally, Icethetics reader Chip pointed me toward Dan Krieger's Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report at OurSportsCentral. Krieger keeps tabs on all the goings-on with the often on-the-move minor league clubs. A couple of things stood out in his reports from the last couple of weeks.

With the Albany River Rats moving to Charlotte at the end of the season, it looks as if the Lowell Devils could replace them — returning the New Jersey Devils-owned affiliate to New York's capital city.

Krieger had the following in his report:

Now that the AHL's Portland Pirates have ended negotiations about a move to Albany (NY) for next season, Albany is reported to be negotiating with the Lowell (MA) Devils, the AHL affiliate of the New Jersey Devils in the National Hockey League.

The Devils had their AHL affiliate in Albany operating as the River Rats for 13 seasons before moving it to Lowell and purchasing the Lock Monsters for the 2006-07 season. The Albany River Rats have been affiliated with the Carolina Hurricanes since 2006, but Carolina is moving its AHL affiliate to Charlotte next season.

If that happens, the name would likely change to Albany Devils. However, I'm not sure if they'd bother changing the logo, despite the fairly obvious L it forms. We'll have to wait and see how it all pans out.

Krieger also reported that one group was attempting to bring back the ECHL's Charlotte Checkers franchise as the San Diego Gulls for the 2010-11 season. Evidently, those plans have fallen through.

The Checkers' name and logo will be appropriated to the AHL's River Rats when they move to Charlotte next season. That means the ECHL team will likely be disbanded this summer.

The Gulls played one season in the ECHL after it merged with the West Coast Hockey League.

Checking In With the AHL

The Charlotte Checkers are making preparations to check into a new league next fall as they jump from ECHL to AHL. That means the unveiling of a new logo — in a way.

Here's the scoop in a nutshell. The Carolina Hurricanes want their top farm club, the AHL's Albany River Rats, to be geographically closer. So decisions were made to get the team relocated from upstate New York to Charlotte, North Carolina — a quick, 45-minute flight from Raleigh (or about three hours if you're driving).

Basically, the owner of the ECHL's Charlotte Checkers bought the Albany club and will move it to North Carolina, transferring the name of his ECHL franchise. So the Albany River Rats become the Charlotte Checkers this fall and will keep the Checkers' current logo, with some color alterations. It will now match the Hurricanes in black and red, as seen in this banner from the Checkers' AHL website.

Not a big surprise. Is the color change an improvement? More of a lateral move, in my opinion. An article on the Checkers' website discussing the move to the AHL had this to say:

The Checkers have also announced that they will change their logo and uniform colors to match those of the Hurricanes. The team went through an entire rebranding before the 2007-08 season and will simply change colors and incorporate the Hurricanes trademark. The details of these changes will be revealed at a later date.

When they say they will "incorporate the Hurricanes trademark," I assume that just means Carolina's logo will be used on the shoulder — a common affiliate practice. The logo in the banner above is likely the final artwork for the Checkers' updated logo. If anything changes, I'll let you know.

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I'm keeping an eye on some other AHL jersey news.

Wolf Pack jersey design by Mike IvallThe Hartford Wolf Pack seem to have skipped a scheduled specialty jersey event last weekend.

I only bring it up because the jersey was the result of a fan contest won by a frequent Icethetics concept art contributor named Mike Ivall.

According to the Pack's website, the March of Dimes promotion and jersey auction was scheduled for (and took place) Feb. 26 and 27. Only the jerseys auctioned were not the one's Mike designed.

Photo albums posted on the team's Facebook page from the games on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27 clearly show the players wearing their standard white sweaters. I'm assuming it's those that were auctioned off following the weekend's games.

I have emails in both to Mike and the Wolf Pack about the situation. If I get any answers, I'll be sure to share them. In the meantime, if anyone else knows what's up, we'd love to hear about it.

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Last bit of AHL news for the night. John writes in to let us know that during the Olympic break, a couple of American clubs wore specially-designed jerseys modeled after those worn by the United States in 1980 as a tribute to the "Miracle on Ice" team.

Admirals "miracle" jerseyInstead of USA, the Milwaukee Admirals' red, white and blue tribute duds read ADS.

But to everyone in the stands, it must've felt like they were at the Olympics too. (Right?)

The Admirals wore these special sweaters on Feb. 19 and 21 and then auctioned them off afterward to benefit the Power Play Foundation.

In case you were wondering, they were good luck as the Ads won both games, beating the Houston Aeros 2-0 on Friday and the Rockford IceHogs 4-1 on Sunday.

It's a neat tribute and it makes me wonder if it's been done before — or if they were just waiting for a nice, round-number anniversary. But then I feel like all these one-off specialty jerseys are just now becoming more commonplace in the minors. Am I mistaken about that?

Phantoms "miracle" jerseyThe Adirondack Phantoms, who recently relocated from Philadelphia, also wore similar jerseys. Theirs read ADK in lieu of USA.

Unlike the Ads, for which I was able to find loads of information thanks to their incredible and easy to use website, I can't seem to track down any details on when (if) these were worn.

I'm assuming it would've been between Feb. 16 and 28 but then again this is not a game action photo so I can't be sure. Any Phantoms fans out there that care to fill us in?

Anyway, that wraps things up for tonight. Get excited for the new logo tournaments! Voting kicks off on Monday!

Update on Sunday · Mar 7 · 2010 | 7:48 AM PST by Chris

Phantoms goalie in 1980 USA replicaDoes Icethetics have the best readers or what?

A commenter called chaosof99 added a link with details and even a photo showing the Adirondack Phantoms in action wearing their 1980 Olympic throwback jersey.

The Phantoms wore that jersey in a 3-2 win over the Norfolk Admirals on the 26th of February. Broad Street Hockey got an action shot too.

Good to know.

Another Icethetics reader told me he thought the Lake Erie Monsters either did something similar or plan to, with regard to this 1980 USA throwbacks.

I can't find any details to support that, but I can tell you the Monsters' Pink in the Rink night is March 19.

Update on Monday · Mar 8 · 2010 | 7:20 AM PST by Chris

A representative from the Hartford Wolf Pack tells me that Mike Ivall's contest-winning specialty jersey will now be worn on April 10 for the last home game of the season.

The Minor League Report

It's been a busy week for me outside of Icethetics. So I have a bunch of minor league jersey news to get through this afternoon.

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Checkers and Canes join forcesOn Wednesday, it was officially announced that the AHL's Albany River Rats will be moving to North Carolina this fall, at the urging of their NHL affiliate, Carolina Hurricanes.

The club has been sold to Michael Kahn, owner of the ECHL's Charlotte Checkers. The River Rats will begin play in 2010-11 in Charlotte under the Checkers name, competing in the American Hockey League.

It's not clear what will happen to the ECHL franchise and its players. Capital District Sports CEO Garen Szablewski is efforting a team back to Albany for 2010 — hoping for an AHL franchise, using the River Rats name. I don't know the odds of that happening but it does appear there will be a couple dozen ECHLers without a team to play for when all this goes through.

Why is this Icethetics news? It will mean a new logo and jerseys in the AHL. No word yet on whether they're keeping the ECHL look, but it's a good one so they probably will.

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Glads dress as Knights on pink iceSpeaking of the Checkers, they're playing the ECHL's Gwinnett Gladiators this weekend, who are knocking out two promotions at once.

It's Pink in the Rink Weekend, where the ice has gotten a nice cotton candy-colored coating. And they're celebrating minor league hockey history in Georgia's capital by wearing black and powder blue throwback jerseys in honor of the old Atlanta Knights of the IHL.

Gladiators' Knights throwback jerseyAs you can see here, they've kept the logo pretty much the same, changing only the team name, obviously. If you want to see more pictures of this one-time jersey, check out the Gladiators on Facebook.

And for the record, the Knights hold a special place in my heart as they were the original minor league affiliate of my Tampa Bay Lightning. That team saw the likes of ex-Bolts such as Cory Cross, Stan Drulia, Shawn Chambers, Roman Hamrlik, and even Brent Gretzky.

They went to the playoffs all four years they spent in Atlanta and even won the Turner Cup as league champions in their second season of existence. Why that couldn't translate to wins for the big club is beyond me. But they moved to Quebec to become the Rafales in 1996 and folded after two seasons.

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I promise to be less verbose for these last two items.

Rebels specialty jerseyThe WHL's Red Deer Rebels will be wearing specially-designed jerseys on Friday, February 19 for Jerseys Off Our Backs Night.

You can see it modeled here in the photo (right) by the Rebels captain Colin Archer.

The proceeds from the jersey auction will benefit Ronald McDonald House Central Alberta. If you want to watch a brief video about the event, the Red Deer Advocate has you covered.

Fans will be able to bid on jerseys throughout the game. Winners will be led down to center ice to claim their sweaty prize following the game.

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And finally, the OHL's Sudbury Wolves held their Pink in the Rink event this week with great success. They raised over $30,000 for the Janis Foligno Foundation and breast cancer research.

The Wolves' web site claims this is a photo gallery, but I can't seem to make it work. If anyone else has any luck, let me know. In the meantime, there's this.