Hershey Gets New Jerseys

As I mentioned last night on Twitter, there is an awful lot going on in the minors these days. Time to get everyone caught up. We'll begin with the AHL and work our way down.

The Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears have unveiled brand new sweaters for the 2009-10 season. They did so yesterday on their official web site — while I was busy with the Wild third jersey leak.

The Bears made the switch to the Reebok Edge style uniforms two seasons ago and were one of the few teams that kept changes to a minimum — HERSHEY placed diagonally down the front of the chocolate jerseys and BEARS down the front of the white ones. Those designs are no more.

Hershey Bears' new jerseys for 2009-10

The home and road sweaters will now place the team's primary logo front and center, while reserving a new text-based design for the alternate jersey. The new third takes its inspiration from the Dallas Stars' with the city name arched above the player's number.

The Bears have also announced the launch of the new sweaters will take place during their season opener in October.

The make of the jersey has remained the same, but the appearance has changed. Anyone looking to purchase one of the new jerseys can do so on opening night, October 3. As always, fans can customize their jerseys to have specific names on the back.

Thanks to James for the tip.

Moving right along now to the ECHL. The Ontario Reign will play host to the league's 2010 All-Star Game. It was announced yesterday that the logo for the event will be unveiled this Friday at 1 PM EST.

The Citizens Business Bank Arena will play host to the 18th ECHL All-Star Game which takes place on January 20, 2010. The event is sponsored by Reebok. No word on whether the All-Star jerseys will be debuted on Friday as well.

We'll finish up our look at the minors with the QMJHL. As you know the league is switching over to the Reebok Edge uniforms this season. Scotty from Hockeybums tells me the plan is for the league and Reebok to unveil all of the remaining uniforms on September 9. Not a hard date to remember — 09/09/09.

One more item now regarding the London Knights.

London Knights in their Euro jerseys

The Knights will be hosting the Euro Can Cup in which they and other participating teams will don European-style jerseys — as seen above. It's a rather awful sight. Organizers are hoping for it to be a success. I'm hoping it's not if for no other reason than those terrible uniforms.

You can read more about the event at the London Free Press. If you'd like to punish yourself by looking at more pictures of these jerseys, click here.

Wild 3rd Jersey Leaked!

We're getting our first look this morning at the Minnesota Wild's brand new third jersey — just five days before the official unveiling. The new sweaters are scheduled to make their public debut on Sunday at the Minnesota State Fair. Icethetics has a sneak peek right now.

Minnesota Wild new third jerseyI believe this is Brent Burns modeling the new sweater here to the right (correct me if I'm wrong). The photo is part of the background image on the Wild's forthcoming redesigned web site. Since the jersey won't be unveiled until Sunday, the new site will have to wait at least until then. 

Meantime, this is what we've been hearing about from the Wild and it's hard not to be impressed. As I said, Minnesota was the team I felt had the farthest to fall in terms of third jerseys for 2009. They have such a great (albeit short) history that it would've been very easy to ruin this one.

The minute amount of red works in its favor. We wanted a green sweater and we got a green sweater. The striping is dead-on, reminiscent of the 2004 All-Star jersey. And the only thing I might change is probably the thin piping around the shoulders.

Aside from that, I don't think there's anything else to improve. It's what most of us were hoping for. Easy on the red, heavy on the green.

By the way, so you have an idea where this came from, here is the full background image that will be featured on the new site — probably next week.

Wild's new web site background

Got an opinion on the Wild's new third? Share it in the comments. And check back on Sunday for more photos from the official unveiling.

Update on Tuesday · Aug 25 · 2009 | 9:52 PM PDT by Chris

While not mentioned by name, Icethetics was featured on Minneapolis TV tonight for the Wild third jersey leak.

Thanks to KSTP for the shoutout!

Update on Sunday · Aug 30 · 2009 | 12:43 PM PDT by Chris

This jersey has now been officially unveiled by the Wild. Click here for more photos and information.

Wild, Avs 3rd Jersey Info

The Minnesota Wild have announced the dates for the official unveiling of of their new third jersey as well as its on-ice debut, according to their web site.

The Wild will offer fans a first look at the new green sweater on Sunday, August 30 at the Minnesota State Fair. It will then debut on Wednesday, October 21 when they face the Avs — who will also be getting a new third jersey (scroll down for more on that).

The National Hockey League’s (NHL) Minnesota Wild announced today that the club will introduce a new third jersey for the upcoming 2009-10 NHL season on Sunday, Aug. 30 at 12:30 p.m. at the Minnesota State Fair’s FAN Central building.

Minnesota’s new third jersey will be unveiled on stage in front of the FAN Central building starting at 12:30 p.m. The event will include Wild players and Nordy. The Wild’s State Fair booth will be located in the new FAN Central building this year at the intersection of Dan Patch Avenue and Underwood Street.

Minnesota is scheduled to wear its new third jerseys in a game for the first time on Wednesday, Oct. 21 against the Colorado Avalanche.

Not mentioned in this release is the fact that Derek Boogaard will be modeling the new sweater at the event. I'm sure there will be pictures and you can count on Icethetics to do all the heavy lifting for you.

I also added a countdown to the sidebar since we have an actual date! Just 11 days to go...

Now comes the time when I have to eat my words. It doesn't happen too often, but when I do make a mistake, I own up to it. Most of you read my initial reaction to the rumored leak of the Avs' new third jersey. Out of embarrassment, I won't link to it (you can find it), but I basically called it a sham.

I have come into new information that now has me 99% convinced that the rendering originally posted at the SportsLogos.net forums, and later picked up by Mile High Hockey, the Denver Post and Icethetics (damn!), is actually rather accurate.

To protect my source (whose first name is Matt), I won't go into detail, but let's just say, more or less (emphasis on more), this is what the Avalanche will be wearing on several occasions this coming season.

Yep, this will be the Avs' new third jersey

So, to Matt and everyone else who counts on Icethetics for solid information, I sincerely apologize for my rush to judgment. If you guys got some of the emails I get on a daily basis, you'd be cynical too. But it's no excuse. There you have it.

Now, regarding the jersey itself, I think it'll be nice to see the Avs in blue — a subtle nod to their franchise's history perhaps? Burgundy is undeniably the color most associated with the Avalanche, but isn't the purpose of a third jersey to experiment with your look? To color outside the lines?

Based on earlier comments, I know many of you aren't so thrilled about the sweater, but all I can say is give it a chance. And don't rush to judgment the way I did. Wait until you see it on the ice.

And that's my take on that. Later tonight, I'll get to those pictures of the new Team USA jerseys. I'm trying collect the cream of the crop as there doesn't seem to be any official source the way there was for Team Canada.

I also promised to post all of the other Ice Bulls submissions that came in. They'll be up at some point tonight. Over 25 different artists sent in artwork in less than a week! Icethetics readers/designers really are the best around! Also, if you haven't seen it yet, head to IceBulls.org to see the team's new logo.

Alleged Avalanche Leak

There's a story that's been making its way around the web today regarding an alleged leak of the Colorado Avalanche's third jersey.

It started with a post this morning at Mile High Hockey — an Avs blog — and continued on to Denver Post beat writer Adrian Dater's blog All Things Avs. Here at Icethetics, I see this sort of concept art all the time. Rarely have I seen it picked up by so many other blogs before my own (that should tell you something).

For reference, this is the design in question, which originated at the SportsLogos.net message boards.

Avalanche third jersey concept

It's a new take on the burgundy alternate sweaters from several years ago. David at Mile High Hockey is not taking a hard line on the legitimacy of this rumor, but he does sound confident in its source.

Being a bit of a jersey geek, I am familiar with the, uh, "fluorescent" poster who made the mock up from a camera phone pic he says he took of the jersey. I spoke to him a little yesterday and while I haven't seen firsthand evidence of the jerseys, I'm pretty confident this individual has seen the above jersey in person.

If it is the 3rd, I have to admit it's not that bad. I was fearful the fine folks at RBK would find a way to come up with something even more ridiculous than the horrible uniprons they've foisted on us. The above mock up may not be the best looking jersey in the world, but it's a vast improvement over what the team is wearing now. I assume that blue is Nordique blue, a nice nod that many have been suggesting.

I think the Quebec connection is a bit of a stretch, but he may be right in assuming that, if true, these would probably be nice-looking sweaters. The burgundy ones sure were sharp.

I've done some research and asked around among my usual sources and, basically, I can't confirm or deny it. That being said, my gut reaction, based on over two years of tracking this type of news, tells me something is fishy. But when isn't it, right?

Anyway, it all remains to be seen but I thought I'd at least mention it here because of the coverage its getting. Share your thoughts below on this latest rumor.

Team Canada Jerseys Unveiled!

Not that it should surprise anyone, but Team Canada's 2010 Olympics jerseys were officially unveiled today — confirming the leaked pictures first posted on Icethetics last week.

Hockey Canada has gone all out with an entire section of its web site dedicated to the new sweaters. Click here to see it. You can see a detailed version of the crest, download desktop wallpapers featuring the jerseys and the new crest, and even check out past Team Canada jerseys.

The official photos of the jerseys provided on HockeyCanada.ca give us a much better look at the overall design.

Personally, I think I favor the white one for its attention to contrast. Notice how you can clearly make out the leaf crest.

And, of course, for your viewing pleasure, the new crest in all its glory.

One more thing. At the risk of coming off as self-serving, I'd like to encourage Icethetics fans who plan to purchase either or both of these jerseys to show your support by clicking on the IceJerseys.com link and buying from them. They've got great prices and the small amount of money Icethetics makes from ads goes a long way to keeping the site running. And hey, just remember where you saw this jersey first, right?

Enough with that.

Team USA also unveiled their 2010 Olympic jerseys today but I have yet to come across any decent photos worth sharing on the blog. In the meantime, there are a couple of low-quality cell phone pictures I posted on Twitter. When better photos are available, I'll have them here.