Photoblog: Sharp Sweaters in Puget Sound

Later this week, the NHL lockout will become real. Tangible. Those season tickets sitting on your kitchen counter. They'll be worthless. You can take them to the rink. But they won't get you in. And even if they did, there'd be nothing to see.

I may live three hours away from the nearest NHL arena and thousands of miles away from my team, but it'll become real for me just the same when I endure the futility of trying to tune in on opening night. So in an effort to satisfy my hockey craving before any of that ugliness happens, I bought tickets to see some unadulterated WHL action.

Wow.

It was quite a night. What follows is a photoblog about my experience at Saturday's game at ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington as the Seattle Thunderbirds hosted the Everett Silvertips.

My last (and first) WHL game — a year ago to the day, as a matter of fact — was in Victoria between the newly-minted Royals and the Medicine Hat Tigers. Let's just say it didn't leave a lot of lasting memories.

Not only couldn't I tell you the score without looking it up, but I don't even remember who won or much of anything about that game. (The Royals lost 4-2.) So I must admit I wasn't exactly holding my breath for this one. As sad as that sounds.

Then the teams skated out. And I got a shock. Neither was wearing the jersey I expected. And as a guy who runs a website dedicated to the subject, the surprise was strange. Actually, it felt good. I didn't think I could be surprised by these things anymore. But it also hammered home the point that I don't cover the major juniors very well. (I'm working to fix that.)

Connor Honey and the T-Birds were sporting their two-tone blue alternate jersey, which is actually entering its second season. It debuted last fall — a fact I might've known had I bothered to go to any Seattle games last season. (No, apparently, I had to go all the way to Canada to watch a game that's played in my backyard.) But anyway, the jerseys looked positively phenomenal.

On the other side of Jesse Forsberg, the Silvertips were wearing a white jersey I'd never seen.

That's team captain Ryan Murray, wearing a unique C patch on his chest. If not for the lockout, I probably wouldn't have seen him. After being drafted by the Blue Jackets back in June, he was on track to make the NHL this season, I'm told. Instead, Murray was sporting a shiny new Silvertips sweater.

Turns out, it's not a third jersey as I briefly suspected. The Silvertips are celebrating their 10th anniversary this season with specially-designed home and road jerseys. (Which were unveiled two months ago.) And they looked "grrreat" on the ice as well.

Lest you think I'm only interested in looking at the jerseys during a hockey game, let me assure you I was very much into it. This game had it all. There was fast-paced action, lots of goals, drama, a penalty shot, and yes... even a couple of fights. This is hockey.

That's Michal Holub and Ben Betker getting friendly in the second period — which ended 2-2. After an early lull between two teams with losing records and the home team trailing for most of the game, something happened. The third period started.

I don't know how he did it, but coach Steve Konowalchuk lit a fire under his Thunderbirds. One goal after another, the T-Birds came roaring back. Alexander Delnov scored four minutes in for a 3-2 lead — making up for a missed penalty shot in the first period. Not 30 seconds later, team captain Luke Lockhart followed up with an insurance marker. And before it was all said and done, Shea Theodore notched a power-play goal (his second of the night!) and cemented the 5-2 Seattle victory.

A celebration well-earned.

Maybe I've been unfairly judging the WHL on one lackluster game I went to a year ago. If this is more like the sort of hockey one can expect on a regular basis from this league, count me in! (Especially if this lockout persists and there are no Lightning games to watch.)

And by the way, if any T-Birds fans are reading, you guys are awesome! The Royals didn't have the kind of support you brought Saturday — and they're in Canada. I especially liked the "Everett sucks" chant after the goals. (I'm eager to head up to Comcast Arena and see what the north sound crowd is like.)

Finally, if you were hoping for a closer look at the Thunderbirds' third jersey crest, I've got you covered. It's a sharp jersey, and if replicas had been available in the arena shop, I would've bought one. But at $300, an authentic was a bit too rich for me.

The Thunderbirds tell me the alternate uniform was designed by their in-house graphic artist Brian Eldridge.

Now here's to seeing more WHL games in the near future!

All photos © Chris Smith

Giants Pay Tribute to 1945 Canucks

The WHL's Vancouver Giants opened the 2012-13 season by honoring the original Vancouver Canucks hockey club. The Giants wore special uniforms, modeled after what the 1945 Canucks — who recently joined the BC Sports Hall of Fame.

The jerseys were unveiled on Mon., Sept. 17 and then on Fri., Sept. 21, the Giants faced the Victoria Royals wearing blue instead of their iconic red. But let's be honest, they looked better than a lot of NHL teams do. This is a hockey uniform.

Despite the nice sweaters, the Giants lost 6-4 to the Royals that night. There are more pictures from the game on the Giants' website.

The original Vancouver Canucks debuted in 1945 in the Pacific Coast Hockey Leauge, which became known as the Western Hockey League in 1952. The Canucks won their fifth championship title in 1970 before giving up their identity to an NHL expansion team.

Marlies Get Three New Sweaters

At the end of last week, the AHL's Toronto Marlies revamped their uniform set across the board, adding new home and road jerseys as well as the sharp new third jersey seen above.

On Saturday, the Marlies hosted an event for season ticket holders and unveiled this retro alternate uniform, which is a tribute to the Toronto Marlboros — an organization that's been around for nearly 110 years. (They currently exist as the OHL's Guelph Storm, actually.) The Marlies produced this video to explain that history.

For those without video, here's the transcript:

The Toronto Marlboros are deeply enriched in Canada's hockey history, with a focus on developing talent since franchise inception in 1903. The Toronto Marlboros have been home to hockey's elite, including George Armstrong, Ron Ellis, Mike Palmateer, Charlie Conacher, Steve Thomas and many more. Now, the symbol worn proudly on their chests, become a beacon of hope for today's Toronto Marlies. With a nod to our past, it's time to turn our eyes to the future with the official unveiling of the Toronto Marlies' third jersey. 

It's insightful if you can look past the bad writing. For example, the first line says "enriched in Canada's hockey history" when they obviously meant "entrenched" (and even then, there are more appropriate terms such as "rooted"). But none of that is the point of this post. I'm just being a grammar snob.

I say it's insightful because I truthfully didn't know anything about this team or where its name came from. I never took the time to look into it either, but I guess that's the point. I always enjoy learning about the history of hockey franchises in Canada. There's just so much there.

Prior to the third jersey unveiling, on Thursday the Marlies gave us our first official look at their new home and road uniforms — which aren't exactly a huge departure from what they've been wearing.

This change was simply to put their look more in line with that of their parent club, the Toronto Maple Leafs — who made some upgrades in 2010. All that really means is the collar has changed and a pair of waist stripes have been added.

So while technically the Marlies will be sporting three new jerseys this season, they won't really be sporting anything "new" this season. It's all about recognizing where they come from (Marlboros) and where they're going (Maple Leafs, hopefully, right?).

Hard for this team to go wrong with sweaters like these. What do you guys think? 

Update on Monday · Oct 1 · 2012 | 7:03 PM PDT by Chris

The Marlies posted another video on their Facebook page today from Saturday's unveiling.

The Lake Erie Monsters of Cleveland

The AHL's Lake Erie Monsters want you to know that they play in Cleveland, Ohio. So much so, in fact, that they've added the city's name to their logo. It's a Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim kind of situation we have here in the minors now.

By all accounts, the team name has not changed. They're still the Lake Erie Monsters, but on Sept. 18, they unveiled new jerseys featuring a revised crest — Cleveland has been added to the bottom of the logo. The revised primary mark is now in use on the team's online outlets as well.

The Monsters logo, which has been with the team since the original launch in 2007, will now include “Cleveland” written into it below the “Monsters” wordmark. Moving forward, this logo will be seen on all uniforms, including home, road and alternate.  The home white jerseys have also been revised for the 2012-13 season.

Aside from the crest, the road jersey isn't changing. And the alternate uniform is also getting the updated design.

Now Cleveland, help me out here. This logo revision just seems silly. What's really going on here? It seems like the Monsters are spending a lot of marketing dollars just to "show their commitment" to their town. There has to be another reason, right?

PEI Rocket Becoming Islanders in 2013

The QMJHL's P.E.I. Rocket will play its final season in 2012-13. But not to worry Rocket fans, your team isn't going anywhere. It's just getting a new name beginning in the 2013-14 season. And because I waited so long to report this, I can now tell you what that name will be.

A year from now, the 13-year-old club will become the P.E.I. Islanders. And if that seems like it would be awkward to say out loud, you're absolutely right. But that's the way it is.

On August 22, the team announced it would be rebranded in 2013 and that the new name would come from the fans. For two weeks, the team accepted submissions. The top three entries were put up to an online vote from Sept. 6–19. They were P.E.I. Confederation, Islanders and Riptide.

At their home opener last Friday, the team announced that the new name will be Islanders. Apparently, Reebok will be developing the new look — colors, logos, uniforms and so on.

The franchise has undergone some front office changes recently and weren't satisfied that the name was connecting with fans. The team was founded in 1999 as the Montreal Rocket — named after the legendary Maurice "Rocket" Richard and their logo was even shaped like the No. 9 on his sweater. And in 2003, when the club packed up and moved to Prince Edward Island, they took the name with them. Guess 10 years was enough.

The Guardian recently ran polls regarding the new name. And the results were unusual. First of all, when asked to choose between the three finalists (Confederation, Islanders and Riptide), 59% of voters chose Riptide. However, in a later poll, only 54% give the new name a thumbs up.

What do you guys think of the new name? And what do you think Reebok will/should come up with in terms of a new logo?