More New Sweaters & Logos

The summer is officially here and this is the time of year when Icethetics-related news really kicks into high gear. Yesterday we got our first look at the logos for the Winter and Heritage Classics. But there's still so much more going on this week.

New Islanders jersey seen in video

Islanders new road jerseyIt's not like it was a big secret anyway, but the New York Islanders have tipped their hand by posting a video online which clearly displays their new white road jersey.

In interviews with alumni and current team employees, the new sweater is part of a string of historic Isles threads in the backdrop. It's exactly what's been rumored. But I won't call it official until Friday when it's unveiled at the draft party.

The video, which in and of itself is worth a mention on this blog, delves into the history of Islanders jerseys and logos — including that all too hard to forget Fishsticks Phase from the '90s. I'd embed it, but some people have had problems loading Icethetics when I do that. Instead, a link.

New details on Kings throwback

Kings set to wear throwbacksThe Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks will open the 2010-11 season just as they did exactly 40 years before. And they'll do so in a purple throwback jersey from the 1970s!

LA Kings Insider blogger Rich Hammond has once again said that the Kings will contribute to the Canucks' 40th anniversary celebration by donning vintage threads from their early years. He believes it will look like one worn between 1972 and 1980 (right). He also says it could be worn another three or four times throughout the season, but doesn't specify whether it would be worn against only the Canucks or other opponents too.

Retail sources have also claimed that the Canucks will have a white throwback jersey next season. If so, expect to see it debut on Oct. 9 for the season opener against L.A.

Sharks unveil multiple 20th year logos

The San Jose Sharks, never one to short us on logo options, will have five different 20th anniversary logos for use next season. The new marks were posted on the team's Facebook page yesterday.

The sleeve patch version was first posted on Icethetics a few weeks ago. A description of how it will be used on the uniforms was included in the press release:

All season long, the team will wear a 20th Anniversary San Jose Sharks patch on their sweater that will be placed on the left sleeve underneath the player’s number and above the stripe. The patch, which is 5¼” x 1¾”, combines the modern Shark with a powerful “double-XX” design, using the Roman numeral for the number “20” celebrating the team’s anniversary. This patch will also be placed on each player’s helmet.

I'm assuming they mean a sticker will be placed on the helmet, and that they're not actually going to sew a patch onto it. And as for the sleeve, it's unusual placement. Typically, you'd find an anniversary patch on the chest, but the players' numbers are in the way. Not sure why they don't just swap it out with one of the shark logos on the shoulders. Hopefully this doesn't clutter up the jersey too terribly.

In any event, if you were wondering what the other four logos will be used for, the Sharks' Facebook album describes them as (left to right, image above) primary crest, anniversary shield, classic fin and leaping shark. They're all well-designed and fit within the brand.

Blue Jackets unveil 10th anniversary logo

Blue Jackets' 10th anniversary patchThe Columbus Blue Jackets officially unveiled their 10th anniversary logo yesterday. It was first featured here on the blog a few weeks back.

Now the logo can be seen in patch form (right). And the team even has a whole press release about it on their website. Here's how it's described:

The logo features a representation of the state flag of Ohio flying on a silver flag pole above the stylized number "10" with a red and blue ribbon at the bottom featuring the team's official logo between the years 2000 and 2010.

The mark utilizes the team's primary colors of Union Blue, representing the color worn by the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War; Goal Red, in reference to the most exciting moment in hockey; and Capital Silver, signifying Columbus as the state capital of Ohio.

The release also points out the patch won't be worn on the sweaters until after the NHL Premiere games against San Jose in Stockholm. They'll have a special patch for that too, of course.

The Jackets' social media crew wasn't shy about sharing some pictures and video either. Enjoy these links to an image gallery and a neat video that reveals the logo.

AHL celebrates 75 seasons

Obviously there's a lot going on in the NHL these days, but I didn't want to leave out the AHL. It's the league's 75th season and it also marks the first time that every team has had its own NHL affililate.

The AHL revealed its plans to celebrate the milestone along with a special logo (left) which will be used throughout the season. It was designed by Derek Abraham of Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment.

2011 AHL All-Star Classic logoCelebration plans include all teams wearing a special jersey patch along with a handful of teams opening the 2010-11 season in throwback uniforms. The 2011 AHL All-Star Classic will be hosted by the Hershey Bears and will feature players in vintage uniforms as well.

I'm including the logo in this post because I somehow overlooked its unveiling back on April 3. The AHL All-Star Classic will take place January 30-31, 2011. The game itself returns to an East-West format.

With the recent addition of the Oklahoma City Barons, there are now 30 AHL teams all with individual affiliations. I know it has nothing to do with the blog, but this might make for an interesting logo tournament: NHL logos vs AHL logos.

NHL Unveils Classic Logos!

The NHL released its 2010-11 schedule today and, in a graphic posted to NHL.com (above), also unveiled some new event logos for the season. You can see the Ovechkin and Crosby staring deep into each other's eyes with only the 2011 Winter Classic logo between them on the top right. And bottom left, it's Mike Cammalleri facing off against Jarome Iginla on either side of the new 2011 Heritage Classic mark.

Also included in this graphic are the NHL Premiere logos for the games taking place in Helsinki, Prague and Stockholm to open the season. They're nothing more than carryovers from previous European Premiere events. You may also note that one block of the image features only a Carolina Hurricanes jersey, implying that the 2011 NHL All-Star Game logo isn't yet ready for public consumption.

But that's not the only thing I wanted to mention this afternoon. Friday is the NHL Entry Draft, but it's also a day for parties and jersey and logo unveilings.

Islanders to unveil new road jersey

Isles unveiling new sweaterThe New York Islanders will officially unveil their new road sweaters at a draft day party on Friday at 5:30 PM Eastern.

An ad appearing on their website (right) serves as a pre-order form for fans not wanting to wait for theirs. Season ticket holders get 15% off.

I don't think it's any secret that this new jersey will be a white version of their royal blue third jersey — which is expected to become the new home uniform this year.

All will be revealed Friday night. But wait, do you see that in the draft party ad? Is that a logo for the 2010 New York Islanders Draft Party? Join me in the next story...

Draft Party logos? Really?

Islanders 2010 draft party logoYes, it seems at least three teams have kept their graphic artists busy at season's end, designing official draft party logos.

As seen above, the Islanders are all about it. Maybe its intent is to carry over the excitement from last year's draft when they had the first overall pick and everyone went crazy over John Tavares. They're down to 5th this year. All I'm saying is I'm just not sure people are going to be buying their 2010 Draft Party t-shirts in droves or anything.

Rangers and Oilers draft party logosBut as I said, the Isles weren't alone in this. Both the New York Rangers and Edmonton Oilers are also promoting their draft parties with special logos.

The Rangers came up with something very open and simple. The Oilers pretty much based theirs off of the NHL Entry Draft logo — at least the text part of it.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it and none of these teams made the playoffs, so it's not like the designers have had anything else to worry about since April, but I just found it a little strange.

Other teams hosting draft parties include the Blue Jackets, Predators, Thrashers, Sabres, Blues, Hurricanes, and Coyotes. And of course the Kings are hosting the biggest draft party of the year — the draft itself.

Anyway, that's not all that's going down on Friday...

Greenville to unveil newest ECHL team

The ECHL's newest member, based in Greenville, S.C. finally reveal all on Friday when they unveil the team's name, colors and logo!

The team accepted name submissions from fans but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. This team, formerly the Johnstown Chiefs, was relocated to South Carolina this summer and will begin play in the ECHL's 19-team 2010-11 season. They'll take on my Florida Everblades in their home opener on Oct. 21.

You can of course count on Icethetics for full coverage of the unveilings both on Long Island and in Greenville. So check back for all that late on Friday.

The Week in Unis and Logos

Good evening all! I appreciate your patience these past several days while I was away. Spent the week on the awe-inspiring Oasis of the Seas, on a cruise through the Eastern Caribbean. If you ever have the opportunity, I highly recommend it.

In that time, I was completely out of the hockey loop, freeing myself entirely from the chains of my computer. I didn't even know the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup until we docked in Fort Lauderdale early this morning. Anyway, that being said, I'm relying mostly on your emails — and forgive me if I don't mention you by name if you sent in a tip as there were so many I lost track.

Leafs to reveal new captain, uniforms

Obviously the biggest news of the night is coming out of Toronto.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have set a press conference for Monday, in which they are expected to introduce Dion Phaneuf as the new team captain, but more importantly, unveil new home and road sweater designs.

Both TSN and The Hockey News corroborate this. For more on what the redesigned jerseys will look like, we turn to fellow jersey-hound Howard Berger — never at a loss to provide the early info we all desire. Turns out, the day before I left for my trip last week, he provided another detail-filled blog post.

Maple Leafs jerseys, 1992-97Here are some of the bullet-points of his story, alongside a sample from our friends at the Hockey Uniform Database:

• New home/road unis comparable to 1990s Gilmour-era sweaters
• Both feature current primary logo, 11-point maple leaf introduced in 1970
• Both incorporate new lace-up collar instead of V-neck
• Dual horizontal stripes return to sleeves/waist
• Outlined number font goes away in favor of solid color block numbers
• 90s-era shoulder patches (veined leaf) return
• Third jersey will remain unchanged for 2010-11

At last, the Leafs' Reebok Edge jerseys will have some character! Berger's write-up contains no new details on the rumored third jersey redesign said to happen for 2011-12.

And for what it's worth, LeafsHQ has combined all of this new information into a couple of handy bits of concept art.

Official: Ducks to get thirds in 2010-11

The Anaheim Ducks have officially confirmed plans to launch a brand new alternate jersey during the upcoming 2010-11 season, according to the Orange County Register.

The Register quotes Ducks senior VP and chief marketing officer Bob Wagner in an article published yesterday:

General manager Bob Murray, coach Randy Carlyle, president and CEO Tim Ryan and Wagner were involved in the new design. Ducks players were also consulted, which was a major source of input.

"They're the most excited about it, which makes me feel we’ve completed 'mission accomplished,'" Wagner said. "I’ve gotten a lot of positives."

Wagner could not reveal any details about the new look but he was confident it will be received well. Said Wagner, "I think the fans will really embrace it based on the fact that there is meaning to it."

The only clue as to the new jersey's design: Wagner says "there is meaning to it." Whatever that means. Anyway, it's official confirmation from the team on previous rumors and that's always a plus.

Devils move AHL affiliate, unveil new logo

In what should be the final major change going into the 2010-11 AHL season, the Lowell Devils have been relocated and renamed the Albany Devils as of Thursday.

The logo (left) was unveiled on the team's new website. It continues the tradition of the New Jersey Devils and Lowell Devils logos, by creating a subtle letterform out of an abstract devilish shape.

At least they didn't just arch the word "Albany" above the NJ logo like they did in Trenton (ECHL). But this makes me wonder if they could do it with any letter of the alphabet, or if they've just gotten lucky with NJ, L and A. Surely, they can do it with the T.

Oh, and don't forget about the U in the Utica Devils logo from back in the day.

New logo tourney starts Monday!

As promised, the next logo tournament will kick off on Monday morning. In a poll that ran in the sidebar for two weeks, 50% of you preferred an NHL secondary/shoulder logo competition so that is what we're doing. Sometime on Sunday I'll post the format. This one is going to be a little more complex than the previous tourneys we've done. For one thing, we'll be starting with 45 individual logos, the most yet!

Meantime, I'm going to get back to relaxing as my vacation doesn't end until Tuesday and I have a lot to clear off the TiVo. As always, feel free to email me with anything I've missed.

All The News is Black & Gold

The only news around the NHL these days centers around one Stanley Cup. So that combined with my need for a break from the computer this past week means this is the first new blog post in nine days. Sorry about that. To try and dig up something worth posting, I look to my inbox.

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New third jersey for Sarnia?The OHL's priority draft was held April 30 and the Sarnia Sting gave a brand new jersey to the kid selected first overall, according to several readers.

Currently, the Sting wear a black jersey and a white one, each with that giant bee found in the primary logo. The jersey given to Alex Galchenyuk at the draft announcement was black but read SARNIA across the front arched above the No. 1, a la the Dallas Stars.

It's a terrible look. Logos belong on the front of hockey jerseys, not block letters. But what do I know about Canadian junior hockey anyway?

Many have surmised it's a third jersey which will first hit the ice next fall, though this article doesn't even mention it. In the meantime, if you've come across any information that would shed light on this subject, I'd be happy to update the Icethetics faithful.

But we've got more from another black and gold Canadian Hockey League team.

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Wheat Kings wear special sweaterThe WHL's Brandon Wheat Kings donned a special commemorative sweater for the opening game of the Memorial Cup on Friday.

The jerseys will now be auctioned off with proceeds going to the Dominion Command Poppy Trust Fund, to support veterans and their families. Bidding is open through May 25.

The opening game jerseys were designed by the CHL in conjunction with the Brandon Wheat Kings in honour of the Canadian Army, specifically the men and women past, present, and future of CFB Shilo. CFB Shilo is Manitoba’s only army base and is located approximately 20 minutes from the Keystone Centre.

For the record, the Wheaties (as I guess they're called) suffered a 9-3 blowout at the hands of the OHL's Windsor Spitfires while wearing the jersey. They'll use their regular sweaters for the rest of the CHL tournament.

Thanks to those of you who sent in links on this topic.

Looks like we just cannot escape the black and gold tonight.

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Germany gets it on in goldAs host of the 2010 IIHF World Championships, Team Germany pulled out a special gold sweater to open the tournament May 7.

They defeated Team USA 2-1 before a record home crowd of almost 80,000 inside a frozen soccer stadium. The jersey is quite refreshing when compared with the black and whites they usually wear — and will continue to wear throughout the tourney.

Maybe the goal was to help the team keep its eye on the prize from the beginning — gold all the way! You can see more pictures of this jersey in action in the IIHF photo gallery. That website also has images of every participating team's jersey.

I haven't been keeping an eye on the Worlds, by the way. How's it all going? All I know is they were worried Steven Stamkos was going to be sidelined with a concussion.

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Antti Niemi as a PelicanJust one more item on the agenda and it's not black or gold. It's blue!

During this afternoon's NBC telecast of the Sharks-Blackhawks Game 1, PxP man Mike Emrick mentioned the name of Antti Niemi's team back in Finland — the Lahden Pelicans.

He then wondered aloud what those jerseys would've looked like. In case you were wondering too, that's a picture (right) of Niemi in his Pelicans garb.

That logo only looks the slightest bit ridiculous, right? No, let's not kid ourselves, it's full-on ridiculous. Pelicans, haha!

GO SHARKS!

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All right, now the real reason I've been taking it easy with the website this week. If you don't see or hear from me after May 23, it's probably not because I'm dead. It's probably Super Mario Galaxy 2, which comes out in a week and could develop into a minor obsession.

I don't consider myself a "gamer" in the least, but when it comes to that little red-suited plumber, what can I say? I enjoyed the first game and have been looking forward to the sequel. Anybody else enjoy a little Mario action or are you guys just strictly hockey here?

Around the Hockeyverse

Been following a variety of news around the Hockeyverse these days. Thought I'd take a moment to share a bit of what's been going on. (Because apparently, I can only write new posts really late at night now.)

Wild officially unveil 10th birthday logo

Since the Minnesota Wild are not in the playoffs, the big news on their website this week was the unveiling of the 10th anniversary logo.

It's not the first time we've seen it, by the way. We got a preview on a few weeks ago when it started showing up in season ticket ads on the Wild's website. Despite that, the "official" unveiling was Thursday.

The following details were included in the online press release:

The Wild's 10th anniversary mark will be worn on the right chest at all games next season except for the two contests in Finland, where it will be replaced by the NHL Premiere patch.

The mark uses a stylized Roman numeral “X” to represent the ten years of the Wild in Minnesota. The “X” has an added touch of the crossed hockey stick look connecting it back to the State of Hockey.

The mark incorporates the team colors of Minnesota Wheat, Iron Range Red and Forest Green and was developed in partnership with SME in New York.

Wild fans won't be able to miss it next season. By the way, the release also points out the the 10th anniversary celebration culminates with the club hosting the 2011 NHL Entry Draft next June.

Blue Jackets' red-and-yellow mystery

The other team ready to celebrate ten years is the Columbus Blue Jackets, who joined the NHL in 2000 with Minnesota. And like the Wild, they will be opening their 10th season overseas. And we already have a jersey mystery brewing.

Columbus Dispatch beat writer Aaron Portzline regularly updates a CBJ blog called Puck-Rakers and a recent post about a preseason game in Sweden has some of us scratching our heads.

He wrote the following last Friday (April 23):

The Blue Jackets and the Malmo/Rogle club will wear custom designed red and yellow uniforms, the colors of the province of Skane, where the game will be played.

That sort of gratuitous use of specialty jerseys sounds like something out of the minor leagues. Ah, but wait. Is that even true? The release on the Jackets' own website tells another story. Here's an excerpt from that:

The Blue Jackets will play a unified team comprised of two Swedish hockey teams – the Malmo Redhawks, who in 2009-10 played in HockeyAllsvenksan, and Rogle BK from Angelholm, who played the 2009-10 season in the Swedish elite league Eliteserien.

The best 10 skaters and one goaltender from Rogle BK will join forces with the top 10 skaters and one goalie from Malmo to square off against the Blue Jackets. Coaches from each side will lead the team. The players will be outfitted in custom-designed red and yellow uniforms, the official colors of the province of Skane.

That says that ONLY the unified Swedish team (comprised of the two aforementioned clubs) will wear custom-designed red and yellow uniforms. Obviously they couldn't wear their own jerseys as there would appear to be three separate teams on the ice.

If indeed the Blue Jackets were also meant to be wearing specially-designed jerseys for that game — and why would they? — I would expect the release to be more specific about it. But it begs the question, why would local fans want to see an American hockey team dressed in their home colors? You want to pay homage, wear a special patch.

That's my take on it. I've emailed Portzline for clarification on the subject. I'll let you know when/if I hear back. But at the moment, I would presume a miscommunication on the part of the newspaper and that the Blue Jackets will NOT be wearing anything but their own uniforms in Sweden in September.

Name Greenville's new hockey team

Name the ECHL's new Greenville teamThe new and yet unnamed Greenville ECHL hockey team, the relocated Johnstown Chiefs, is holding a name-the-team contest at HockeyGreenville.com right now. If your name is selected, you win a pair of season tickets for life. Pretty sweet deal.

Here's the actual form to fill out if you have an awesome name to submit. Entries will be accepted until Friday, May 28. And even if you don't submit your suggestions, feel free to share them here in the comments.

Greenville News says the name suggestions will be "presented to a selection committee made up of team owners, as well as area dignitaries, for final determination of the team's new name."  The newspaper also confirms that the new name, colors and logo will be unveiled on Friday, June 25.

We are tracking one other relocated minor league team this summer. The Edmonton Oilers' AHL franchise begins play once again this fall, now in Oklahoma City. The Oklahoman has a web page set up with "ongoing coverage" of hockey's return to OKC.

I'll keep an eye on it, but so far there's nothing new. No name. No colors. No logo. All we know is that there will be a hockey team in the fall. A naming contest ran Feb. 9-20 but no official announcement has been made yet.

However, some industrious fans at Copper & Blue have discovered a handful of web domains recently purchased by Prodigal Hockey, the company that will operate the new Oklahoma City AHL team. They include names like OKC Oilers, Oil Kings, Oil Barons, 89ers, Hawks, and even Roadrunners. Others that have cropped up: Tornadoes, Bison, Wildcatters, and Roughnecks.