Going Green for a Game

Green is one of the most neglected colors on hockey uniforms. It's a perfectly good color that, far too often, gets overshadowed by the likes of blue and red. But there's at least one day on the calendar when green rules. One week from today is St. Patrick's Day and hockey teams across North America are taking note with green-infused uniforms. Thought I'd take some time today to run down the list of what to expect.

NHL: New Jersey Devils

Devils announce Retro GameSince 2010, it's become an annual tradition for the New Jersey Devils to sport their red and green retro jerseys on or near St. Patty's Day.

The tradition continues for the third year in a row next weekend as the Devils host the Pittsburgh Penguins. Icethetics reader Mike Iannaccone tweeted a photo on Wednesday from the Prudential Center that confirms this.

The Devils wore this sweater for the first time on St. Patrick's Day 2010 — also against the Penguins. (It was actually their first time wearing green since 1992 when it was replaced with black.) The Devils won that game 5-2, but were shut out 3-0 last year when they hosted the Capitals on March 18.

Devils GM Lou Lamoriello has made it known he has no interest in New Jersey wearing an alternate sweater on a regular basis, but if he ever changes his mind, this one is a classic.

ECHL: Trenton Titans

Elsewhere in New Jersey, the ECHL's Trenton Titans will sport the green plaid for Irish Heritage Night when they face the Reading Royals.

But oddly, this Irish Heritage Night will not take place on March 17, but rather a week later on Sat., March 24. The promotion had to wait a week since the Titans will be on the road for St. Patrick's Day. But they wouldn't miss this opportunity.

In fact, when the Titans his the road next week, they'll be in Chicago. That takes us to...

ECHL: Chicago Express

Chicago Express St. Patrick's Day jerseyThe ECHL's Chicago Express, currently embarking on their inaugural season, will celebrate St. Patty's Day with a special jersey as they host the Trenton Titans next Saturday night.

The Express's green-themed sweater is decidedly not plaid. In fact, you might say it's a little more... alcohol-y. If that wasn't a word I just made up, anyway.

The bubbles up and down the front and back of this jersey certainly make it look like the players will be giant green beers skating around. Though you'd be more likely to see that if you already had some green beers in you. That's all I'm saying.

The primary logo is normally navy and powder blue, but the standard colors have been swapped out for green and orange for this event.

For what it's worth, this jersey has all the bad design markers, from the black for black's sake right down to the illegible name and numbers. But they'll get auctioned off for charity after the game, so we'd all sound silly to complain.

While we're in Chicago...

AHL: Chicago Wolves

The AHL's Chicago Wolves will wear their St. Patrick's Day jerseys for three home games over the next two weeks — though not on the actual day itself.

The jerseys are green with WOLVES arranged diagonally across the front in cream. Based on the image below, provided by the team, it looks like there will be a patch on each shoulder — one with a black shamrock and the year, the other with the Wolves' primary logo. As is the norm with these things, they will be auctioned for charity.

You'll note the jersey will be worn for home games on 3/14 vs. the Peoria Rivermen, 3/24 vs. the Hamilton Bulldogs, and 3/25 vs. the Houston Aeros but not on March 17. That's because the Wolves are traveling that night to... yes, Cleveland. Folks, you can't make up segues like this...

AHL: Lake Erie Monsters

The AHL's Lake Erie Monsters will be wearing their St. Patrick's Day colors when they entertain the Chicago Wolves in Cleveland on March 17. Unfortunately, while they've made the announcement on their website, they haven't offered us any pictures of the "shamrock-filled jersey," as they put it.

But, you see, the Monsters may have won St. Patrick's Day simply by doing one thing. They're painting the ice green that night. Yikes. Here's what their press release says:

The Monsters will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day all weekend long, next Friday and Saturday, March 16th and 17th! We're teaming up with The Ohio Lottery to bring you the luck o' the Irish in back-to-back games at The Q.

The team will be wearing one-of-a-kind, shamrock-filled green jerseys both nights (which will be auctioned off at the games). Plus the ice will be painted green as well!

Along with the game against the Wolves, the Monsters will also trot out the St. Patrick's Day jerseys the night before against the Milwaukee Admirals.

Sadly, there's no clever transition to be had here...

AHL: St. John's IceCaps

The AHL's St. John's IceCaps will also sport green threads in honor of St. Patrick's Day. They're the only Canadian team on this list (that I know of).

The IceCaps are in their first season playing in Newfoundland after the Manitoba Moose were uprooted by the relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg. The IceCaps are currently affiliated with the Jets.

The team has been holding drawings to determine which lucky fans will win these green jerseys right off the players' backs after the March 17 game against the Manchester Monarchs. Here's a look at that sweater.

I think that's all I've got for you today. If I've overlooked any St. Patrick's Day jerseys, let me know and I'll make the appropriate updates to this post. 

Update on Monday · Mar 12 · 2012 | 5:02 PM PDT by Chris

As expected, I managed to overlook a handful of teams that plan to sport special St. Patrick's Day jerseys this weekend. We'll begin this update in Texas...

AHL: Houston Aeros

Aeros' St. Patrick's Day jerseyThe AHL's Houston Aeros are among the few teams that wear green on a regular basis. But on Saturday, they're doing it a little differently.

We got our first look at the team's special St. Patrick's Day jersey this morning by way of Aeros winger Jon DiSalvatore, who tweeted this picture (right). DiSalvatore's tweet was later confirmed by the team through Twitter.

Though the tweets don't specify exactly when the jersey will be worn, March 17 is a safe bet as the Aeros host the Abbotsford Heat. They're also at home against the Rockford IceHogs the night before, for what it's worth.

Interestingly, this jersey appears to feature an argyle pattern (in a gradient no less) which is somewhat unusual. I'm pretty sure argyle originated in Scotland.

Then again, so did plaid for that matter. Or tartan patterns, which are a type of plaid but commonly just referred to as "plaid." (See the Trenton Titans jersey above.)

I realize those last two paragraphs were pretty nerdy, but St. Patrick's Day is an Irish holiday that we're borrowing, right? And while the clovers are certainly relevant, I'm not sure the Scottish jersey designs are.

Anyway, I don't really care about that, it was just something I noticed and wanted to point out. My thanks to reader Chris Fraterrigo for letting me know about this today.

All right, so I'm attempted another neat segue here. This Aeros jersey was first shown to us by Jon DiSalvatore, who is originally from Maine — which happens to be where the Portland Pirates play...

AHL: Portland Pirates

Another team doing the green thing this St. Patty's Day is the AHL's Portland Pirates. And for them, Green Night is not just a time for a new jersey color but altered logo colors as well.

For one night only, the Pirates will swap the red and silver in their logo for green and gold when they face the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at home this Saturday. They've even altered the the colors in their NHL affiliate shoulder patch. In fact, the patch used in this jersey is normally seen on the Phoenix Coyotes' third jersey. The Pirates wear the Yotes' primary logo on their regular home and road uniforms.

The design was posted for all to see on the Pirates' official Facebook page.

It looks like there's enough space underneath the wordmark on the front to fit a uniform number. But as this is a design sample, I can't say for sure. I'll keep an eye on it this weekend.

Got to squeeze in a shout-out for commenter Frank C. for keeping us in the loop.

AHL: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Baby Pens' St. Patrick's Day jerseyThe AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins don't miss an opportunity for a specialty jersey. And March 17 is just an excuse for one more.

Right off the bat, I have to express my disappointment with the lack of creative originality with the crest design. (Visit Google Images and search "four leaf clover" and take note of what you find in the top 10.)

I realize it's just a simple clover for a one-off jersey design, but it isn't that difficult to draw a four-leaf clover. And if you're going to nab one from the web, does it have to be the first one that you spot in an online image search?

This is turning into the tartan/argyle rant all over again. It doesn't really bother me that much but it's still worth mentioning.

We have a pretty bare-bones jersey here, as you can see. It's based on the Minnesota Wild's red home sweater. There's not a lot to it, but of course it does have its share of green.

This preview (right) of the sweater design was posted last month on the Baby Pens' official Facebook page. My thanks to reader Eric Rodgers for letting me know about it.

We've got one more from a different league...

CHL: Wichita Thunder

Wichita Thunder's St. Patrick's Day jerseyThe Wichita Thunder of the Central Hockey League will be among the many North American hockey teams donning green this Saturday.

The Thunder showed off the design via their official Facebook page back on Feb. 27. It features a recolored version of their old logo — similar to what they've been using on their uniforms this season to celebrate their 20th anniversary.

On Saturday, the Thunder host the Arizona Sundogs. (Damn. Just realized the Sundogs are affiliated with the Coyotes and Pirates. I think I could've finagled a decent transition before the Baby Pens if I was up for rewriting this post.)

Wichita's colors are normally black and blue but they're going with forest green and bright orange for St. Patrick's Day.

One final shout-out goes to commenter Jason S. who let us know about these jerseys in Wichita.

And this is where I leave you (again). If I've left out any of the teams that are celebrating the color green next weekend with special sweater designs, you know what to do.

Update on Friday · Mar 16 · 2012 | 10:43 AM PDT by Chris

Two more teams to add to the March 17 madness tomorrow.

NHL: Dallas Stars

Dallas Stars' St. Patrick's Day warm-up jerseyThe Dallas Stars are set to take the ice prior to tomorrow night's game wearing green practice jerseys emblazoned with Irish-ified nickname nameplates.

For example, Alex Goligoski's sweater calls him O'Goose. Brenden Morrow is O'Morrow. In fact, the whole team is doing it.

Here's a list of some other Irish-themed Stars names:

• Stephane Robidas — O'Robi
• Trevor Daley — O'Daley
• Jamie Benn — McChubbs
• Adam Burish — O'Legend
• Toby Petersen — FitzPetie
• Radek Dvorak — O'Devo
• Loui Eriksson — O'Loui
• Tom Wandell — O'Wandy
• Eric Nystrom — Guinness
• Adam Pardy — O'Pardy
• Mark Fistric — McCrush'em
• Steve Ott — O'Daddy
• Kari Lehtonen — O'Lehts
• Vernon Fiddler — McFiddler
• Sheldon Souray — O'Hammer
• Mike Ribeiro — McRibs
• Michael Ryder — O'Rydes

I think McRibs may be one of the funniest.

It's a neat little promotion the Stars are doing and as is typical with these things, the jerseys will be auctioned off after the game to benefit the Dallas Stars Foundation.

ECHL: Stockton Thunder

Also joining the fun will be the ECHL's Stockton Thunder as they sport green lightning bolts tonight and tomorrow night. "Easy Being Green" is how the event is being marketed, but Zeus is wearing a leprechaun's hat and a shamrock on this jersey so let there be no mistaking it's really all about St. Patrick's Day.

Stockton Thunder's St. Patrick's Day jersey

Thanks to Wade B. for the tip.

Rock Your Green!

Splash graphic on Devils website featuring red-green jersey

Devils break in the greenIt's St. Patrick's Day and that means wear green or get pinched.

The New Jersey Devils will certainly not get pinched tonight, as they'll be wearing replicas of the red and green uniforms not seen in NHL action since 1992.

And they've been teasing us with photos in the weeks leading up to tonight. Just yesterday, the players broke in some of their their throwback gear during practice, including red helmets, special socks and green pant shells. The Devils posted photos on their website.

The Devs have also revamped their website with a bunch of green — I'm guessing for today only. But it features a picture of Martin Brodeur as a rookie in 1991! Here's a look at the background image, in case it disappears before you get a chance to see it.

Devils limited time green-infused website

By the way, he'll be wearing a helmet with that same design tonight. Definitely a game you won't want to miss. Makes me glad to have a subscription to NHL GameCenter.

Preds, Thrash Warm Up to Green

Preds don the greenThe Nashville Predators took the ice for warm-ups prior to last night's game against the Flyers in their green threads.

Couple of things to note about these jerseys. First, it's not a typical shade of green — which is cool. It's almost a really dark teal, a little bluer than the Sharks' teal.

But more importantly, check out the crest. It's the logo from the third jersey. Does this signal a shift in the Predators' primary logo?

You'll remember back in December that Howard Berger said the Preds would be making a "significant alteration" to their uniforms next season. Will the thirds get the full-time treatment so soon? Will the gold and orange disappear for good? Am I reading too much into a warm-up jersey?

Green for Atlanta too!The Atlanta Thrashers also wore green during their pre-game skate last night. Here (right) you see Maxim Afinogenov in the special jersey.

The sweaters were subsequently autographed and auctioned off during the game, resulting in $16,000 for the Thrashers Foundation.

Naturally, the jerseys worn by Chris Chelios and Evander Kane nabbed the highest dollar figures at $1,200 a piece.

Perhaps taking advantage of the Irish's luck, both the Predators and Thrashers walked away with wins last night after donning the green.

Update on Friday · Mar 19 · 2010 | 9:40 AM PDT by Chris

Devils throwback jersey in actionThe Devils' green-infused throwback jerseys were a big hit the other night. It's always cool to seeing the past come back to life on the hockey rink.

Devils specialty jersey gallery

In fact, the Devils weren't the only team rocking the vintage threads this season. The Calgary Flames also wore their '80s sweaters five times against Canadian rivals. 

And the team just announced that these jerseys are coming back another dozen or so times in 2010-11 as a third jersey. The Devils are probably happy to keep this a one-time deal, but imagine if they went a little further. That got me thinking...

Devils vs Flames, 1984This photo was taken in 1984 and the 1991-92 season was the last time we would see those jerseys on the ice together. Now, 20 years later, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that we could actually see it again.

Maybe at some point teams like this will see that the 1980s was the pinnacle decade for the hockey sweater. They were bright, colorful and easily identifiable.

Today almost every team wears some shade of blue, red or black. How original and diverse. I know it's all about the money grab with these jerseys, but I'm all for it if it means the NHL looks like it should again.

It's great to see hockey jersey designs trending back toward the classics these days. Anyone else agree?

Prepare the Cannon!

BlueJacketsXtra, the Columbus Dispatch's NHL hockey blog, broke more third jersey news over the weekend. 

Turns out the Columbus Blue Jackets' 2010-11 alternate sweater will have yet another new crest, with the primary element being a cannon — a mainstay of Blue Jackets concept art here on Icethetics for a while.

Typical of Civil War imagery, it's not surprising to see Columbus work a cannon into their identity as they celebrate a decade of mediocrity with the sixth sweater in franchise history.

Here's what beat writer Aaron Portzline had to say on the matter:

NHL sources tell The Dispatch the Blue Jackets' new third sweater, to debut next season, will feature a cannon as the central part of the main logo.

It's unknown what the base color of the sweater will be, but it's unlikely to be red or silver for fear of looking too much like Ohio State.

Whenever the Blue Jackets tinker with their sweaters, fans should be compelled to raise a toast to former team president and general manager Doug MacLean. If not for MacLean, the main logo when the Blue Jackets took the ice in 2000 would have been Stinger.

First, I think it's unlikely the jersey will be red or silver simply because the team is called the Blue Jackets. It would be like the Red Wings wearing green jerseys. It would hurt my brain. Personally, I always liked the blue-black-red combo on the old third jersey from 2003. Maybe they go back to something like that?

Second, that's cool about Doug MacLean keeping the bug off the front of the jerseys. Somehow that little tidbit escaped my radar all these years. It's like how Mike Keenan kept that awful Blues jersey from ever seeing the light of day.

Who's on board with forming the Icethetics Hall of Fame? We honor those who have made hockey look better. Keenan and MacLean should be the first inductees for taking preventive measures to protect us against ugly jerseys.

Anyway, here's a cannon logo for you. Think Keenan or MacLean would let that fly? (Out the window, maybe. Zing!)

A Whopper of a Jersey

Wayne Gretzky #99Speaking of bad hockey uniforms...

One guy who will never get into the Icethetics Hall of Fame is Sam McMaster — the GM of the Kings in 1995 who approved this atrocity, then proceeded to let Wayne Gretzky actually wear it in NHL games.

Over the weekend, it seems a group of dedicated Los Angeles Kings fans held Burger King Appreciation Day — a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the 15-year-old third jerseys.

And if you don't believe me, The Royal Half and Life in Hockeywood have incredible write-ups on it as well as incredible photos of fans swarming in these sweaters.

Some really dedicated Kings fans (Life in Hockeywood)

Such brave souls.

A Hell of a Jersey

Devils' throwback uniformDon't forget, the New Jersey Devils will finally break out their red and green throwback jerseys on Wednesday night.

The one-time-only vintage sweaters, designed in the Reebok Edge style unlike the Flames' throwbacks from this season, will hit the ice on St. Patrick's Day when the Devils take on the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins — and then probably go back into hiding for another 20 years.

The Devils have a few photo galleries on their website showcasing the green-infused jerseys, including one just posted today. It shows jerseys belonging to Martin Brodeur and Zach Parise. Notice there's no black to be found — just like in the old days.

Brodeur's throwback maskI think the coolest thing is Marty Brodeur's throwback helmet — painted to match the original mask he wore as a rookie in the early 1990s before the black and red one that would later become an NHL icon.

And there's also this small gallery in which you can see Parise's helmet and some more angles of the jersey.

I'll try to have this Devils jersey gallery up right away this week. I know I've been slacking off in that area, but I really wanted to spend the time getting the new NHLToL going. And yes, I will be finishing up the Olympic jersey galleries in the near future.

Devils Vintage Jerseys Revealed!

Devils 1980s jerseysHa! It worked! In my last post, I said don't count on seeing the New Jersey Devils' throwback sweaters until the night they wear them — March 17 — hoping to jinx it.

And it seems to have worked!

The Devils revealed their vintage red and green sweaters tonight on their official web site. They announced the sale of 82 player-worn practice jerseys from the 1980s — sample seen in the photo above.

Now before you go crazy about the iron-on crests, let me point out that these are not the jerseys the Devils will wear in March.

Devils throwback jersey (Glocally Newark)This is! (Sort of.)

Glocally Newark posted pictures tonight. Apparently, the Devils Den team store just received their shipment and they will go on sale tomorrow!

You'll notice this is NOT a Reebok Edge jersey. This is a genuine old school CCM sweater. Now, does that mean the item pictured is a replica or could it actually be an authentic?

Can't say yet. Unfortunately, Glocally Newark doesn't appear to have that information. However, they do have a lot more pictures and I would encourage you to have a look for yourself.

So keep in mind these are two unrelated items I've posted together here: 1) The Devils have announced player-worn practice jerseys from the 1980s are on sale now, and 2) Glocally Newark has pictures from the Devils Den store of the throwback jerseys that will also be on sale.

I'll post more details and information as they become available. Thanks to those of you who emailed in on this tonight!

Update on Friday · Feb 12 · 2010 | 8:31 AM PST by Chris

The Devils have posted a full photo gallery on their web site of the throwback jerseys.

Get Ready for Green!

Devils throwback promoThe New Jersey Devils are offering a little sneak peek at their throwback jersey night on their official web site.

In case you haven't heard, the Devils will be wearing their original red and green jerseys this St. Patrick's Day, March 17.

This ad — featuring a sneak peek at the green-injected sweater — just started showing up on their web site, promoting the "one night only" event when the Devils host the Pittsburgh Penguins. It links you to a page where you can purchase game tickets.

That's all we've got so far. I don't think we'll see the actual jerseys until the players step out onto the ice for that game. In the meantime, we already know what it's going to look like — it'll just be Reebok Edgeified.

Not sure if the jerseys will be available to purchase, but the Devils could use the money. They need to re-sign Ilya Kovalchuk this summer and the man's already turned down $100 million.

Thanks to Tom!

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Related: Devils announce plans to go green!