The Jersey Brief: ECHL Edition

Ever since the return of the NHL, I've been back to ignoring the minor leagues. Sorry about that. Hopefully I can make up for some of what I've missed with this post and others to come.

Solar Bears disappoint with third jersey

I've had this one in the chamber for a little while now. But I can't ignore it anymore. The Orlando Solar Bears — of the ECHL's current top-selling jerseys — debuted their third jersey on Dec. 28 against the Florida Everblades. And it was extremely disappointing.

Photos: ©2012 Gary Bassing/OSB via Solar Bears official Facebook page

The Joe Bosack Graphic Design Co. created a wide and varied set of phenomenal logos for this team last year. And despite that, the Bears managed to create a rather boring jersey. So they play in the Sunshine State, you say? I'm all for simplicity, but it just feels like there's a big hole in the middle of this sweater. If you're interested, you can find more photos on the Solar Bears' Facebook page.

Solar Bears go pink for one night in January

While we're talking Orlando, might as well mention the Solar Bears' Pink in the Rink jerseys. That fad isn't going anywhere. The team's cancer awareness night was Jan. 19 and they were fully clad in hot pink and their familiar purple in front a crowd of 9,000-plus.

Photos: ©2013 Fernando Medina/OSB via Solar Bears official Facebook page

Those are certainly bright. But as pink jerseys go, they aren't the worst we've ever seen. Of course that contrasting nameplate thing won't die. Don't think the Bears have worn a single jersey yet that didn't have it. (Way to go, Flyers.) Of course you can find more photos on the team's Facebook page.

Wranglers to go "topless" on Over 18 Night, Feb. 4

Fresh off their Indoor Winter Classic victory, the Las Vegas Wranglers are going "topless" next week. The club known for weird and wacky theme nights will be wearing these jerseys on Monday.

Photo by IIA Photography

Since there's nothing I can think to say, I'll give you an excerpt from the press release:

“Going bottomless was simply out of the question,” said Wranglers President and Chief Operating Officer Billy Johnson. “Yuck.”

The specialty Wranglers jersey, featuring a bare chest and sculpted abs, has a Wranglers crest tattooed over the right pectoral. Adorning the shoulders are a “topless hockey” and Wranglers word mark, with light arm hair filling out the details.

“The guys have never looked to be in better shape,” said Johnson. “Nor have they appeared to be as identical.”

The Wranglers host the Colorado Eagles for "Over 18 Night" on Feb. 4. "In addition to topless hockey," the team says, "fans can enjoy mild adult humor throughout the game, including uncensored clips from well-known movies applied to game situations."

Also the numbers look absolutely illegible. Can't wait to see pictures from the game.

Stingrays set to sport pink-infused jersey on Feb. 23

Rounding out our ECHL coverage tonight are the South Carolina Stingrays, who yesterday unveiled their Pink in the Rink Night jersey. As pink jerseys go, it's surprisingly decent. Icethetics reader Sean M., who let me know about the unveiling, even called it "tasteful."

Again, as pink jerseys go, I can't say I disagree. The pink-infused sweaters will be worn by the Stingrays on Sat., Feb. 23 when the host the Greenville Road Warriors.

I understand this doesn't completely make up for my lack of minor league posts recently, so there are more to come. For one thing, the AHL's Outdoor and All-Star Classics were this month, complete with lots of neat jerseys. Stay tuned for more.

New Sweaters Around the Minors

One after another this summer, teams across the minor leagues have been overhauling their looks. We've mostly been focusing on logos lately, so today we're switching gears. Check out some of the new jerseys that have been recently unveiled.

On Friday, the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers not only unveiled new sweater designs, but a revamped logo and color palette. Most notably, red is no longer one of the team's primary colors.

The Nailers' have been red, gold and black for as long as I can remember. But beginning in 2012, they switch to black and gold, just like their NHL affiliate, the Pittsburgh Penguins. In fact, their new home and road uniforms look awfully familiar.

The new dark jersey (right) was actually introduced as a third last season. It gets the full-time treatment this fall along with a white version to match. Of course the red isn't completely disappearing. The Nailers will wear a red alternate uniform (center) which features the old logo on the shoulders.

A bit of a downgrade here, if you ask me. Shrinking the color palette often provides a cleaner look, but in this case, it just sort of flattens the Nailers' logo. As we've seen with the Penguins, Vegas gold is just too bland to be a team's only color.

For those not familiar with the ECHL, teams wear white at home for the first half of the season and switch for the second half. The Nailers say the red jersey will be worn on Sunday afternoons at WesBanco Arena.

Elsewhere in the ECHL, the South Carolina Stingrays unveiled their 20th anniversary logo along with a pair of new jerseys for 2012. The North Charleston-based club made the announcement on May 31.

The Stingrays have done it right. These are some great-looking uniforms — even if the anniversary logo is a little too busy. Fans should be thrilled to see them hit the ice this fall. By the way, if you find yourself needing to add one of these to your collection, they're available.

And finally, the OHL's recently rebranded Mississauga Steelheads officially unveiled their uniforms last Friday. Here's a closer look at their new secondary logo.

And they'll look a lot like the nearby Toronto Maple Leafs when they hit the ice.

If you need a recap on where this team came from, see this blog post from May 31. Before the name change, the Steelheads were known as the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors. 

Now what do you think of all the new threads hitting the lower leagues this fall?

Only Real Men Wear Pink

Pink seems to be a popular subject around Icethetics these days. You guys have been a great help in tracking down photos of some unique minor league uniforms. The best and most common theme seems to be breast cancer awareness — in other words, an excuse for grown men to wear pink. That's what we've got today.

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Stingrays pink jerseyThe ECHL's South Carolina Stingrays held Pink in the Rink night back on February 20.

Icethetics reader Jeff forwarded along this photo (right) of the Stingrays' pink jersey. I know I chopped off the guy's head, but he's not as important as the jersey, right?

The Stingrays were successful in pink, beating the Toledo Walleye 6-0. And according to their website, there was a record crowd in attendance for the win.

If you're interested in more pictures, and I know you are, Facebook is the place to be. On the team's official page is a gallery showing the process of painting the ice pink. They've also got tons of fan photos from the game. Including this one:

Stingrays players thank the crowd for their pink support

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Jarret Lukin #40In the Central Hockey League, the Allen Americans wore pink just this past Friday — but failed to find the win.

They lost to the Mudbugs, who've been featured on Icethetics a lot recently for some outlandish specialty sweaters.

The Americans' website said the following with regard to the jerseys:

The players wore pink specialty jerseys as part of the "Pink in the Rink" night. The effort with Susan G. Komen for the Cure aims to raise awareness about breast cancer. The proceeds from the live jersey auction following tonight’s matchup benefited Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Anyone else notice that the pink socks don't quite match the pink jersey? Just saying.

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Jordan Evans #5The WHL's Swift Current Broncos refuse to be left out of the pink party. They wore theirs on February 19.

However, they got whacked by the Chilliwack Bruins 3-0. Notice the trend? A big win for the Stingrays, a big comeback (but in the end a loss) for the Americans. And a big loss for the Broncos.

I know this photo isn't the best quality, but it's what they have on their website. You can see more here.

Just look at those things. Obviously we've seen a lot of pink jerseys so we're getting pretty good at telling the good from the bad. This has to rank squarely in the bad. Pink ribbons on the socks!

But if you think that's bad, just wait until you see what's next.

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Pink ExpressThe Atlantic Junior Hockey League's Walpole Express may take the cake for pinkest pink jersey of all time — you know, if there were a cake available for such an accomplishment (for what it's worth, I'm sure it would be pink too).

Normally Icethetics doesn't cover much junior hockey outside of the Canadian Hockey League, but the Express sent me these photos directly and they were too good not to share.

The thing about these jerseys is their almost hot pink. I'm told by the team they were supposed to be a lighter pink, but a deadline snuck up on them and they got stuck with this color.

Anyway, that's not the most interesting thing about Walpole's Pink in the Rink event.

Refs wear pink too!This is.

Even the officials got i on the action, donning their own pink garb. I'm told the AJHL was in full support of the Express' pink event, which took place November 1, 2009. They raised over $6,000 for breast cancer research and $2,000 alone from the jersey auction.

So good for them!

As always, if you've come across any pink jerseys worth sharing, don't hesitate to send them along. Obviously everyone's really getting a kick out of this series.

Maybe some sort of poll is in our future to decide which team has the best use of pink in a hockey jersey. If nothing else, it would just be a laugh to see dozens of teams wearing pink.

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Icethetics returns to its roots. 3.8.10