Kings Going Retro in 2010-11?

The Los Angeles Kings will sport a special throwback jersey for a handful of games in the 2010-11 season, according to LA Kings Insider blogger Rich Hammond.

Hammond wrote on his blog earlier today, answering fan questions, that the Kings would wear the purple-and-gold uniforms for as many as four games against the Vancouver Canucks, who will be celebrating their 40th anniversary season.

Kings may wear this again soonHere's the direct quote from LA Kings Insider:

mrbob25 asked: 1) Who makes the decision to wear alternate jerseys for home games? 2) Will the Kings continue with their black-purple-silver uniforms with the crown or must we witness another uniform modification/change of using the alternate "LA" unis as primary? Good to know for the fans considering an authentic jersey purchase.

Answers: 1) I'm not actually sure how they set the regular-season schedule. It is pre-determined though, because I saw the schedule, early in the season, of which games the players would wear the black uniforms in. For the playoffs, the players decided to wear the black jerseys.

2) I don’t know of any significant changes on the horizon. I think they’re staying with the black alternates, and I know that, for at least one game next season (and perhaps three more), the Kings are going to wear an old-school purple-and-goal uniform against the Vancouver Canucks, because it will be the Canucks’ 40th anniversary.

Not only is this information of prime interest to Kings fans, but Canucks fans as well. Presumably, if another team in the league (not even in their own division) is wearing a classic sweater to celebrate the anniversary, the Canucks are likely to as well. And perhaps other teams will join the fray. But all that is just speculation.

The photo above comes from Shop.NHL.com and is only meant as a reference. This is brand new information and Hammond doesn't go into specifics about the jersey itself. But since it is available in the NHL Vintage collection, it wouldn't surprise me to see it be used in this case.

If this is true and the Kings are going retro against the Canucks next season, I cannot imagine the Canucks would wear the whale. Time itself would likely implode. Think the classic stick-in-the-rink that Icethetics readers seem to have a love-hate relationship with.

Before I go, I thought I should address a Kings-related question I've been getting a lot lately. Many have asked, are the Kings giving their current thirds full-time home jersey status next season?

As Hammond says, there is no evidence for any changes to the home, road or alternate sweaters for 2010-11. The team opted to wear the black-and-silver sweaters at home throughout this postseason, but things should go back to normal next fall.

Wild 10th Logo & AHL Report

Wild's 10th anniversary logoThe Minnesota Wild will celebrate their 10th anniversary next season. And we all know that no anniversary can be properly celebrated in the NHL without its own branding.

Meet the Wild's 10th anniversary logo. It started showing up recently on the team's official website in ads meant to promote 2010-11 season tickets. It's simple — a red X in the form of a pair of crossed hockey sticks with the years 2000 and 2010 in a wheat banner surrounding the primary logo. Gets the job done.

The Columbus Blue Jackets are also celebrating 10 seasons in the NHL this fall. However I have not yet come across their anniversary logo. I'm not even certain they'll have one. (But they probably will because it means being able to sell more stuff.)

That's not all. I also have a handful of AHL specialty jersey updates.

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Mike Ivall's winning Wolf Pack jerseyThe AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack held a jersey design contest this season, asking fans to design a specialty jersey.

It was subsequently announced that frequent Icethetics contributor Mike Ivall was named the winner and his sweater design would be implemented for a couple of games in late February. That did not happen.

The Wolf Pack instead told Icethetics that it would be worn for the final home game of the season on Fan Appreciation Night. That was last Saturday. And the jersey looked great. Congrats to Mike!

Nice to see an Icethetics artist taking his concept art all the way to the pros. NHL, here we come!

And there are a ton more photos on the Wolf Pack's Facebook page if you'd like to see more of the jersey. But nothing really beats a fight pose.

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Albany's final gameThe AHL's Albany River Rats sported special sweaters for their final regular season game in upstate New York.

Tom S. emailed in about this photo which appeared alongside a web recap of the 3-2 victory over the Adirondack Phantoms over the last weekend. Neither of us had seen that red jersey before, so I assume it was just used for this game.

No other details were available about it on the River Rats' website. And they did make the Calder Cup playoffs so they'll have a few more games up there before they head to Charlotte. (Scroll down for an update.)

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AHL Pens' specialty jerseyFinally, the AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins wore special sweaters to honor the military last Friday.

The design is similar to their third jersey — a knock-off of the Blackhawks' Winter Classic/third jersey — though it swaps the red and black. And the logo text is replaced with "Support Our Troops."

The Penguins defeated Albany 4-3 in the game and now the two teams are facing each other in the first round of the AHL Calder Cup playoffs.

The Penguins are also utilizing their Facebook page to provide even more photos for your viewing pleasure. Unfortunately none of these guys is in a fight stance, but they're still worth looking at anyway.

Thanks to Dave B. for the email!

Update on Thursday · Apr 15 · 2010 | 8:01 AM PDT by Chris

Albany vs. Adirondack for Time Warner CupFollowing up on the River Rats story, it turns out that while that is a specialty jersey, it had nothing to do with it being the team's last regular season game. 

Matt C. explains:

The Albany River Rats red alternate jersey described in today's blog post is actually the jersey worn during Time Warner Cup games between Albany and their Northway rival Adirondack (Glens Falls) Phantoms.

Each team wears a special alternate jersey for these games — Albany's jersey is actually a representation of the jersey worn by their mascot "Rowdy" in their logo, and Adirondack wears an orange-colored jersey with "Adirondack" spelled diagonally across the front similar to the jersey formerly worn by the Adirondack Red Wings.

Always great to get insightful emails like that. Thanks Matt!

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.

Pink All Over the Rink & More

I know it's hard to care about anything but Olympic hockey right now, but there is minor league jersey news to catch everyone up on. So let's get started.

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Everblades wearing pinkMy current hometown team, the Florida Everblades held their Pink in the Rink event last night.

Shockingly, I couldn't find any decent photos from the team's website to share. So you'll have to settle for the best my iPhone can offer. Shot this (right) during warm-ups before the game.

A friend of mine said it looked like the Everblades accidentally washed their jerseys with a red sock. It was her first ECHL game.

Also interesting, though I wasn't able to get a picture, the Kalamazoo Wings were wearing blue jerseys with oversized McDonald's logos on them during the pre-game.

Any Michiganites out there that can shed a little light on this? Surprising to see a team go with a warm-up jersey like that on the road.

For the record, it was a great game. Blades battled to a 4-3 shootout victory. Unfortunately, I was not up on my ECHL rules and didn't realize their shootouts are five rounds, not three. Cheered a little prematurely when Colin Nicholson scored in Round 3 for the 2-1 advantage. Oops.

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Mudbugs wearing pinkIn the last minor league report, which was exactly a week ago, the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs of the Central Hockey League were big news as they had two ridiculous specialty jerseys on deck.

They've worn both since then, including this Pink in the Rink night jersey, twice this week. It's probably the worst pink-infused jersey we've seen (and we've seen a lot) but the Mudbugs were able to pull out wins both nights.

If you're just dying to see what the back looks like, here's another photo. For the record, if it looks familiar, the Lightning wore that exact numbering and lettering style between 1995 and 2001. Just saying.

Mudbugs go Mardi Gras!The Mudbugs also wore specially-themed jerseys to ring in Mardi Gras last weekend. Just as terrible as expected. Here they've opted for the Predators' font for the numbers and nameplates.

And once again, if you just have to see more angles of this jersey, the Mudbugs are happy to provide photos.

As much as we mock them, it is fun to see the ridiculous things minor league teams will wear on the ice in honor of a good cause. By the way, bidding on those Mardi Gras jerseys ended earlier this evening. So sorry, but you can't have one.

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Hitmen wearing pinkSince we can't get enough of pink jerseys, the Calgary Hitmen have us covered. On Sunday, March 7 they'll go pink for Hockey Mums Fight Breast Cancer Night.

The cancer awareness promotion began in October and runs through next month. So if you are going to bid, I'd be ready to start high.

And for what it's worth, all the information you could possibly ever want about this event, including how to bid on these special sweaters, is just a simple click away.

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Cyclones celebrate RedsThe ECHL's Cincinnati Cyclones celebrated their Salute to the Reds night back on December 5.

Icethetics reader Andy just sent in a photo (right) of what the jerseys looked like. Imagine if the Cincinnati Reds played hockey. Probably what they'd look like.

If you want a better look, there's also this picture of the Mark Voakes modeling the sweater — possibly just before getting his mug shot done.

I couldn't find a detailed write-up on the Cyclones' website so I don't really know what the deal was — whether the jersey were auctioned off and what charity benefited — can't say.

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And finally, Icethetics reader Chip writes in to let us know that the Edmonton Oilers are re-activating their dormant AHL franchise for the 2010-11 season, but this time in Oklahoma City. So that will be another new logo and set of uniforms to look forward to when JerseyWatch 2010 kicks off this summer.

Chip says he hopes the yet-to-be-named club will get the Blazers moniker that has existed in some form since the 1960s and, most recently, as a team in the Central Hockey League. Any thoughts on that?

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.