Third Jerseys in the 2013 Playoffs

There's been a lot of chatter on Twitter this week regarding the trio of teams that have opted to wear their third jerseys during the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs. For those of you not on Twitter, I present this brief blog post.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, San Jose Sharks and Minnesota Wild are all sporting their alternate uniforms when they play at home this postseason. It's certainly nothing as many teams have done it in recent years — the Sharks included. And the BlackArmor has served them well this year as they swept the Canucks.

For the Wild it was their first time in the playoffs since 2008. I say "was" because they were eliminated by the Blackhawks last night. And by the way, 2008 the only season since 1996 where no NHL team has had a third jersey. That was the inaugural season of Reebok Edge.

The Maple Leafs, I believe, have made a habit of sporting their thirds for the playoffs in recent years. Well, not "recent" as the last time they qualified was 2004. But between 1999 and 2004, their old white alternate got an extra workout in the postseason.

Should we read anything into these decisions? The Kings wore their black thirds in the 2010 and 2011 playoffs before making them their home uniform in 2011-12. But I wouldn't call that typical. The Sharks are supposedly making some changes in the fall but I doubt they'd drop the teal. And Minnesota is only looking at a new road sweater for now.

That said, I'm fairly sure the NHL only permits teams to use two jerseys during the playoffs. So if the Sharks were to win the Cup, they'd only be able to do so wearing black or white.

What's your take? Do you like seeing third jerseys in the playoffs? Or should they be reserved for the regular season only?

NHL Announces 2014 Winter Classic

Outdoor game in Ann Arbor, Mich. officially rescheduled

The NHL announced Sunday morning that the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs will meet in Ann Arbor, Mich. on Jan. 1 for the next Winter Classic. I'm starting to sound like a broken record. This same game was announced last year for 2013 but was canceled due to the lockout. It will now take place in 2014.

Better than the announcement of the big game was the unveiling of all the jerseys that will be used at the event next January. So we'll have a lot of pictures in this post. Enjoy.

We'll start with the host team. The Red Wings who, according to the press release, "will be wearing iconic red and antique white uniforms featuring a striping pattern and arch Detroit wordmark inspired by the late-1920s Detroit Cougars. The front crest on the jersey will feature an early iteration of the winged wheel from the late 1930s Red Wings."

Photo from Detroit Red Wings official website

Perhaps the most fascinating detail of this jersey is the captains' letters being worn on the left sleeve. Above, you see the "A" on Pavel Datsyuk's sweater, and below, the "C" on Henrik Zetterberg's. I think this may be the first time we've ever seen the captains marked anywhere but the chest.

Photos from Detroit Red Wings official website

Here are a few more looks at the jersey and some the details.

Now let's switch gears to their opponent.

The Maple Leafs are going back to 1927 for their Winter Classic uniform — a design they actually resurrected briefly back in the 90s.

Photo from Schuyler Baehman via Twitter

Here's what the team says about the jersey on their website's current splash page.

The Toronto Maple Leafs 2014 NHL Winter Classic sweater speaks to our storied beginnings and evokes memories of Hall of Famers nicknamed "Busher" Jackson, "Ace" Bailey, "King" Clancy and "Gentleman" Joe Primeau.

The name and crest were born on a train ride home from Michigan in 1927, with Toronto leaving Detroit as the St. Pats and pulling into Old Union Station as the Toronto Maple Leafs. Our blue and white colours were chosen by team founder Conn Smythe to reflect is alma mater the University of Toronto.

An unabashed patriot, Smythe wanted to adopt Canada's national emblem, the maple leaf, for his new hockey team, stating: "The Maple Leaf, to us, was the badge of courage, the badge that meant home... We chose it hoping [it would be] worn with honour and pride and courage, the way it had been worn by the soldiers of the first Great War in the Canadian Army."

Don't you love the Detroit tie-in to that story?

Photo from Toronto Maple Leafs via Facebook

Now I'd love to show you some more pictures of that Leafs jersey here, but — unlike the Red Wings — the Leafs haven't put a whole lot out there yet. So we'll just skip to the next bit.

Photo from Detroit Red Wings via Facebook

The sweaters for the alumni game were also unveiled today. The Wings will basically wear the opposite of their 2009 Winter Classic jersey — red with a white stripe and "D" on the chest. The Leafs will sport their 1970s uniform.

Here are some other notes from the day:

• HBO's 24/7 series will be back to chronicle the season leading up to the Winter Classic. It's worth noting that realignment puts Detroit and Toronto in the same division next season which will make things even more interesting.
• There's been a lot of talk about multiple outdoor games in 2014. Perhaps another Heritage Classic featuring the Montreal Canadiens and, say, the Vancouver Canucks in their Millionaires jersey? I only say Montreal because they've played every Heritage game so far. But maybe the Ottawa Senators in a white version of their Heritage jerseys could take on the Millionaires-clad Canucks? That way everybody gets a turn at playing on a pond.
• And finally... BLUE VERSUS RED!!

What are you excited about most when it comes to the 2014 NHL Winter Classic?

Sneak Peek at Next Winter Classic

Video leak appears to confirm Maple Leafs uniform design

Later today, the NHL is supposed to make the official announcement regarding the 2014 Winter Classic — a rescheduling of the Detroit-Toronto clash that was canceled this year due to the lockout.

But before that, here's another sneak peek at the jersey the Toronto Maple Leafs will sport — via a video posted Saturday on YouTube.

You'll note the end graphic of the video shows a slightly redesigned Winter Classic patch that now features the year, 2014. This appears to be a video produced for Real Sports Apparel that was meant to be released following the press conference.

The jersey design was leaked previously. This is just confirmation in advance of official word.

My thanks to Icethetics reader Adam who shared the video link here on the blog Saturday.

Let's Catch Up on the Week

The reason you haven't heard from me this week is simple: relocation. I've been packing all my stuff, moving it to a new place, and then unpacking it. All while working. Didn't leave a lot of time for Icethetics. But not to worry, I'm back!

Time to catch up on what I've missed. And there's been quite a bit.

NHL to hold Winter Classic press conference Sunday

First, we'll start with the newest news. Apparently, the NHL has called a press conference for Sunday morning and those in the know are speculating it will be the official announcement that the NHL Winter Classic — scheduled to be played in Ann Arbor, Mich. between the Red Wings and Maple Leafs three months ago — will be rescheduled for Jan. 1, 2014. Or so says Michigan Live's Ansar Khan.

More importantly to Icethetics readers, Khan says the jerseys will be unveiled as well. And assuming the designs weren't changed after the recent leaks, this is what we can expect them to look like

The press conference is scheduled for 10:30 AM ET on Sunday. You can be sure I plan to update the blog with official images as soon as humanly possible.

Thanks to @Levesque_B and @adam_rickert for their helpful tweets this morning.

Dallas Stars' whiff on April Fools' joke

As if their poor fans haven't endured enough these days, the Dallas Stars decided to play a nasty joke on them Monday. It was an April Fools' Day prank that might've been funny in another context.

At this point, it's widely known the Stars will have new uniforms next season. What's not known is when they plan to unveil them. Then the team tweeted this Monday night. 

The third period is gonna be an exciting one! twitter.com/DallasStars/st…

— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) April 2, 2013

Now, April Fools' Day being what it is, most of us were understandably suspicious. You don't make big announcements on April 1 because no one will believe you. Still, many people were taken in by the idea that the Stars might reveal their new threads that night.

With any hope of making the playoffs quickly fading and the Stars being shut out 3-0 by Anaheim, the promise of a look at the club's future was enough to blind a lot of folks to the calendar. Unfortunately, what they got was a look at their ridiculous past when — as Dallas Morning News beat writer Mike Heika put it — "out of a curtain jumped a guy in a horse head wearing the old alternate sweater — 'The Mooterus,' as it is called in disgust by fans."

Yeah, under the circumstances, not so funny. Chris at SportsLogos.net got into a little more detail on his blog — including some unwelcome fan backlash.

Stars jersey leak prank fools logo website's readers

Speaking of our good friends at SportsLogos.net, Chris decided to join the April Fools' fray on Monday morning, thinking it would be funny to post a phony leak of the Stars' new uniforms.

April Fools' Day prank via SportsLogos.net

Essentially, it's a Tampa Bay Lightning jersey in green with the Dallas Cowboys logo on the front. Can't give him points for creativity, but I can give him points for execution. The grainy "cell phone photo" was intended to look like a shot of an official NHL branding sheet, complete with "CONFIDENTIAL - DO NOT RELEASE UNTIL Q3 2013" watermarked all over.

I thought we'd all have a laugh and move on. Until my inbox starting filling up (thanks, Chris) with people asking if I'd seen the leak. I think many of Chris' readers simply looked at the pretty picture, downloaded it, and posted it to other web forums and such — without bothering to read all the way to the bottom of the page.

Yes, folks, it was a joke. Did you really think the Stars could so blatantly infringe on one of the most valuable identities in all of sports? And spend so much time developing a new brand that simply ripped off other brands? We all know better than that. It was a decent joke, but nothing more.

Penguins may not add new third jersey in 2013

Contrary to what was reported in the last NHL JerseyWatch post, the Pittsburgh Penguins might not be adding a new alternate uniform next season. While they are definitely retiring their blue third at the end of this season, its replacement may still be a couple years away.

This all comes from one succinct tweet by Pittsburgh Tribune-Review beat writer Rob Rossi yesterday.

No #pens trade, but about uniforms that didn't make notes: No alternates at all next season. Maybe new ones in future. Vegas gold staying.

— Rob Rossi (@RobRossi_Trib) April 3, 2013

All the bad news you can fit into 140 characters. New new thirds. And the Vegas gold is staying. Sorry Pens fans, this is apparently not your year.

But briefly on the subject of the JerseyWatch post. I must admit I was making an assumption regarding a new third jersey. All Reebok tends to say in January when it comes to jersey changes is "TBA" — to be announced. All it tells us for sure is that the existing jersey won't be around next season. The question of whether it would be replaced immediately is not answered with "TBA." I just jumped to conclusions.

That's not to say a new third wasn't in the works for 2013. The team may have had something in development that was scrapped before December. We'll probably never know for sure.

Red Wings honor Gordie Howe with No. 9 sweaters

And finally, we'll finish where we started. Michigan. The Detroit Red Wings honored legend Gordie Howe on his 85th birthday Sunday. Every player donned his No. 9 sweater during warm-ups prior to their game against the Blackhawks.

Photo from Detroit Red Wings official website

It was kind of an interesting sight and a neat way to wrap up this post.

Leafs Prepare Early for Centennial

Photo by Alan Hudes | Logo from Canadian Intellectual Property Office

First, apologies for the lack of blog updates recently. It's not that there's been nothing worth reporting. Just having difficulty finding the time these days. But I wanted to get this on the record.

Toronto already promoting 100th anniversary season

The Toronto Maple Leafs are wasting no time getting prepared for their upcoming 100th anniversary season — which is, you know, still four years away in 2017. Never too soon, right?

Icethetics reader Alan Hudes wrote in a couple weeks ago with the above photo of a trailer. Specifically, it's the Leafs Nation Mobile Fan Zone. Inside, it contains a replica of the team's dressing room which isn't weird or anything. But that's not important.

What we're interested in is its new look — which prominently features artwork related to that centennial I mentioned before. (The one that's still 52 months away. That's 52 months, not 52 weeks.) The "MFZ" — their acronym, not mine — currently features the previous Leafs logos, including those from before they adopted the Maple Leaf moniker, the Arenas and St. Pats. And there's also a rather boring 100th anniversary logo to top it all off.

Knowing the "creative" for that event is already underway, one might consider a quick trip to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office to turn up another centennial logo. And it's hardly an improvement over the trailer. That's what you see next to the photo. The trademark was filed last March — a year ago today, in fact.

Only 16 years between 75th and 100th anniversary logos

The funny part is that you may recall Toronto celebrating its 75th anniversary back in 2001. Quick math shows 2017 minus 2001 does not equal 25. So what's going on? Well apart from the obvious marketing ploy, the team was only counting its years as the "Maple Leafs" — which started only in 1927.

In 2017, the club will be marking the founding of the franchise in 1917 as the Toronto Arenas with the formation of the National Hockey League. (Next, I want to see the NHL's 100th anniversary logo. Think they'll make all the teams wear shoulder patches like they did with their 75th in 1992?)

I've spent far too long writing about this topic at this point. It could be the late hour or it could be me just trying to make up for my recent silence. If you guys have anything to add, feel free.