Heritage Classic Uniforms Unveiled!

Photos from Ottawa Senators

Senators officially reveal new outdoor jersey

The Ottawa Senators unveiled their 2014 NHL Heritage Classic jersey at a special press event this morning in Ottawa. And it looks even better than it did in yesterday's leaked photo.

In essence, though, it's nothing more than a light version of the black Heritage jersey the Sens debuted two years ago — which is all it needs to be. Here's a look at the full uniform.

Photos from Ottawa Senators

The third Heritage Classic will take place at B.C. Place in Vancouver 99 years after the original Senators club met the Vancouver Millionaires for the 1915 Stanley Cup series. The Millionaires swept them. Will history repeat itself this winter?

We were treated to a few sneak peek photos of this jersey over the past week, but one aspect we hadn't seen was the shoulder patches. They are, of course, the same as what we find on the black jersey. The team's name in English on the right shoulder, in French on the left.

Photo from Ottawa Senators

Canucks will reprise Millionaires sweater

The other big news to come out of this morning's announcement was confirmation that their opponent, the Vancouver Canucks, will indeed bring back last year's Millionaires jerseys for the big game. Jason Spezza and Henrik Sedin were on hand to model the throwback-inspired sweaters.

Photos from Ottawa Senators (via Instagram)

Should be a great-looking, stripe-filled game! And I'm looking forward to being there.

Sweaters Worth a Million Bucks

On Friday, it became official. After leaking out little teasers here and there, the Vancouver Canucks "officially" unveiled their spectacular Vancouver Millionaires jerseys as part of their celebration of A Century of Hockey in Vancouver. Check out David Booth in the locker room surrounded by maroon.

Photo from Vancouver Canucks (via Facebook)

Along with the unveiling, the Canucks announced — as we suspected — that the special uniforms will be worn Sat., March 16 when the Detroit Red Wings pay a visit to Vancouver. If you need a reminder why the Wings are the perfect team to wear this jersey against, check out the previous blog post.

Image from Vancouver Canucks (via YouTube)

The Canucks also rolled out a new video that skims the surface of Vancouver's hockey history just enough for the average fan to understand why the team will be wearing such unusual looking jerseys.

Photos from Vancouver Canucks (via Instagram)

If you're eager to see more photos of the new sweater, be sure to check out the Canucks' Instagram account. There's also a neat gallery of behind-the-scenes stills from the team photo shoot on The Province's website.

Now mark your calendars for March 16. It'll be quite a sight!

More on the Millionaires Tribute

We received some surprising news last Friday when the Vancouver Canucks revealed how they'll be honoring the old Vancouver Millionaires on their uniforms this season. Since this is actual jersey news in a season where we weren't expecting any, you can bet this will be a frequent topic of discussion.

Vancouver Canucks official website

On Friday, the Canucks' alternate jersey made its season debut with a new addition — the blue Vancouver Millionaires patch on the chest. It only improves upon a jersey that's already outfitted with some pretty awesome logos. (That Johnny Canuck V mark needs to become the primary logo. What are they waiting for?)

By the way, I'm not ignoring that Hockey Talks logo. All seven Canadian teams will have a version that they'll wear as a helmet decal at various points during the month of February. I'll have a post on that later this week.

Vancouver Canucks via Twitter

But back to the Millionaires. If you're looking to deck yourself out in that classic logo, clearly gear is not in short supply. This photo was posted to the Canucks Team Store Twitter account on Friday. They're even selling the five-year-old third jersey with a new patch. Pardon the pun, but millionaires indeed.

Of course we can't leave out the new sweater that's at the center of all this exciting news. As modeled by Ryan Kesler in photos released by the team last week, this is the Vancouver Millionaires jersey the team will wear at least once during this shortened season. All indications point to March 16 when the Red Wings are in town.

Photos by Severin Samulski via Fort Nucks

Believe it or not, the Red Wings as an opponent for this game isn't as random as it seems. This requires a bit of a history lesson to understand why.

In 1912 came the formation of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA), of which the Millionaires were a founding member along with the New Westminster Royals and Victoria Senators. In 1913, Senators became the Victoria Aristocrats. (Honestly, after four lockouts in 20 years, can you imagine any NHL team today being named the Millionaires or Aristocrats and still having fans? Yeah, the naming thing gets worse...)

Before the 1916-17 season, the Aristocrats left Victoria for Spokane, Wash. where they were renamed the Canaries. (Told ya.) But no one in eastern Washington cared to attend games and the club folded before the season even ended.

Victoria, B.C. returned to the PCHA scene in 1918 with a brand new team — also called the Aristocrats. (Think Winnipeg Jets, except with fewer relocations.) In 1922, the club was renamed once again to the Victoria Cougars. That might actually be a name you recognize if you're at all familiar with Stanley Cup history. (Also, the Millionaires became the Maroons.)

Two years later in 1924, the Seattle Metropolitans folded, leaving just two teams in the PCHA. The Cougars and Maroons moved to the Western Canada Hockey League where the Cougars promptly won their first and only Stanley Cup championship against the Montreal Canadiens!

The Cougars played one more season in the newly renamed Western Hockey League where this time they lost the Stanley Cup Final. It also spelled the end of the team as the WHL was unable to compete financially with the NHL. The teams were disbanded and players' rights were sold to NHL clubs.

Guess who bought the rights to the Victoria Cougars in 1926. Yep, a group from Detroit, who named their new team the Detroit Cougars. The Cougars became the Falcons in 1930. And ultimately, in 1932, they became the Detroit Red Wings we know today.

So you see, the Canucks are really trying to stir up a century-old rivalry. Can't wait to see it. Now if only someone could convince them to wear their 2009 Winter Classic jerseys — which were in fact Cougars jerseys!

Then we'd have ourselves a hockey game.

Canucks Celebrate Millionaires

Photos by Severin Samulski via Fort Nucks

How long have we been waiting for this?!

The Vancouver Canucks revealed some great news today. As part of their season-long tribute to the 100th anniversary of pro hockey on the west coast, the Canucks have unveiled a Vancouver Millionaires jersey — modeled above by Ryan Kesler.

So when will this jersey see game action? That's not entirely clear, but I'll get to that in a minute. First, the reason this unveiling came today is that the Canucks will wear their third jersey tonight — a third jersey that will feature a special Millionaires patch on the front.

Here are some details from the press release:

The Vancouver Canucks are proud to announce they will celebrate 100 years of hockey on the West Coast by wearing the Vancouver Millionaires “V” patch on their sweaters for select home games in the 2013 season beginning tonight versus the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Vancouver Millionaires were the first professional hockey team on the West Coast, playing in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association from 1912 through 1922. The Millionaires won the Stanley Cup in 1915 against the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey Association, which later became the NHL. The Millionaires played at the 10,500 seat Denman Arena built by Frank and Lester Patrick at the corner of Georgia and Denman and were the first Canadian team to play hockey on artificial ice.

The Canucks will wear the “V” on the front right chest of their sweaters in honour of Vancouver’s original hockey heroes such as Fred “Cyclone” Taylor, who was a member of the Stanley Cup winning Vancouver Millionaires squad.

To my knowledge, the Canucks have not yet released their third jersey schedule.

Now back to that Millionaires jersey at the top of the post. A line in that press release may indicate that the Canucks are planning to wear it in a game next month.

Check back often for more exciting Millionaires news as the Canucks continue to honour Vancouver’s hockey roots, particularly in-game March 16th as the Canucks host the Detroit Red Wings.

There's no reason Reebok would produce this jersey if there was no intention to wear it in a game. Looks like we may get it sooner rather than later. Mark your calendars for Sat., March 16. That could be one nice looking hockey game if true!