Photoblog: Sharp Sweaters in Puget Sound

Later this week, the NHL lockout will become real. Tangible. Those season tickets sitting on your kitchen counter. They'll be worthless. You can take them to the rink. But they won't get you in. And even if they did, there'd be nothing to see.

I may live three hours away from the nearest NHL arena and thousands of miles away from my team, but it'll become real for me just the same when I endure the futility of trying to tune in on opening night. So in an effort to satisfy my hockey craving before any of that ugliness happens, I bought tickets to see some unadulterated WHL action.

Wow.

It was quite a night. What follows is a photoblog about my experience at Saturday's game at ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington as the Seattle Thunderbirds hosted the Everett Silvertips.

My last (and first) WHL game — a year ago to the day, as a matter of fact — was in Victoria between the newly-minted Royals and the Medicine Hat Tigers. Let's just say it didn't leave a lot of lasting memories.

Not only couldn't I tell you the score without looking it up, but I don't even remember who won or much of anything about that game. (The Royals lost 4-2.) So I must admit I wasn't exactly holding my breath for this one. As sad as that sounds.

Then the teams skated out. And I got a shock. Neither was wearing the jersey I expected. And as a guy who runs a website dedicated to the subject, the surprise was strange. Actually, it felt good. I didn't think I could be surprised by these things anymore. But it also hammered home the point that I don't cover the major juniors very well. (I'm working to fix that.)

Connor Honey and the T-Birds were sporting their two-tone blue alternate jersey, which is actually entering its second season. It debuted last fall — a fact I might've known had I bothered to go to any Seattle games last season. (No, apparently, I had to go all the way to Canada to watch a game that's played in my backyard.) But anyway, the jerseys looked positively phenomenal.

On the other side of Jesse Forsberg, the Silvertips were wearing a white jersey I'd never seen.

That's team captain Ryan Murray, wearing a unique C patch on his chest. If not for the lockout, I probably wouldn't have seen him. After being drafted by the Blue Jackets back in June, he was on track to make the NHL this season, I'm told. Instead, Murray was sporting a shiny new Silvertips sweater.

Turns out, it's not a third jersey as I briefly suspected. The Silvertips are celebrating their 10th anniversary this season with specially-designed home and road jerseys. (Which were unveiled two months ago.) And they looked "grrreat" on the ice as well.

Lest you think I'm only interested in looking at the jerseys during a hockey game, let me assure you I was very much into it. This game had it all. There was fast-paced action, lots of goals, drama, a penalty shot, and yes... even a couple of fights. This is hockey.

That's Michal Holub and Ben Betker getting friendly in the second period — which ended 2-2. After an early lull between two teams with losing records and the home team trailing for most of the game, something happened. The third period started.

I don't know how he did it, but coach Steve Konowalchuk lit a fire under his Thunderbirds. One goal after another, the T-Birds came roaring back. Alexander Delnov scored four minutes in for a 3-2 lead — making up for a missed penalty shot in the first period. Not 30 seconds later, team captain Luke Lockhart followed up with an insurance marker. And before it was all said and done, Shea Theodore notched a power-play goal (his second of the night!) and cemented the 5-2 Seattle victory.

A celebration well-earned.

Maybe I've been unfairly judging the WHL on one lackluster game I went to a year ago. If this is more like the sort of hockey one can expect on a regular basis from this league, count me in! (Especially if this lockout persists and there are no Lightning games to watch.)

And by the way, if any T-Birds fans are reading, you guys are awesome! The Royals didn't have the kind of support you brought Saturday — and they're in Canada. I especially liked the "Everett sucks" chant after the goals. (I'm eager to head up to Comcast Arena and see what the north sound crowd is like.)

Finally, if you were hoping for a closer look at the Thunderbirds' third jersey crest, I've got you covered. It's a sharp jersey, and if replicas had been available in the arena shop, I would've bought one. But at $300, an authentic was a bit too rich for me.

The Thunderbirds tell me the alternate uniform was designed by their in-house graphic artist Brian Eldridge.

Now here's to seeing more WHL games in the near future!

All photos © Chris Smith

Giants Pay Tribute to 1945 Canucks

The WHL's Vancouver Giants opened the 2012-13 season by honoring the original Vancouver Canucks hockey club. The Giants wore special uniforms, modeled after what the 1945 Canucks — who recently joined the BC Sports Hall of Fame.

The jerseys were unveiled on Mon., Sept. 17 and then on Fri., Sept. 21, the Giants faced the Victoria Royals wearing blue instead of their iconic red. But let's be honest, they looked better than a lot of NHL teams do. This is a hockey uniform.

Despite the nice sweaters, the Giants lost 6-4 to the Royals that night. There are more pictures from the game on the Giants' website.

The original Vancouver Canucks debuted in 1945 in the Pacific Coast Hockey Leauge, which became known as the Western Hockey League in 1952. The Canucks won their fifth championship title in 1970 before giving up their identity to an NHL expansion team.

WHL Player Wears Jerseys He Designs

Taylor Vause, Swift Current BroncosIt's probably a safe bet that most of the jersey concept designers here at Icethetics play hockey at a level no higher than recreation.

But there's always an exception. You should really get to know the captain of the WHL's Swift Current Broncos, Taylor Vause.

Vause emailed me this week to talk about a couple of the specialty sweaters his team has worn recently and subsequently auctioned off to benefit charities. What's interesting about these sweaters? He designed them. 

I'm sure more than a few Icethetics readers can claim they've worn jerseys they've designed for their beer league teams, but how many can say their work has raised nearly $15,000 for charity?

Vause, 20, wrote: "I have followed your site for a very long time [and] have always been a fan of jersey design. ... Over time, you've [written] posts about major junior hockey with regards to special event jerseys. For me, this is very interesting because I play at that level and I'm directly involved with those jerseys."

He's not kidding. Vause tells me he approached the Broncos last season about using a sweater he designed for Broncos Beat Breast Cancer Night on Feb. 4, 2011. As it turned out, the team liked his design — so they used it.

"I scored in that game while wearing the jersey I designed," Vause said. "Quite an awesome experience for me." Unfortunately, it was the Broncos' only goal as they fell 6-1 to the Medicine Hat Tigers.

Broncos Beat Breast Cancer Night / courtesy Taylor Vause

Between the jersey auction and the in-game sale of pink carnations, the Broncos raised $6,400 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. For the record, Vause's jersey sold for $755. That number was second only to the $1,000 one dedicated fan spent on Justin Dowling's jersey.

The story doesn't end there. "I was preparing for my fourth and final season of major junior hockey," Vause said of this year, "and I had already talked to my team's front office about doing another jersey for this season.

"I'm not sure if you know much about the Broncos history," said Vause. "There was a terrible bus accident 25 years ago and four [Broncos] players died. Since then we've always worn a four-leaf clover with the four players' numbers on it. Seeing as it was the 25th anniversary of the crash I thought it would be a great honour to do a Four Broncos memorial jersey."

Broncos Memorial Jersey / courtesy Taylor Vause

Once again, the Broncos used his jersey design. And again, "I scored in this game," said Vause. "Another amazing feeling to score in the jersey that I designed." And to complete the trifecta of history repeating itself a year later, Vause's goal was only one the Broncos scored in the Feb. 11 game, falling 4-1 to the Regina Pats.

Regardless, Vause is quick to point out that it was still a special night. "I was very proud of this jersey because of what it meant to the community," he said. "We did another jersey auction and this time around we raised $8,153.67 for our Education Fund."

You can read more about this jersey and see Vause wearing it in a photo shoot on the Broncos' website. 

"I'm hoping to continue designing jerseys for the Broncos and branch out to other teams in the league as well," Vause said. "Whether that happens or not remains to be seen but jersey design will continue to be a passion of mine either way."

Taylor's story is pretty cool and I appreciate him sharing it with us. He's on Twitter at @wizardofvause if you want to give him a follow. And if you want to check out some of his quirky Photoshop creations, here's a link.

Jets Jerseys Coming 9/6

Just past noon in Winnipeg today came the tweet we've all been waiting for.

It's true. After much waiting, the Winnipeg Jets will finally unveil their new home and road uniforms to the world in just four days — on Tuesday, Sept. 6. The team's tweet gave no other details about the event, but other media outlets were able to fill in the blanks.

The Winnipeg Free Press reports the unveiling will take place at the 17 Wing Winnipeg base in St. James. The connection to the Canadian Air Force is lost on no one, of course. The article didn't specify the time, but I've read 11 AM Central, for those interested.

RCMP bust jersey counterfeitersBut believe it or not, as far as I'm concerned, that wasn't the most exciting Jets jersey news of the week. Apparently, the RCMP busted up a ring of counterfeiters! Good for them!

It probably goes without saying, but if you were one of the misguided souls who gave your money to criminals, you probably shouldn't count on getting what you paid for.

One weird thing about the bust. RCMP said there were 40 jerseys and said they were worth $12,000. That's $300 a piece if your math skills are failing you. My guess is they're basing that figure not on what the counterfeiters were charging but on what the real authentics will likely cost. Rounded up.

Anyway, as I've pointed out many times before, True North has already said the uniforms look nothing like this and I take them at their word. After all, when the logo leaked, rather than denying it, they quickly threw together a press conference to officially unveil it.

I get the feeling the actual jerseys aren't going to be what anyone was expecting. But we'll find out for sure on Tuesday morning, won't we?

One more jersey to vote on

For the last few months, I've been conducting a series of polls to determine a ranking of NHL uniforms used during the 2010-11 season. In that time, you've voted on all the jerseys for all 30 teams. Except for one, as I discovered when trying to put together the final ranking.

I left out the Calgary Flames' Heritage Classic jersey because I actually set up the Canadian teams' polls just prior to the outdoor game in February. I feel I can't assemble a comprehensive list without a vote on this, so take a look and rate it 1, 5 or 10.

For what it's worth, there's no point to holding a poll for the Montreal Canadiens' Heritage Classic jersey as it was practically identical to their road jersey.

And sorry for the delay on this. The good news is it should be put to bed just in time for the Icethetics Season Preview in a few weeks! Can you believe it's already September?!

Royals unveil new home, road jerseys

Reading Royals unveil new uniforms / FacebookThe ECHL's Reading Royals will sport a new look for the 2011-12 season.

The new sweaters were revealed on the team's website and Facebook page back on Aug. 22. (What? I've been busy.) 

The Royals are affiliated with the Bruins and Maple Leafs but their new uniforms look rather borrowed from a team with which they share a state (the Flyers) and a team which they share a color scheme and similar identity (the Kings). Weird, right?

Still, these are solid hockey uniforms. Let's be honest, you could pick worse teams to emulate. Like almost any fellow ECHL team, for example. So my kudos to the Royals!

Knights bring back the green

OHL Knights new third jerseyThe OHL's London Knights unveiled a new green third jersey on Tuesday. And it looks absolutely stunning. Dallas Stars, are you paying attention?

The new jersey was revealed at a press conference introducing the newly acquired Max Domi — yes, that would be Tie Domi's kid. And what more is there to say about it really? It's just awesome. And a shame no one in the NHL aside from the Wild will be wearing anything like it.

You can read more details about the acquisition of Domi and see video of him trying on the new threads right here.

In other news, I have some links that some readers have shared to further share with the rest of you:

• Brock B. writes in to tell us about the WHL's Lethbridge Hurricanes officially changing their logo. They've been using it on an alternate jersey, but it's getting promoted this season. And it's a blatant rip-off of the Washington Capitals' look. For shame, Lethbridge. Hurricane Watch
• John W. wants us to know that just because there's no Heritage Classic this season doesn't mean hockey fans north of the border won't be treated to some high quality outdoor hockey. The Hamilton Bulldogs will host the Toronto Marlies in the elements this winter. TSN
• And finally, I don't have a link for this, but The Hockey News published its annual NHL logo ranking this week. Naturally, Chicago tops the list. Surprisingly, the Canadiens were No. 3 and the Jets were way too high at No. 8. (It got 4% of the overall vote but that's clearly a soft number.) The Lightning's new logo was dead last. Who do I see about that?

Loose Threads: Ending a Busy Week

Seven blog posts in seven days, and I even took yesterday off. But believe it or not, there's still more news to talk about. I have four items today I'll try to get through as quickly as possible.

Sens Release Partial Third Jersey Schedule

One of the big stories of this week has been the Ottawa Senators' new third jersey. They're calling it the Heritage Jersey and we got our first look at it on Tuesday. Then a few days later, the team officially announed its 20th anniversary plans.

In the press relase, the Sens confirmed the existence of the Heritage Jersey but, despite the leak, opted not to officially unveil it. That will happen closer to the start of the season. However, the team did post ticket package options online which tell us, in part, when the new sweater is scheduled to be used.

Ottawa Heritage Jersey (colorized)The Heritage Jersey will be worn for 11 home dates, but the ticket packages only reveal eight. Here's that list along with a couple more: 

• Thurs., Oct. 13 — vs Colorado Avalanche
• Sun., Oct. 30 — vs Toronto Maple Leafs
• Sat., Nov. 12 — at Toronto Maple Leafs †
• Wed., Dec. 14 — vs Boston Bruins
• Tues., Dec. 27 — vs Montreal Canadiens
• Sat., Jan. 14 — at Montreal Canadiens †
• Tues., Feb. 7 — vs St. Louis Blues
• Fri., Mar. 2 — vs Chicago Blackhawks
• Fri., Mar. 16 — vs Montreal Canadiens
• Sat., Mar. 17 — vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

† Along with the 11 home games will be a pair of nationally televised road contests in Toronto and Montreal, according to information that was part of the jersey leak. I take that to mean Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts — which are on Saturday nights. The Senators visit the Maple Leafs for Saturday matches on Oct. 8 and Nov. 12, but the team has already stated the jersey will see its debut on Oct. 13. And the only Saturday game hosted by the Canadiens takes place Jan. 14. By process of elimination I think we can safely include Nov. 12 and Jan. 14 on the schedule. But that's subject to change, of course.

UPDATE (9/25/11): As it turns out, Nov. 12 wasn't a safe date to include. The Toronto Maple Leafs just released their full third jersey schedule which includes that date. And for TV purposes, we won't see blue versus black. So strike that date from the list. Must be a different nationally-televised game.

I've also taken the liberty of colorizing the leaked jersey design from earlier in the week to give us an idea of what it might look like. I've used vintage white since many things are hinting at that right now.

Kings Throwbacks Coming Back

Kings throwback jerseyIn March, LA Kings Insider Rich Hammond wrote that the Los Angeles Kings would be overhauling their uniforms next season. He added, "the vintage purple-and-gold jerseys will go into mothballs for a while now."

I've been citing that little nugget for months in the various NHL JerseyWatch updates. What I didn't know until I started scouring his archives is that just over a month later, Hammond changed his tune.

Buried in a mailbag-type post on April 30, where he answered reader questions, was the news that the Kings were in fact bringing back the throwbacks for at least three home games next season.

Minnesota Kings Fan asked: To add to the uniform questions what about something with purple & gold?

Answer: The current plan is for the Kings to wear the purple-and-gold vintage uniforms for three home games next season.

I feel bad I overlooked that little piece of information during the last few months, but thrilled that the Kings are bringing this uniform back in 2011-12. It looks great and fans love it!

It's also the perfect counterweight for a club with black and white primary jerseys. I won't call them boring because I actually like them, I just don't want to see them lose the purple altogether.

And for the record, neither does Luc Robitaille.

IceMen unveil modified logo, new jerseys

The Central Hockey League has been getting a lot of blog time lately, and they're about to get a little more. In just their second season, the Evansville IceMen will already be donning a new logo and jerseys.

It's not really a new logo so much as a modified version of their previous logo which was used during their inaugural season in the CHL last year. They're keeping the same "ice man" as before, but with a different posture and some new gear. As for the uniforms, they're completely new — even if they aren't entirely original.

IceMen unveil new jerseys for 2011 / IceMenManiacs.comThe IceMen held a press conference on July 14 to show off the (not so) new look. (Try to ignore the blatant headline misspelling.) They had a few players on hand to model the new jerseys (right).

Mark Cody (18) wore the alternate, Todd Robinson (19) had the blue and Brian Bicek (10) donned the white sweater. In the CHL, teams wear white at home for the first half of the season and then switch.

If you can look past the fact that all of these uniform designs come from the Pittsburgh Penguins' closet, what else do you notice?

We've seen it before, but never this bad. Not one color in the logo is found on the jerseys. Each one uses two shades of blue, neither of which match the single shade used in the logo. There's also no grey in the uniforms even though it dominates the primary mark.

I'm not oblivious to the fact that minor league teams have to spare expense by using existing jersey designs. But knowing that, why not make it look like you put some thought into the design and alter the logo colors to match? It doesn't look that bad, considering the logo they have to work with. But I'd lose the black.

That's all I really have to say about that because the truth is I love these jerseys — just not the crest. I think the colors and striping look great. By the way, I should give a shout-out to IceMenManiacs.com for the photo above and coverage of the unveiling.

Blazers celebrate 30 years with Oilers logo

On Friday, the WHL's Kamloops Blazers unveiled their 30th anniversary logo and it may look awfully familiar to you. That's because it's based on the Edmonton Oilers' 30th anniversary logo from 2008. The green craze is really hitting hockey design hard this year. Everybody's recycling!

The use of the Oilers' logo for the Blazers isn't as odd as it might seem at first. When the team was founded in 1981, they were known as the Kamloops Junior Oilers. So in reality, this logo works well as an homage to the team's own history. They became the Blazers in 1984.

The Blazers have announced some of the 30th anniversary celebration plans. Here are the ones of interest to Icethetics readers:

To celebrate 30 years, the Blazers have introduced a new logo that will be placed at centre ice for the entire 2011-12 season. The Blazers will also be wearing vintage jerseys to commemorate the anniversary this season.

I'll keep an eye out for that vintage jersey. Maybe that Kamloops Junior Oilers logo could be resurrected too. And I have to say that despite the obvious reuse of that Edmonton 30th logo, I do like how the team has worked in both the Junior Oilers and Blazers imagery into the design. Just wish they could've been more original.

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I think that finally does it for today. You're now caught up on everything — that I know of. Next up, I'm working on a page that will be under the VOTE tab above. Basically, you'll be able to vote on all of the new logos and jerseys — even the unofficial ones — that we've seen this summer. Should give us an idea of where everyone stands on the new looks around the hockey world. Plus, it'll be a good recap with lots of links in case you missed anything admist all the crazy blog updates lately.

Update on Monday · Aug 15 · 2011 | 10:46 AM PDT by Chris

Gibbie from IceMenManiacs.com, who was at the IceMen's jersey unveiling press conference, commented with some additional details on the new look.

Sorry to ring in late, I just came across this blog. Thanks muchly for the link back! We just started the IceMen Maniacs site a couple of months ago and I'm thrilled to see it out in the wild. :)

They did tell us at the presser that the jerseys were mock ups, it's possible that the color scheme will be modified a bit. They could tone down the blue and I think it will be fine. Not all the blues on the three sweaters match either which bothers me but no one else probably notices. :) The official team colors are now supposed to be navy blue, sky blue and white as opposed to navy, white and black.

The whole issue of change is sensitive since the team has gone through major changes each of its four years of existence and is about to go through another very large one. While I appreciate why they wanted to change up the logo and jersey design, I'm glad it wasn't more radical. Besides I'm very fond of our club wielding, parka wearing man. :)