Flames Bringing Vintage Back

Olli Jokinen #21The Calgary Flames have officially stated their third jersey intentions for the 2010-11 campaign. And it's all about bringing retro back.

The Flames made the announcement via Facebook today. Here's an excerpt:

The Calgary Flames announced today their third jersey for the 2010-2011 season will be the Flames Vintage jersey. In celebration of the Flames 30th Anniversary season this vintage jersey was worn five times in games versus the other five Canadian teams.

The new third jersey for the 2010-2011 season will feature Vintage jersey striping and colours on the new innovative fabrics and cut that was introduced by Reebok for the 2007-2008 season. The Edge Uniform System was introduced to better complement today’s game and to help improve player performance.

The third jersey will be worn up to 15 games next season.

The release also mentioned that tonight was the final time the Flames would wear the vintage jersey this season. After the game, the jerseys were handed out to a couple dozen lucky fans, selected at random.

So, what's changing? The biggest thing is that it will be a Reebok Edge jersey next season. It wasn't for the five games in which it was worn this season. Also, Olli Jokinen won't be wearing it, it's probably safe to say. But most importantly, Flames and throwback jersey fans alike will get to see more of it!

Now if only they could put that flaming "A" on the front, that would really take us back.

The Flames have also posted an article on their website about the third jersey. It has no new information. However, there is this cool locker room photo.

Calgary Flames vintage locker room

The only thing disappointing about this announcement is we won't be anticipating a big unveiling of a fresh new jersey design. In fact, it flies in the face of what Flames president and CEO Ken King said some time ago. That being they were in the process of designing a black third jersey with a brand new logo.

He said it would've been "a different look" for the Flames, and I always think that's cool to see. But it looks like they'll be putting that off for a while. Maybe we'll get a look at some of the prototypes one day. Fingers crossed.

Coyotes Go Green for Charity

I'm glad that news came today, otherwise this next bit of info would've been by itself at the top of Icethetics for a while. And that would have been sad.

Coyotes go green!The Phoenix Coyotes will be auctioning off another set of special edition, autographed practice jerseys — this time to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

I know I mocked them the last time they did something like this, and it didn't go over well. But this time I'm keeping my mouth shut. Is it silly? Yes. Is it for a good cause? Yes. Let it be.

Here's what the Yotes say about the auction:

Each Coyotes player has autographed a one-of-a-kind St. Patrick’s Day jersey with his name and number on the back. The jerseys will be available for bidding beginning at 9 AM Thursday, March 11. The auction will close at 10 PM on Tuesday, March 23.

Proceeds from the auction will benefit Coyotes Charities, which is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life throughout Arizona communities by supporting non-profit organizations that promote healthcare, education, cultural arts and sports-related programs for children.

Also take note of the number on the front in a little four-leaf clover, leaving no stone unturned for the leprechaun coyote (he's even gold!).

Bryzgalov's leprechaun jerseyNow I can't let you go without seeing the back of these bad boys. It's got the little leprechaun hat and everything.

The good news for Bryz and his teammates is that they won't actually have to wear these in public. They're simply being customized, autographed, and sold to the highest bidder.

And if you want a shot at being one of those bidders, you can find all you need to know at auction.nhl.com. They even have a Sean Burke #1 "alumni jersey" on offer. Interesting.

All right, that about wraps it up, but I do have one more link for you. If you'd like to see the full jersey design, MVPToday.com has you covered. Though beware their green is not quite the green seen in these photos.

Thanks to Dan for letting us know about this.

Jackets Investigating Logo Theft

In the category of things that are shockingly stupid, the Columbus Blue Jackets are investigating the theft of their logo by — of all people — a politician!

If you can believe it, U.S. Senate candidate Marc Delphine of Oregon has appropriated a slightly altered version of the Ohio NHL franchise's primary logo to promote his campaign, by flipping it to form a D with the flag — still practically the Ohio flag, by the way.

Here's the banner on his website:

Campaign steals Blue Jackets logo

It became obvious that the Blue Jackets didn't grant the campaign any special permission when the following was posted to the team's Twitter account about an hour ago:

For those who are asking about the misuse of the #CBJ logo, the issue is being looked into. Thanks to those who pointed it out.

To be fair, the logo may not have been stolen by Delphine himself but rather a P.R. hack for the campaign, but it's still a pretty shocking oversight on the part of the candidate.

Thanks to Matt for the tip!

Update on Wednesday · Mar 10 · 2010 | 8:54 PM PST by Chris

In the interest of fairness, read Puck Daddy's posting on the matter. Mr. Delphine explains that the logo was a contribution from a volunteer, and being a Libertarian from Oregon, knowledge of hockey logos is not one of his strong suits. (Nor is being able to properly vet images he wants to represent him as a candidate for high public office, apparently.)

The logo was removed from his campaign website earlier today after a flood of emails and calls from the media and the NHL. The matter has officially been put to bed.

Caps Turn 35, Opt Against Third

Note about Logo Tournament: The voting section of the website will only be the Icethetics landing page on Mondays when new polls are posted. Throughout the rest of the week, polls are available by clicking on the VOTE! tab at the top or in the sidebar.

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Capitals 35th patchWe're tracking Washington Capitals jerseys news today. They just celebrated 35 years and the final word on a Caps third jersey is here.

On Saturday night, the Capitals wore a special 35th anniversary patch on their jerseys. This after it was postponed last month due to inclement weather.

Icethetics reader Lowell sent in this photo of the patch (right) and he plans on sewing it onto his Caps jersey.

In the meantime, if you want to see how it looked in action, here's a shot of Alex Ovechkin wearing it on his jersey. The patch-enhanced sweaters were put up on the auction block on Saturday night after the game. Anyone want to guess how much his went for?

While we're on the subject of rare jerseys, the Capitals have no intention of adding a third in the foreseeable future, according to owner Ted Leonsis.

This is a story PuckDrawn picked up on last week. In a video interview on Caps365, Leonsis said:

There's no active discussion, there's no work on it. We introduced new jerseys a couple years ago. The fan base was not supportive of that. My favorite from one of our message board posters was, "How dare you! This looks like a colostomy bag!" I kept that one.

And now I think our logo and color scheme are amongst the most accepted, best-selling and best-looking in the league. Sometimes injecting change is difficult.

I don't feel the compelling need to have the third jersey. I also think it's unfair to introduce a third jersey because people want to then go out and buy them. And with the economy being the way it is, I just thought it would look greedy on our part.

At some point when it feels right, and maybe the fan base gives us permission to do that, we'll certainly do it, but now didn't seem like the right time.

You can click here to watch the video. The third jersey conversation takes place around the 18-minute mark.

So as awesome as it might be, don't expect a blue Weagle jersey anytime soon. Caps fans don't want it. Yet. But when they do, it'll be one of the best around.

The best chance we have now seeing the Caps in anything other than their current jerseys is the 2011 Winter Classic. Assuming the rumors are true, one would hope they'd opt for a throwback sweater like everyone else has done so far — even if their previous jerseys are pretty awful.