Season Preview 2010, Part II

The 2010 Icethetics Season Preview trudges on today with a look at new and different logos around North America's top minor leagues — specifically the AHL and ECHL. So let's dive right in.

AHL Logo Changes

The American Hockey League adds one new team relocates two others for the 2010-11 season. It brings the total number of teams to 30, equal to the NHL, allowing each team to have its own major league affiliate.

Primary logos

Five AHL teams will sport new primary logos this season.

  

The Oklahoma City Barons are the newest member the league, a reincarnation of the Edmonton Oilers dormant AHL franchise. The last time this team saw action was during the NHL lockout, in 2004-05, in the form of the Edmonton Road Runners. Five years later, they're back in action in Oklahoma.

The new primary mark incorporates the Oilers' color palette while adding an extra, darker shade of copper. In addition, the logo highlights various forms of energy cultivated in the Great Plains by incorporating symbols of wind and an oil derrick along with a wheat field.

  

This summer, the Albany River Rats relocated to North Carolina and assumed the branding of the ECHL's Charlotte Checkers. The decision was made in order to move the franchise closer to its NHL parent club, the Carolina Hurricanes. Additionally, the blue of the original Checkers logo was changed to black.

  

The void in Albany left by the departure of the River Rats lead the New Jersey Devils to return their top affiliate to New York's capital district. The Lowell Devils are now the Albany Devils. As is standard with Devils affiliates, the team's new logo is a play off of the NHL club's, with a stylized devil forming the letter A in this instance.

In addition to these logo changes, two other clubs changed their color schemes upon signing affiliation agreements with new NHL teams.

  

The Syracuse Crunch, formerly affiliated with the Columbus Blue Jackets, are now part of the Anaheim Ducks organization. As such, the team will now wear Ducks colors. The logo itself remains the same aside from the color changes. The previous logo and colors were introduced in 2000.

  

With the Oilers now affiliated with the Barons, the Springfield Falcons signed a deal with the Blue Jackets. In doing so, the team, which previously had its own unique identity, changed its colors this summer to match the Blue Jackets. Aside from the new color scheme, the logo itself remains the same.

It was announced earlier this month that the Hartford Wolf Pack will be rebranded the Connecticut Whale at midseason, as a tribute to the old Hartford Whalers. The logo will be officially unveiled tomorrow, at which time this post will be amended.

Alternate logos

A handful of teams will have new logos in a supporting role this season.

The newest AHL team, the Oklahoma City Barons, will wear this patch which pays homage to both its city and NHL affiliate.

The OKC is displayed in the same typeface as BARONS is on the primary logo. And the copper oil drop is a clear reference to the Edmonton Oilers. This logo along with the primary mark were unveiled by the team over the summer.

This logo will be worn as a patch on the left shoulder of both home and road uniforms. The Oilers' primary mark will be worn on the other.

The recently relocated Charlotte Checkers will wear this new logo on their black third jersey.

The mark is clearly meant to merge the Checkers and Carolina Hurricanes identities — why else would a polar bear be carrying a tropical storm flag?

Aside from the primary, the Checkers will not carry over any of the other secondary and alternate logos from the ECHL franchise's identity. The Hurricanes primary logo will be worn as a patch on both shoulders of the home and road sweaters.

This is just a bonus because I thought it was clever, but the Portland Pirates have unveiled the design for the specialty jersey they'll wear for Breast Cancer Awareness Night in October.

The black and pink threads will feature this logo as the crest. It's a synthesis of throwback logos belonging to the Pirates and their NHL affiliate Buffalo Sabres. 

A black and silver version of the Sabres' primary logo will be used as a shoulder patch on this sweater only. No other Pirates logos will be changing this season.

Team Event logos

Three AHL teams are celebrating key anniversaries with specially designed logos for the 2010-11 campaign.

The Manitoba Moose mark their 15th year in Winnipeg this season.

Their anniversary logo features the Roman numerals XV on either side of the moose head mark used on the uniforms. Beneath it reads the years 1996 and 2011, the years the team has played in Winnipeg.

This season marks 15 years since Winnipeg Jets left town, vacating the city where the Moose now play. This franchise has made a name for itself filling voids left by relocated NHL teams as it was created in Minnesota just a year after the North Stars went to Dallas. The Minnesota Moose moved to Manitoba in 1996.

Five years after that, Bridgeport Sound Tigers were established in Connecticut. They now celebrate their 10th anniversary this season.

Similar to the Moose, the Sound Tigers use their jersey crest inside of a numeral 10 for their logo. A ribbon at the bottom of the logo displays their inaugural and current seasons, 2001-02 and 2010-11. 

The Tigers are affiliated with the New York Islanders and have been using their colors since 2006. As of last season, they changed from navy to royal blue to match what the Islanders had planned for this season.

The Worcester Sharks celebrate five years in Massachusetts this season.

The 5th anniversary mark prominently features a large Roman numeral V (in a terrible gradient) with the Sharks' secondary logo on top. Beneath that, a ribbon reads 2006 - 2011, Season Five.

Technically, the franchise turns 15 this year. It was established in 1996 as the Kentucky Thoroughblades but moved and became the Cleveland Barons in 2001. Five years after that, in 2006, was the relocation and renaming to Sharks.

So technically, they're due for another move in 2011. Not funny?

League event logos

A couple of league events will be marked with special logos.

The AHL celebrates its 75th anniversary this season, doing so with a special logo.

The logo reads 75 SEASONS, 1936-2011. Hopefully there are many more to come. The logo features the standard blue and red of the AHL logo.

Part of the anniversary celebration will include an opening weekend in which the league's six oldest teams face off against each other sporting throwback jerseys. Those will be outlined in Thursday's edition of the Icethetics Season Preview.

The 2011 AHL All-Star Classic will be hosted by the reigning Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears on Jan. 31.

The logo features the color palette of the Bears as well as the bear in the club's primary logo. It also includes a representation of the Hershey, Penn. skyline.

The previous All-Star Classic was held in Portland, Maine on January 19, 2010. The AHL has held an all-star game every season since 1995.

And that's it for the American Hockey League.

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ECHL Logo Changes

The ECHL will see few changes this season, but the biggest is the relocation of a storied franchise.

Primary logos

  

The Johnstown Chiefs, founded in 1988 at the formation of the East Coast Hockey league, were relocated to South Carolina and renamed the Greenville Road Warriors this summer. The Road Warriors carry over none of the Chiefs' branding as there is a hope that hockey will soon return to Johnstown and bring the name back.

Greenville, S.C. was previously home to the ECHL's Greenville Grrrowl, who played from 1998 to 2006. 

Alternate logos

Only the Greenville Road Warriors introduce new alternate logos this season.

 

The new marks were unveiled this summer and have been in use on the team's website. While uniforms have yet to be unveiled, it is believed they will feature these logos. The one on the left will be the crest while the other will likely serve as a shoulder patch. No date has been set for an unveiling but the team plays its first exhibition game on Oct. 8.

Team Event logos

Only one ECHL club is marking an anniversary this year.

The Reading Royals will celebrate a decade of hockey during the 2010-11 season.

The 10th anniversary logo features the primary logo on a purple Roman numeral X and a silver ribbon that reads 2001 - 2011. It's also encircled by the team's name and the text 10TH ANNIVERSARY leaving no mistake as to what's being signified with this logo.

The Royals were resurrected in 2001, formerly an ECHL team called the Columbus Chill which played from 1991 until 1999. So technically, this franchise has now existed for 20 years.

League Event logos

Only one major event is taking place in the ECHL in 2010-11.

The 2011 ECHL All-Star Classic will be hosted by the Bakersfield Condors on Jan. 26, 2011.

The event mark incorporates the Condors color scheme and even a new angle of the massive bird that dominates the team's own logo. This logo reads ALL-STAR CLASSIC while last year's version simply said ALL STAR with no other specification.

The game jerseys were revealed earlier this month and will be featured in Thursday's edition of the Season Preview.

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Hope you enjoyed today's edition. I'm sure you guys will let me know if I missed anything. Tomorrow's preview? A surprise. Be sure to check back.

Season Preview 2010, Part I

Squeaky clean seats not yet caked with the sticky remnants of spilled sodas. Your brand new jersey is free from mustard stains — for now. A fresh sense of hope lies ahead because this is your team's year. They're unstoppable at 0-0-0. The arena is buzzing as you settle in. Then you look to the ice and... wait, what are the players wearing?!

Icethetics can't do anything about the mess you'll make with that hot dog or the inevitable win-loss letdown, but we can get you prepared for uniform and logo changes for the 2010-11 hockey season. Welcome to the Icethetics Season Preview.

NHL Logo Changes

A handful of teams are changing logos or adopting new ones this season. We'll take a look at those in today's edition of the Season Preview.

Primary Logos

Two teams are changing their primary logos this season — both to updated versions of their original emblems used more than 30 years ago. Vintage is making a comeback.

  

The Buffalo Sabres ditch the hated Buffaslug logo for a belated return to retro in this their 40th anniversary season. The classic logo which originated on the team's uniforms in 1970 is back with a modernized twist — silver outlining pretty much everything. The color scheme will remain unchanged. This logo was previously in use on the Sabres' third jersey.

  

It's a subtle change but the New York Islanders go back to basics this year, swapping the navy for royal blue. The keen observer will also note that a fourth piece of tape has been added to the shaft of the hockey stick, a subdued tribute to the club's Stanley Cup championships. This logo was previously used on the Islanders' third jersey.

Alternate Logos

A handful of NHL teams will debut new alternate logos on their uniforms this season — be it on their regular sweaters or perhaps a new third jersey.

The Toronto Maple Leafs unveiled new home and road uniforms over the summer. They both featured a brand new patch that calls back to past Leafs uniforms.

The logo matches the veined leaf seen on the team's third jersey and throughout its history, minus the text in the middle. The new leaf will be white on the blue home sweater (left) and reversed to blue on the white sweater.

The Maple Leafs have not had a secondary logo since the league-wide uniform redesign lead by Reebok in 2007.

  

Uniforms worn in preseason games indicate the Minnesota Wild have changed their secondary logo. The ferocious wordmark, in use as a shoulder patch since 2000, has been replaced, rather ironically, by a tamer one. A version of the previous logo was the original mark used when the franchise was announced. The current primary logo was added later.

Two teams will wear throwback sweaters for a few games this year, similar to what the Calgary Flames did in 2009-10.

The Vancouver Canucks return a fan favorite to the arsenal this season as they don a replica of their original 1970 uniform for their 40th anniversary season, featuring that classic stick-in-rink logo.

This logo was first retired in 1978.  A white version of the original logo was re-introduced on the Canucks' blue third jersey for the 2006-07 season. A maroon and navy version was also worn as a shoulder patch from 2003 to 2006.

Joining the Canucks, the Los Angeles Kings will sport vintage attire on a handful of occasions, including opening night when they face Vancouver.

While the Kings have yet to officially confirm this, they did give a retro jersey to their top pick at the NHL Entry Draft, which they hosted in June.

That jersey featured this logo, which made its debut in 1967 and was in use until 1988. It hadn't been used in any official capacity until June.

Earlier this month, the Buffalo Sabres unveiled a new third jersey with a brand new crest. It features a new script and the club's 40th anniversary logo (more below).

The logo was inspired by and pays tribute to the city's first pro hockey team, which pre-dated the Sabres by 30 years. The Buffalo Bisons wore a similar script on their uniforms. Team operations were ceased in 1970 when the Sabres began play.

The script is vintage white, emblazoned on a royal blue sweater. The Sabres' previous third jersey crest has been adopted as the primary logo this season.

The New York Rangers will also add a third jersey, featuring a new script mark. While it has not yet been officially unveiled by the team, a sneak peek began making the rounds on the web when Sean Avery posted a photo on his blog. It is expected the team will make this official in November.

The original photo has since been removed, but we did get a look at the jersey which is dark blue and features NEW YORK in red text across the chest. The letters are outlined in vintage white, which seems to be all the rage this season.

The new script mimics what was used on the uniform during the 1930s, only it read RANGERS instead. The Rangers have not had an alternate uniform since the Reebok redesign in 2007.

unofficialThe Anaheim Ducks will debut a new third jersey in late November. But Icethetics learned through a trusted source what it looks like earlier this month.

The sweater is highlighted by the use of the standalone webbed "D" logo, which has been in use as an alternate mark for several years. However, this is the first time it will be placed on the front of a uniform.

In addition, the Ducks are adding a new logo (left), also by looking to their past. The new mark will be worn as a shoulder patch on the alternate sweater and includes a recolored version of the original Mighty Ducks logo.

The team changed its name and colors in 2006. This marks the first time since then that the Disney-designed logo will be seen on an Anaheim uniform.

Lastly, the Columbus Blue Jackets will debut a new third jersey this season for their 10th anniversary. It is said to include a brand new logo with a cannon as the primary element. No further details have been made available at this time.

Team Event Logos

A half-dozen NHL teams are celebrating important anniversaries this season. And with that comes a number of specialty logos which will be used this season only.

The New York Rangers, established in 1926, will celebrate 85 years during the 2010-11 season. This logo, along with a secondary shield logo (right), will be used on team marketing materials.

In addition, this logo (left) is painted at center ice in Madison Square Garden. It uses the same colors as the yet to be released third jersey — dark blue, red and vintage white.

The alternate anniversary mark seen above is displayed in the Rangers' standard color scheme but is more likely to be seen in the "vintage" colors.

Established in 1970, the Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks will each celebrate their 40th anniversaries.

The Sabres (left) have simply taken their original logo, swapped the white for vintage white, and added the year 1970 inside the circle.

The Canucks (right), meanwhile, play off of their secondary logo, a modernized version of their original mark. The stick in the rink is replaced by a 40 and a banner beneath it displays the years 1970 and 2010 along with the club's primary logo.

Both teams will join the Rangers in using these logos at center ice during the season.

The San Jose Sharks, created in 1991, commemorate 20 years of NHL hockey in the Bay Area this season.

The Sharks will use this logo (left) as a sleeve patch, placed just below the sweater number on the left arm. Unusual placement for a patch, but the dimensions suit it.

Interestingly, this is not the only version of the Sharks' 20th anniversary logo. In fact, the team unveiled a total of five unique marks back in June.

The NHL's most recent expansion franchises, the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets, both celebrate a decade.

The Wild (left) introduce a simple mark in which the roman numeral X stands in for a pair of crossed hockey sticks. The team's primary logo is centered in a banner displaying the years 2000 and 2010.

The Blue Jackets (right) make use of the Ohio state flag in their 10th anniversary logo, which features a large 10 underneath which a red banner shows the years 2000 and 2010 on either side of the club's primary mark.

Both teams will wear their logo as a patch on the front of their sweaters. But only the Wild have theirs painted at center ice.

Finally, the Pittsburgh Penguins will wear a special shoulder patch, commemorating the inaugural season playing in their new arena, the CONSOL Energy Center.

The logo features a stylized drawing of the building encircled by the text INAUGURAL SEASON 2010 2011 and the Penguins' primary logo at the bottom.

The patch is situated just slightly above of the sweater number on the right shoulder. It's a little low but that may change when the season begins.

League Event Logos

The NHL will hold a number of special events throughout the 2010-11 season, each of which gets its very own branding.

  

The first event of the season's calendar is the NHL Premiere, in which a few teams play their first games of the season in Europe. It's been an annual event since 2007. This season six teams will face off in three cities — each of which has previously played host to NHL Premiere games.

Helsinki will host the Hurricanes and Wild. The Bruins and Coyotes will open the season in Prague. And Stockholm will see the season begin for the Blue Jackets and Sharks. Each city will host two games and use a customized version of the logo with its name and national flag. This year the NHL Premiere is sponsored by Compuware, whose logo is prominently featured in each version.

Next on the agenda is the 2011 Winter Classic, which takes plays on New Year's Day.

The Pittsburgh Penguins will host the Washington Capitals at Heinz Field. It will be the second time the Pens have taken part in the yearly event since it began in 2008.

Special retro logos were unveiled for both teams along with the Winter Classic logo itself back in July. The Penguins' logo was team's primary mark from their debut in 1967 but was never worn on a uniform. The Capitals logo was used from their inception in 1974 until 1995.

Less than a month later, the Carolina Hurricanes will host the 2011 NHL All-Star Game and Weekend in Raleigh.

The logo was unveiled in July and features Carolina's colors of red and black along with maroon. The general shape of the mark is similar to the Hurricanes' logo. The 58th NHL All-Star Game will take place on Jan. 30, 2011.

It will be the Hurricanes' first time hosting the event, which happens every year except when the Winter Olympics are held. The previous All-Star Game took place on Jan. 25, 2009 in Montreal.

The last big event of the season until the playoffs will be the 2011 Heritage Classic, another outdoor game which takes place between two Canadian teams.

This year, the Calgary Flames will host the Montreal Canadiens at McMahon Stadium on Feb. 20, 2011. Like the Winter Classic, both club will don specials jerseys for the game.

Montreal will feature only slight changes to the uniform and no new logos. However, the Flames will use a recolored version of their primary mark (right) on a specially designed sweater.

The last Heritage Classic was held in 2003 when the Edmonton Oilers hosted Montreal.

The final event of the 2010-11 season is the 2011 NHL Entry Draft which will be held at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 24-25.

The logo is part of a new design standard for NHL draft logos introduced with the 2010 draft held in Los Angeles. The word DRAFT and the name of the host location can easily stand alone as needed.

The Entry Draft was previously held in Minnesota only once, in 1989 when the Minnesota North Stars were a member of the NHL.

Retired Logos

In addition to the aforementioned logos which have been replaced this season, there are a couple more which will be retired in 2010.

 

The shoulder patches previously worn on the Sabres' and Islanders' jerseys will not be used on the new uniforms. These two logos have seen action for the last time.

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Tomorrow we pick up with Part 2 of the Season Preview, featuring new and changing logos in the minor leagues — specifically the AHL and ECHL.

The Uncertainty Principle

The more we think we learn about unreleased jerseys, the more we find we really don't know a thing. I mean absolutely nothing.

Another Winter Classic rumorAs a follow-up to yesterday's post about the Winter Classic rumors, it's been pointed out that UniWatchBlog had its own plausible speculation for the Pittsburgh Penguins. This new information found its way onto Paul Lukas' site on Thursday:

A little birdie tells me that the Penguins’ Winter Classic jersey will look like this: “Take the 1967 jersey (the diagonal Pittsburgh), flip the navy and powder blues, and put the circle logo with the ‘scarfed’ fatbody penguin on the front instead of the diagonal lettering. The numbers on the jersey will be rounded, as on the 1967 jerseys. It sounds like a hot mess, but in my opinion they’re very sharp.”

Almost immediately, Hockey Week put together the concept to the right. And just within the last 24 hours, Icethetics' own "little birdie" corroborates with the following note:

I wanted to give you a heads up that the powder blue jersey you just posted isn't the actual jersey. It's correct as far as the logo and number style goes, but the jersey body itself is identical to the 1967 jersey, only the body is navy blue and the trim is powder blue. ... The first thought is how similar it may look from a distance to Florida's alternate jersey. All in all, it's still very sharp.

What it really comes down to is this: we have to have patience. We'll wait and see what the Penguins unveil — now some saying it could be as late as November before that happens.

If that doesn't have you scratching your head, this should.

All summer, Icethetics JerseyWatch 2010 has been reminding you that the Nashville Predators will have new home and road uniforms this year — elevating the third jersey and adding a white partner.

Then on Sept. 10, Chris Creamer of SportsLogos.net tweeted this:

@sportslogosnet Nashville Predators back off on new unis for 2011, pushed back to '12 #nhl #nashvillepredators

He cited an anonymous source previously used by Icethetics but try as I might, I haven't been able to dig up any other confirmation. By the way, to clarify, I assume he means they're backing off plans for 2010-11 (this season), pushing them back to 2011-12 (next).

THN says Preds are changingWell that wasn't the good news we were hoping for but it was all well and good until Max B. posted on the Icethetics Facebook page The Hockey News was still reporting a change in the works on page 52 of their latest issue.

No. 6 NEW JERSEYS: Toronto and the New York Islanders revealed new duds this summer, while Anaheim is closely guarding its new third sweater, to be revealed in late November. Vancouver and Buffalo celebrate their 40th anniversaries with new gear, while Columbus and the New York Rangers also have new third jerseys coming down the pipeline. Also, look out for a purple and gold throwback from the L.A. Kings and a change in Nashville.

Now, if we're being honest, the Preds' mention does seem a little like an afterthought. But be that as it may, this is the current issue of THN and Creamer's news came more than two weeks ago. Who's got it right?

Here's the tally: Creamer says status quo, both Reebok and THN say a change is coming. That's 2-1 for the rumor. Nashville opens the season on Oct. 9. We'll know by then.

Update on Sunday · Sep 26 · 2010 | 6:23 PM PDT by Chris

This story just keeps taking twists and turns. The Winter Classic jerseys posted yesterday in drawing form have turned up in photo form on a disreputable website that sells fake, cheap knock-offs of NHL products. I've blocked out the name of the site because I don't condone trademark infringement. Still, the pictures are worth a look.

Knock-off jersey: Penguins

This is the alleged Penguins jersey. And our buddies at The Pensblog point out the design first appeared on the web about a week after the announcement of the 2011 Winter Classic. So that's not suspicious or anything.

There are so many reasons why these jerseys stand out as being counterfeit knock-offs; most notable is the lack of a Reebok label inside the back of the collar.

Still, if there's a chance they could have the design right, I wouldn't want to keep it off the blog. But like I've said, plenty of other sources say this is NOT the jersey. Who do we believe? No one. We just wait for something official.

Knock-off jersey: CapitalsThis would be the alleged Capitals jersey. As I said before, anything else would be an utter shock. They may have details wrong and their reproduction of the Capitals' logo is horrid, but we get the idea.

And anyway the Washington Capitals will officially unveil their Winter Classic jersey on Oct. 2 so we'll know for sure within a week at least.

And once again because I want to be absolutely clear about this, THESE PHOTOS SHOW KNOCK-OFFS. They are NOT the actual Winter Classic sweaters. The designs, however, remain in question.