New Sweaters with Ties to Tampa

With no Tampa Bay Lightning hockey to follow at this point in the fall, I'm a little lost and turning to the minors for comfort. And it just so happens the Bolts' AHL and ECHL affiliates are sporting new uniforms this season. So let's have a look.

Photos from Rochester Americans and Syracuse Crunch official websites

It happened with the Norfolk Admirals a few years ago and now it's happening to the Syracuse Crunch, who opened their season last night wearing not quite what you'd expect. For a team that just unveiled a very blue logo this summer, I'm surprised to still see so much orange in their uniforms.

But who knows what goes on behind the scenes with these teams? It could very well be that the rebrand happened too late in the game to get the uniforms completely overhauled. (Plus, they probably still have a lot of orange gear leftover that they need to sell, right?)

What's cool: The lightning bolt down the pants. Crunch players are actually wearing the same pants as their NHL affiliate. (You can even see the NHL shield on them in the photo above.) This is useful for two reasons. For one thing, it ties the branding of the two teams together. But more practically, players who are getting called up already have a key piece of their gear in tow.

What's not cool: The white Lightning logo over orange on the right shoulder. Someone at SME has to be shaking their head over that. I would've at least used the blue bolt if the shoulders had to be orange. Which brings me to my other point: Why not make the shoulders blue? These are obviously not recycled jerseys. They're new, with the blue piping added all over the place. Fix it.

That's all I have to say on Syracuse for now. Their home opener is tonight so I assume we'll get to see the other jerseys. I'll add photos as an update to this post later on.

Photo from Florida Everblades (Facebook)

Also this season, the ECHL's Florida Everblades are celebrating their 15th anniversary along with their 2012 Kelly Cup championship. You can see both represented in the photo above as the team hit the ice in their new green anniversary sweaters and raised a special banner last night.

By the way, that Blades game was also the first time that expansion team Orlando Solar Bears hit the ice. You can see what their uniforms looked like in action for the first time on their Facebook page. The Orlando Sentinel also has a neat side-by-side shot of both teams' uniforms.

Interestingly, both of these games required extra time to decide. The Everblades won on a goal 26 seconds into overtime while the Crunch fell to the Rochester Americans in a shootout.

Update on Sunday · Oct 14 · 2012 | 1:28 AM PDT by Chris

Turns out, the Crunch were just wearing an alternate jersey on Friday night. We know that because on Saturday night, they unveiled their actual home and road jerseys. They look like this.

Photo by Jeremy Houghtaling (@JGHoughtaling on Twitter)

You'll note that the alternate jersey in this photo is the opposite of the white jersey the Crunch actually wore on Friday. That means they actually have four different uniforms in their arsenal this season. Seems a bit excessive. Is the attachment to orange all to do with the university?

I'll leave you with a look at the new white jersey in action.

Photo by Scott Thomas Photography

Two sidebars. 1) Check out the 75th anniversary jersey the Hershey Bears are wearing! (That means four jerseys for them too, because they unveiled home, road and alternate sweaters with their rebrand over the summer.) And 2) Does anyone know what the standard is for AHL uniforms? Do they usually wear white at home or on the road? And does it switch midseason like it does in the ECHL?

Wranglers Roll Out New Uniforms

Back in July, we got our first look at the new look of the ECHL's Las Vegas Wranglers. The team kept its color scheme but launched a whole new set of logos. Then last week, they debuted their new home sweater during a preseason tilt which introduced us to even more logos! But more on that in a sec. First, take a gander at the new uniform.

Wow, is it red! Really red. As Icethetics reader Jeannette H. pointed out, what ever happened to finding that balance in your color palette? Before this, the Wranglers wore almost solid black. Now they've swung completely the opposite way.

Add to that, I count four different logos on that uniform, including the ECHL 25th anniversary patch on the right arm.

So between the graphic above and the one to the right, we have our logo bases covered — the crest which prominently features Las Vegas in giant letters, the shoulder patch made up of a big W, a tiny LV and the new shield shape (new since the July unveiling), and finally the 10th anniversary logo comprised of a pair of fives.

For a better look at the Wranglers' new red road jersey, reader Matt McCall sent in this shot from the team's merchandise counter. It's the same design as the white with the colors flipped.

Photo by Matt McCall

Nothing earth-shattering in Vegas, but now we know how the Wranglers will look this year.

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