Texas Stars Introduce Sweaters

Dallas' AHL affiliate reveals redesigned uniforms

While we eagerly await the unveiling of the Dallas Stars' new branding, their AHL farm club just pulled the trigger on some new sweaters. On Thursday the Texas Stars revealed their updated threads — which I would've posted here sooner if not for all the NHL craziness of the last few days.

Photo from Dallas Stars Inside Edge

From the team's press release:

In preparation for the fifth season of AHL hockey in Cedar Park, the Stars will make a significant shift in their road jersey colors. Texas is replacing the all-black away uniform with a primarily dark green jersey, the same dark green that is featured in the team’s logo, and the crest patch will feature the team’s secondary logo.

The shoulder cap is white with a primary logo patch on each side. The collar is gold and includes a white lace tie-up. The sweater will also have thick white bands on each sleeve and along the bottom hem, trimmed with black and gold. The matching socks will be principally dark green with three bands of black, gold and white just below the knee.

The Stars' new home white sweater is simply their old third jersey, unveiled back on Oct. 5, 2011. No surprises there. But the new road sweater is now green instead of black — more in line with what Dallas is reportedly planning for their rebrand.

Francis Wathier and Toby Petersen model the new Texas Stars jerseys

As wordmark-based uniforms go, this one isn't at all that bad — even if it is set in the Batman Forever font. And if you're curious about who designed the new unis...

The new jerseys were designed by the Texas Stars in conjunction with Reebok, the official and exclusive jersey supplier to the American Hockey League. The jerseys will be available in both replica and authentic versions at the Texas Stars merchandise stands beginning this Fall.

Reebok is always involved now. We just need to accept that.

Photo from Texas Stars official website

The newer of the two jerseys also has a more traditional look — which is again in line with what we expect to see from Dallas on June 4. Even if you think Texas should've come up with all new logos — and I count myself in that group — this is hard not to like. Especially the added emphasis on green, a color that was more of an afterthought on the old jerseys.

Photo from Dallas Stars Inside Edge

I am concerned for the play-by-play guys, though, as the gold name on green jersey will be rather difficult to read if you're far away. Probably should've stuck with the safter white — but then I do like this color combination. More now that it seems Dallas won't be using it anymore.

That's all I've got. I'll leave you with this graphic the Stars put on their website.

Image from Texas Stars official website

Did Dallas Leak Their Own Logos?

Screen shots from Zach Hutchison (via Stars iOS app)

Never-before-seen logos appear on Stars' mobile app

The Dallas Stars may have leaked their own logos tonight. Oops!

The logos aren't scheduled to be unveiled officially until June 4. But it appears the Stars themselves are responsible for an accidental leak, by way of the Wallpapers section of their own iOS mobile app. The images have since been removed, of course.

A user on the HFBoards web forum named "Zrhutch" posted what he says are screen shots from the app. Zrhutch is Zach Hutchison, who emailed me tonight to confirm he was among the first to spot and post these images. He made sure to grab them for us all to see.

Screen shots from Zach Hutchison (via Stars iOS app)

Now that you've seen them, what do you think? It's hard for me to doubt they're the real deal considering they showed up on the team's own mobile app. Are you surprised? Impressed or disappointed? Personally, I'm still formulating an opinion. Gut reaction is good though.

By the way, I would've had this news on the site sooner, but see there was this little breaking news event in my neck of the woods that kept me at work all night. (My contribution to our coverage tonight if you're interested.)

Hurricanes Ready for "New Storm"

Carolina will unveil overhauled uniforms on June 4

The Carolina Hurricanes just officially joined this summer's new uniform fray — as reported in our NHL JerseyWatch series. The club confirmed today it will have completely new home and road uniforms next season and announced plans to slowly reveal teasers every morning over the next 10 days beginning tomorrow.

They did release this image this morning.

Hurricanes reveal first sneak peek at new uniforms (via Instagram)

Already I like it. If that's the new font and the collar is solid black, these are steps in the right direction.

Preview photos to be revealed every morning

Ten days. That gets us from now until Sat., June 1. Then the Hurricanes will unveil the whole kit at an event on Tues., June 4 at noon. Wait, that date sounds familiar, doesn't it? I seem to think there's something else going on in Dallas.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the Hurricanes are just trying to stress me out now. The Dallas Stars have already scheduled their logo/uniform unveiling for the evening of June 4 and I'll be on an airplane headed that way just as the Canes do their big reveal. If ever there was a reason to pull my hair out.

So while I'll be able to share one unveiling with you guys live, for the other, I'll have to be very late to the party. According to Carolina's Twitter feed, this scheduling is a "coincidence."

"New Storm" unveiling requires special invitation

In their press release, the Hurricanes said an invitation is required to attend the June 4 event at PNC Arena but that you can enter for a chance to win an invite.

They're referring to the redesigned uniforms as "New Storm" which is on the same level as "BlackArmor." Here's what they're saying about it right now:

This marks the first significant uniform alteration — from the home and road sweaters to the pants to the socks — in the team's 15-year North Carolina history. The team's primary logo and colors will remain intact. Beginning Friday, May 24, teaser swatches of the new uniforms will be posted each day. Follow the team on Instagram for a first look at each day's teaser image.

If you're not on Instagram, bookmark this page for the next 10 days to keep an eye on the updates. Of course I'll have them here on Icethetics as well.

New look questions answered via Twitter

Following this morning's announcement, the team took some time to answer fan questions on Twitter. I'll do a quick rundown of all the details of this unveiling, including those Twitter answers.

• New uniforms will be unveiled on Tues., June 4 at 12pm ET. 
• The logos will NOT change.
• It's not just the sweaters. The whole uniform is changing — including socks and pants.
• Teaser images will be posted to Instagram every morning at 10am leading up to the unveiling.
• The jerseys will be available to purchase in September.
• Sharing the June 4 date with Dallas is a "coincidence" and not the result of the NHL or Reebok meddling. 
• Apparently, the new look is "a whole lot of awesome." 

Time for you to chime in. Are you excited about the Hurricanes' plans to overhaul their entire uniform?

Update on Friday · May 24 · 2013 | 10:15 AM PDT by Chris

Hurricanes reveal teaser images

Hurricanes reveal second teaser photo

As promised, the Hurricanes revealed another shot of their upcoming new sweater today. Unfortunately, it looks a lot like the existing sweater since the crest and primary color aren't changing. So it didn't really warrant its own blog post. Plus, we're starting to get a little busy now with the Stars logos leaking.

Stars CEO Previews New Look

Dallas announces official unveiling date of June 4

On Tuesday, the Dallas Stars publicly announced the date for their new uniform and logo unveiling. It's June 4. And as I said two weeks ago, I will be there. (And thank you to everyone who has donated a few bucks here and there to help me with the cost of the trip.)

In the press release, the Stars' CEO spilled a few details about the new look. All right, well not really.

The Dallas Stars announced today that the team will unveil its new uniform and logo on Tuesday, June 4th at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas at 6:00 p.m. Owner and Governor Tom Gaglardi, President and CEO Jim Lites, General Manager Jim Nill, Executive Advisor and Alternate Governor Mike Modano and Stars forward Jamie Benn will all be a part of the special event.

"Since Tom Gaglardi took over as owner, we have been working diligently on a rebrand that is classic, simple and true-to-hockey," said Lites. "This event will showcase the results of that process to our loyal fans and will also provide us with an opportunity to announce several new developments about the future of our franchise."

Aside from unveiling the new logo and uniform, the team will also address the current state of the franchise and will make a significant announcement regarding the 2013-14 season.

Classic, simple and true to hockey. Let's hope they live up to those words.

I'm excited about the trip. But more than that, I'm thrilled to bring some original reporting to Icethetics for a change. By the way, if you were thinking of making a donation, it's not too late to chip in. You have until June 2 — unless 100% of the costs are covered before then.

And once again I have to thank you guys for the incredible generosity!

Rivermen, Raiders Unveil New Logos

Peoria's new SPHL team reveals logo, uniforms

On Saturday, the latest incarnation of the Peoria Rivermen franchise — now a member of the Southern Professional Hockey League — officially unveiled its logo and uniforms.

Peoria Rivermen new uniform designs (via Facebook)

I briefly went over the history of the Rivermen in Friday's post. The new look came just a day later via the club's new Facebook page, where they also posted the progression of Rivermen logos over the years.

Rivermen logo progression, 1984—present (via Facebook)

The branding efforts are an attempt to capture history and tradition of the Rivermen franchise which has existed in some form for nearly 30 years. That's quite a run. For a deeper look, I recommend this article from Dave Eminian of the Peoria Journal Star. The write-up mentions that the logo and uniforms were designed by Carie Hanawalt.

The old Rivermen franchise of the AHL was recently purchased by the Vancouver Canucks and will no longer play in Peoria. So there will be a new name and a new location for the team at some point but nothing has been announced yet.

WHL's Prince Albert Raiders start "green movement"

The other big logo unveiling last week happened in the Western Hockey League. The Prince Albert Raiders decided to highlight their green and introduce all new logos and uniforms.

New jerseys modeled at Raiders unveiling (via Facebook)

Take a good look at those jerseys. They're Reebok Edge, but a brand new template we've ever seen. Factor in the colors, and what are the odds we're looking at the next Dallas Stars uniform with a different logo on the front? It was an IceHL GM, Mike Kelly, who first mentioned this via Twitter. And I have to agree.

Then again, it would be surprising for a couple of reasons. First, if Reebok is going to go out of its way to generate an entirely new sweater template, why would they do it for a junior league team. It's more likely that it'd be for an NHL club — like Dallas. But then if all that is true, why allow the junior team to hold its unveiling first — three weeks before the NHL club?

It could be a simple solution, like maybe Reebok works up new templates every year — some of which may or may not end up in use in the NHL. It could just be a way of expanding their own product line. In any case, it's something worth talking about.

What's your take? Both on the Raiders' new look as well as the possibility that they're a preview of the Stars' redesign. And how about the new Rivermen?