Bruins Unveil Third Jersey!

The Boston Bruins unveiled their third jersey this morning on their web site, making them the final team to do so for the 2008-09 season.

Though they were the last to officially unveil their alternate sweater, the Bruins were the first to leak it — multiple times.

NESN cameras were permitted to shoot a player skating around the ice in this jersey last February in video which later made it to broadcast and then the pages of Icethetics. Then in September at the State of the Bruins event for season ticket holders, Milan Lucic made an appearance wearing the new threads. This was mentioned on the team's web site at the time but no pictures were posted.

Until today.

I love that logo. And I like the use of the primary on the shoulders. But in my opinion, this is a rather lackluster jersey. Why black? Why the same stripes as the home and road sweaters? Why no tie-up collar?

I think the Bruins missed a golden opportunity here (wink, wink). I also think their home and road jerseys are among, if not the best in the league. So don't try to copy it, you'll only ruin it. And that's what happened. They should've taken a completely dfiferent tack with these, just like with their first third jersey.

But that's just my opinion.

And now that all 18 third jerseys are out, I'll be posting my complete ranking tonight or tomorrow. After that, you guys will get to vote.

Also coming this week, I've got news on a couple of teams with plans for alternate sweaters next season. Plus, now that the third jersey hoopla is coming to a close, I'm going to start to steer Icethetics back to its original purpose. I'll talk more about those plans later this week.