Hershey Gets New Jerseys

As I mentioned last night on Twitter, there is an awful lot going on in the minors these days. Time to get everyone caught up. We'll begin with the AHL and work our way down.

The Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears have unveiled brand new sweaters for the 2009-10 season. They did so yesterday on their official web site — while I was busy with the Wild third jersey leak.

The Bears made the switch to the Reebok Edge style uniforms two seasons ago and were one of the few teams that kept changes to a minimum — HERSHEY placed diagonally down the front of the chocolate jerseys and BEARS down the front of the white ones. Those designs are no more.

Hershey Bears' new jerseys for 2009-10

The home and road sweaters will now place the team's primary logo front and center, while reserving a new text-based design for the alternate jersey. The new third takes its inspiration from the Dallas Stars' with the city name arched above the player's number.

The Bears have also announced the launch of the new sweaters will take place during their season opener in October.

The make of the jersey has remained the same, but the appearance has changed. Anyone looking to purchase one of the new jerseys can do so on opening night, October 3. As always, fans can customize their jerseys to have specific names on the back.

Thanks to James for the tip.

Moving right along now to the ECHL. The Ontario Reign will play host to the league's 2010 All-Star Game. It was announced yesterday that the logo for the event will be unveiled this Friday at 1 PM EST.

The Citizens Business Bank Arena will play host to the 18th ECHL All-Star Game which takes place on January 20, 2010. The event is sponsored by Reebok. No word on whether the All-Star jerseys will be debuted on Friday as well.

We'll finish up our look at the minors with the QMJHL. As you know the league is switching over to the Reebok Edge uniforms this season. Scotty from Hockeybums tells me the plan is for the league and Reebok to unveil all of the remaining uniforms on September 9. Not a hard date to remember — 09/09/09.

One more item now regarding the London Knights.

London Knights in their Euro jerseys

The Knights will be hosting the Euro Can Cup in which they and other participating teams will don European-style jerseys — as seen above. It's a rather awful sight. Organizers are hoping for it to be a success. I'm hoping it's not if for no other reason than those terrible uniforms.

You can read more about the event at the London Free Press. If you'd like to punish yourself by looking at more pictures of these jerseys, click here.

Devils Going Green!

Green is slowly but surely sneaking back into the NHL in the Age of Reebok. The New Jersey Devils will join the throwback club this season as they don their original green-infused sweaters for one night only this season.

The report came earlier tonight on the team's official web site, saying the special sweaters would be worn on St. Patrick's Day, Wednesday, March 17, 2010 when the Devs host division rival Pittsburgh Penguins. President/CEO/GM Lou Lamoriello has long said his team would not wear a third jersey on his watch — which is why I think many of us are surprised by this announcement.

Brendan Shanahan"The original red, green, and white jerseys are a part of our history here in New Jersey," said Lamoriello. "We have always been an organization that takes great pride in its tradition. This is something we believe our fans will enjoy for that one special night."

The original red, green, and white jerseys were worn for 800 regular-season and 40 playoff contests from the team’s inception in 1982 through the 1992 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Jersey’s Team has worn red, black, and white since 1992-93, and both sweaters have featured a stylized “NJ” on the chest.

They're not kidding. The Devils had been the last remaining NHL franchise without any kind of alternate jersey — ever. The Red Wings were considered by many to be part of that group, but their throwbacks both in 1992 and at last year's Winter Classic kept New Jersey isolated in my book.

Everyone wants to make a buck — especially in economic times like these. While the article on the site doesn't address the sale of these "one-time-only" jerseys, I'm betting you'll be able to find them in stores in no time.

Switching gears now to the Nashville Predators. I've heard through multiple sources, including Icethetics readers Brandon and Ben that the Preds sent a note to season tickets holders about third jerseys.

The information is rather vague at this point, saying that the jerseys would be revealed in November. No word yet on whether that date refers to a public unveiling, on-ice debut, or both. I'll let you know if I hear anything else.

Preds owner David Freeman previously said the team's new third jersey will likely be revealed publicly in September. He described it as a very traditional-looking jersey, with a design that "came purely from some of the original six teams."

Just keep in mind that the original report out of Minnesota was that the Wild's new third jersey would be unveiled in mid-September. Now, not only has it leaked, but it's going to be officially made public two weeks earlier.

Wild 3rd Jersey Leaked!

We're getting our first look this morning at the Minnesota Wild's brand new third jersey — just five days before the official unveiling. The new sweaters are scheduled to make their public debut on Sunday at the Minnesota State Fair. Icethetics has a sneak peek right now.

Minnesota Wild new third jerseyI believe this is Brent Burns modeling the new sweater here to the right (correct me if I'm wrong). The photo is part of the background image on the Wild's forthcoming redesigned web site. Since the jersey won't be unveiled until Sunday, the new site will have to wait at least until then. 

Meantime, this is what we've been hearing about from the Wild and it's hard not to be impressed. As I said, Minnesota was the team I felt had the farthest to fall in terms of third jerseys for 2009. They have such a great (albeit short) history that it would've been very easy to ruin this one.

The minute amount of red works in its favor. We wanted a green sweater and we got a green sweater. The striping is dead-on, reminiscent of the 2004 All-Star jersey. And the only thing I might change is probably the thin piping around the shoulders.

Aside from that, I don't think there's anything else to improve. It's what most of us were hoping for. Easy on the red, heavy on the green.

By the way, so you have an idea where this came from, here is the full background image that will be featured on the new site — probably next week.

Wild's new web site background

Got an opinion on the Wild's new third? Share it in the comments. And check back on Sunday for more photos from the official unveiling.

Update on Tuesday · Aug 25 · 2009 | 9:52 PM PDT by Chris

While not mentioned by name, Icethetics was featured on Minneapolis TV tonight for the Wild third jersey leak.

Thanks to KSTP for the shoutout!

Update on Sunday · Aug 30 · 2009 | 12:43 PM PDT by Chris

This jersey has now been officially unveiled by the Wild. Click here for more photos and information.

Sweater Switch '09: Part 5

The long-dormant Sweater Switch series wraps up tonight more than a month after the previous installment. I was holding out, waiting for one more picture to pop up, but no. We will have to settle for just two.

I mentioned these guys in Part 3, but now the Montreal Canadiens have put their new quintet in front of cameras together. Travis Moen, Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez, Mike Cammalleri and Paul Mara all donning their bleu, blanc et rouge.

New Habs pose for a group photo

You can find the stories behind their chosen numbers in Part 3. I won't bother to re-hash it here.

The other picture I have shows new Capital Brendan Morrison with his new No. 9 Washington jersey.

Brendan Morrison

Morrison is returning to the No. 9 sweater he wore when he made his NHL debut with the New Jersey Devils in the 1997-98 season. In 2000, he became a Canuck and switched to No. 7 as Brad May had No. 9. Morrison kept that jersey throughout his tenure in Vancouver and even last season when he joined the Ducks. After being claimed by the Stars late in the season, he switched to No. 11.

If I've missed any good Sweater Switch photo ops, let me know and I'll add them to this post.

USA Unveils Olympic Jerseys

...four days ago. Better late than never, right? I had the hardest time this week both finding decent pictures of Team USA's 2010 Winter Games sweaters as well as time to post what I could track down. It's now Friday — four days after the actual unveiling of the sweaters to the media — and at last I have a post for you.

USA Hockey unveiled three jerseys — a blue and two whites.Let's start with the announcement of the new jersey on USA Hockey's official web site, which includes this photo from the press conference.

Team USA Olympic jersey unveiling

Unlike Hockey Canada, the US doesn't seem that interested in providing us with any really great pictures of the jersey. But I guess that's probably because most Americans don't care. Anyway, it looks better on the ice than the way that guy's holding it up.

Patrick Kane rocks the new blues

A little dull, but what do you want? It's the Olympics. Short of revisiting the 1980 sweater design — and there really isn't reason enough to right now — there's not much in the arsenal that will still be recognizable. Here's the white one.

Trying on the new jerseys at the bench

Hoping a better picture will turn up. The third jersey is another white sweater, this one modeled after the one worn at the 1960 Olympics where the U.S. won their first gold medal in men's hockey.

The Ryans before hitting the ice in the thirds

And what sort of Lightning fan would I be if I didn't use a picture of Ryan Malone? The other guy is Ryan Callahan.

If you'd like more of an in-depth analysis of these jerseys, might I suggest Puck Daddy? Should I find any new/better pictures, I'll add them to this post. In the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts below.

Finally, thanks to everyone who sent in links and pictures all week. You are all awesome!