Loose Threads: Canada to SoCal

In today's edition of Loose Threads, I've got jersey news, ice painting news, and some other stuff. I always know to start with the jersey news and for now that means Calgary.

Flames: Retro Edge Jersey Revealed

Flames retro Edge jerseyAn Icethetics reader sent in a photo of the Calgary Flames vintage sweater in its new Reebok Edge cut.

Last season, the Flames re-introduced their original threads as an alternate uniform as part of their 30th anniversary celebration. Then in March the team announced that the classic sweater would be back for at least another season, but as a Reebok Edge jersey. Last season's version was made out of the standard pre-Edge jersey material.

The design remains mostly the same but for an alteration in the collar. The Flames have said this jersey will be worn up to 15 times this season. Last year, it saw action in only five games. Thanks to Mitchell for sending in this photo.

Maple Leafs: Center Line Gets Patriotic

Leafs paint new patriotic center lineThe Toronto Maple Leafs have overhauled their center ice design at the Air Canada Centre.

A string of Canadian flags now forms the center red line on their rink. But there's a twist. The leaf you find within those little white boxes that run the 85 feet from dasher to dasher is not quite what you'd find on the flag. It's actually the Maple Leafs' logo painted red. Not ground-breaking, but pretty cool.

Close-up of Leafs' new red lineHere's a close up. But if these photos aren't enough for you, the Leafs have you covered. There's an entire photo gallery on the website that shows the process of painting the logos before the ice goes down. Thanks to Brad for that.

Also, I haven't yet mentioned it on the site, but I did link to it on Twitter last week. We recently got a look at the the Leafs' new home sweater in action at the NHLPA Rookie Showcase. Click here to see it.

Kings: Look Out for Legends Night

Kings to celebrate Legends NightFinally, we have some new details on what the Los Angeles Kings are calling Legends Night this season.

Icethetics reader Curtis S. recently received his season ticket package and had some information to share. He says the Kings have branded several games as Legends Night.

Not sure what that means but the games are denoted by an emblem that features the Kings' retro logo. The team will be wearing a retro sweater this season, so this is probably indicative of that.

We already know the Kings will relaunch the classic threads on Oct. 9 against the Canucks. Curtis tells me that other Legends Nights include Jan. 15 vs Edmonton, Feb. 24 vs Minnesota and Mar. 19 vs Anaheim.

Too bad those games are all at home. What a sight it would be to see the Kings and Oilers both in their brightly-colored retro sweaters — no red, black or navy blue to be found.

By the way, the Kings are holding Hockey Fest '10 this Saturday. They haven't said anything about unveiling their retro jersey at this event, but it would be a good time, so I'll keep an eye on it.

Heritage Classic Announced

Canadiens and Flames unveil retro Heritage Classic jerseys

This afternoon, the NHL officially revealed the details of the 2011 Heritage Classic at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, including the new logos and jerseys.

The Calgary Flames will host the Montreal Canadiens on Feb. 20, 2011 in the NHL's sixth-ever regular season outdoor game on the campus of the University of Calgary, home of McMahon Stadium.

The Heritage Classic logo features a prominent red maple leaf, the ultimate symbol of Canada, emblazoned with vintage style text and a stylized skyline of the city of Calgary. What more could you ask for in a logo?

The previous Heritage Classic, held in 2003, saw the Edmonton Oilers hosting the Canadiens at Commonwealth Stadium in sub-zero temperatures. It's expected to be between 22 and 30 degrees for the 2011 game in Calgary.

The Flames' Heritage Classic uniform pays tribute to Calgary's history

The Calgary Flames unveiled the specially designed uniform they will don at the Heritage Classic. It pays tribute to the Calgary Tigers, the first major professional team in the city. It existed from 1920 to 1927 and was the first team in Calgary to compete for the Stanley Cup.

A description was released on the Flames' website:

The uniform is a deeper red color with gold stripes and will include the 2011 Heritage Classic logo patch on the front. The Flames will also wear a beige hockey pant to complete this traditional look.

The Flames worked with the design team at Reebok to create the vintage look. The jersey features the same jersey striping pattern [as the Tigers'] with a beige Flames C logo in a vintage felt application.

The beige pants and canvas-colored gloves add to the vintage feel of the uniform.

The Canadiens also previewed their Heritage Classic sweater

The Montreal Canadiens, on the other hand, aren't looking quite so far into the past for their Heritage Classic threads. They "will sport the same jersey worn for home games between 1974-75 and 1995-96," according to the club's website. The only difference will be the patch on the front.

So what do you think of the 2011 Heritage Classic? Excited to see an all-Canadian outdoor game again? Thrilled/disappointed by the sweater designs? Sound off in the comments.

Aug. 4: Heritage Classic News

The NHL will make an official announcement about the 2011 Heritage Classic, the other outdoor game, next Wednesday at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, according to a posting on the Flames' official Twitter account.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of information outside of that micro-blog update, which you can see here:

NHLFlames #flames and #canadiens and #NHL to hold news conference re Heritage Classic Aug. 4 at McMahon at 3pm MT

For those who don't speak Tweet, I'll translate: The Calgary Flames, Montreal Canadiens and the NHL will hold a news conference regarding the 2011 Heritage Classic on August 4 at McMahon Stadium at 3 PM (Mountain Time). That's 5 PM for those of us on the east coast, 2 if you find yourself near the Pacific.

That's really the only official source I can cite, not that there's any reason to doubt it. I've added the date to the calendar and I'll be keeping an eye out for further details. One would assume this press conference will be a lot like the Winter Classic event earlier this week. We'll likely get a look at how the rink will be positioned in the football stadium and possibly retro logos, if any will be used.

And just like the W.C., we'll probably have to wait on the jerseys. Last month, Flames president Ken King said the team would have a specially-designed sweater for the event. And despite having a decent arsenal of throwbacks stemming from their 100th anniversary celebrations, if I know the Canadiens, they'll probably just wear their standard road jersey.

Classic Uniforms of the Future

We kicked off our week with the unveiling of the new Maple Leafs jersey, but there are still more big unveilings to come. Today I've put together a brief rundown.

Caps to unveil Winter Classic uniform

The Washington Capitals will unveil their 2011 Winter Classic uniform at the 2010 Capitals Convention on Oct. 2.

The announcement made on the Caps' website offers no details about the design of new sweaters, but traditionally teams look to past jerseys for inspiration at this event. The Capitals have two distinct design eras prior to the 2007-08 rebranding.

From 1974 to 1995, the Caps wore the red, white and blue they have today, but the logo and uniforms come straight out of the '70s — as you would expect. They are most noted for wearing white pants with their red jerseys early on in their inaugural season. In 1995, the Capitals adopted a darker blue and dropped the red in favor of bronze and black.

My bet is that both the Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins, who are hosting the New Year's Day game at Heinz Field, will select something from the '70s or '80s for their outdoor game threads. But don't expect to see Washington wearing white pants. (As funny as it might be.)

Flames to don special Heritage sweater

Canada is finally getting its game back! By now, we all know there will be a second outdoor game during the 2010-11 season called the Heritage Classic. The Calgary Flames will host the Montreal Canadiens at McMahon Stadium on Feb. 20, 2011.

On Friday, Flames president Ken King said his team will be donning a special sweater for the big game. Details by way of the Calgary Herald:

A new jersey is a certainty.

“We’re going to have a very special heritage uniform,” King said. “We’re not going to tell you what it is, but I think people will really like it.

“It will be tied to the history of Calgary long before the Flames were here.”

Long before the Flames, you say? Interesting. Major league hockey was first played in Calgary in 1921 when the Calgary Tigers were formed. They won a few WCHL championships, including one in 1924 after which they challenged the very same Montreal Canadiens for the Stanley Cup. And lost.

Fifty years later, in 1975, the WHA's Vancouver Blazers relocated to the Stampede City and became the Calgary Cowboys. They were significantly less successful than the Tigers and folded after just two seasons. Calgary developed a proclivity for taking other city's sloppy seconds (just a joke!) when the Atlanta Flames were relocated in 1980. So there's some interesting history there.

The 2011 Heritage Classic will be the first time Canada has hosted an outdoor NHL game since 2003 when the Edmonton Oilers challenged the Canadiens. (Is it just me or should the Flames be playing the Leafs in this one?)

King did not say when this jersey would be unveiled, but one would expect it to be well prior to February.

Update on Saturday · Jun 19 · 2010 | 9:32 PM PDT by Chris

One more thing I just came across. While no logos have been publicly unveiled for either outdoor game, there is a temporary logo being used on the Penguins and Capitals' websites to promote the 2011 Winter Classic.

It's by no means final artwork, but it does bear the traditional look with WINTER in a script type and CLASSIC in something a little more futuristic/gothic. Just wanted to throw that out there. I have no information on when logos for either the Winter Classic or Heritage Classic will be made public. But it shouldn't be long.

Flames Bringing Vintage Back

Olli Jokinen #21The Calgary Flames have officially stated their third jersey intentions for the 2010-11 campaign. And it's all about bringing retro back.

The Flames made the announcement via Facebook today. Here's an excerpt:

The Calgary Flames announced today their third jersey for the 2010-2011 season will be the Flames Vintage jersey. In celebration of the Flames 30th Anniversary season this vintage jersey was worn five times in games versus the other five Canadian teams.

The new third jersey for the 2010-2011 season will feature Vintage jersey striping and colours on the new innovative fabrics and cut that was introduced by Reebok for the 2007-2008 season. The Edge Uniform System was introduced to better complement today’s game and to help improve player performance.

The third jersey will be worn up to 15 games next season.

The release also mentioned that tonight was the final time the Flames would wear the vintage jersey this season. After the game, the jerseys were handed out to a couple dozen lucky fans, selected at random.

So, what's changing? The biggest thing is that it will be a Reebok Edge jersey next season. It wasn't for the five games in which it was worn this season. Also, Olli Jokinen won't be wearing it, it's probably safe to say. But most importantly, Flames and throwback jersey fans alike will get to see more of it!

Now if only they could put that flaming "A" on the front, that would really take us back.

The Flames have also posted an article on their website about the third jersey. It has no new information. However, there is this cool locker room photo.

Calgary Flames vintage locker room

The only thing disappointing about this announcement is we won't be anticipating a big unveiling of a fresh new jersey design. In fact, it flies in the face of what Flames president and CEO Ken King said some time ago. That being they were in the process of designing a black third jersey with a brand new logo.

He said it would've been "a different look" for the Flames, and I always think that's cool to see. But it looks like they'll be putting that off for a while. Maybe we'll get a look at some of the prototypes one day. Fingers crossed.

Coyotes Go Green for Charity

I'm glad that news came today, otherwise this next bit of info would've been by itself at the top of Icethetics for a while. And that would have been sad.

Coyotes go green!The Phoenix Coyotes will be auctioning off another set of special edition, autographed practice jerseys — this time to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

I know I mocked them the last time they did something like this, and it didn't go over well. But this time I'm keeping my mouth shut. Is it silly? Yes. Is it for a good cause? Yes. Let it be.

Here's what the Yotes say about the auction:

Each Coyotes player has autographed a one-of-a-kind St. Patrick’s Day jersey with his name and number on the back. The jerseys will be available for bidding beginning at 9 AM Thursday, March 11. The auction will close at 10 PM on Tuesday, March 23.

Proceeds from the auction will benefit Coyotes Charities, which is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life throughout Arizona communities by supporting non-profit organizations that promote healthcare, education, cultural arts and sports-related programs for children.

Also take note of the number on the front in a little four-leaf clover, leaving no stone unturned for the leprechaun coyote (he's even gold!).

Bryzgalov's leprechaun jerseyNow I can't let you go without seeing the back of these bad boys. It's got the little leprechaun hat and everything.

The good news for Bryz and his teammates is that they won't actually have to wear these in public. They're simply being customized, autographed, and sold to the highest bidder.

And if you want a shot at being one of those bidders, you can find all you need to know at auction.nhl.com. They even have a Sean Burke #1 "alumni jersey" on offer. Interesting.

All right, that about wraps it up, but I do have one more link for you. If you'd like to see the full jersey design, MVPToday.com has you covered. Though beware their green is not quite the green seen in these photos.

Thanks to Dan for letting us know about this.