AHL Clubs Also Celebrate the Irish

This past weekend was chock full of green jerseys all across the hockey universe. Yesterday, you got a comprehensive look at the various NHL tributes to St. Patrick's Day. Now it's time for a trip to the minors. Here are the AHL teams that went green this weekend.

Let's begin with the Binghamton Senators, who gave their alternate logo a bit of a recoloring for the occasion. The big difference between how the NHL and AHL celebrate the day o' green — apart from the variety of designs you'll see here — is the fact that in the AHL, they're not just warm-up jerseys. They're full on game sweaters.

Photos from Binghamton Senators via Facebook

That, of course, means plenty of pictures. So head over to the B-Sens' Facebook page and get a good look at this unique uniform design. There's a huge photo album for your enjoyment.

Next up, the Chicago Wolves were in on the St. Patrick's Day fun as usual.

Photos from Chicago Wolves via Facebook

Once again Facebook is the medium for a boat load of game photos. This is one of my personal favorites from the weekend. Definitely a more classic look and feel.

The Hershey Bears opted for green plaid on this day of St. Patrick. And I'm not sure they were better off for it. If the Wolves' jersey was toward the top of my list, this one was toward the bottom.

Jersey rendering from Hershey Bears via Facebook

The plaid aside, it's just a very dark and busy jersey. I'm not saying it's badly designed, but I wouldn't want one. It's a little bit much.

Photo by Anthony S. Fiore Jr. via Facebook

So far, the only game photo I've seen comes by way of Anthony S. Fiore Jr. who posted this to the Bears' Facebook page on Sunday night.

The Lake Erie Monsters marked St. Patty's Day with a black sweater and a recolored crest. Somehow the green lake makes the monster look a bit scarier.

Photos from Lake Erie Monsters via Facebook

The Monsters posted another photo on Facebook Sunday night which gives us a better glimpse at the shoulder patch and the name and numbers on the back. It's really a nice-looking sweater!

Not ones to miss out on any specialty jersey fun, the Peoria Rivermen sported green on Sunday. At first glance, the crest looks unchanged. But on closer inspection, the eagle-eyed will note the the "O" in Peoria has a four-leaf clover forming its center.

Photos from Peoria Rivermen via Facebook

Green is good and this is a brilliant example of that. And looking at this jersey, it occurs to me that this is a color scheme we rarely see in hockey. Green, blue and gold makes for a really sharp look. On Facebook, the Rivermen posted a photo collage that shows the finer details of this sweater.

Photo from Peoria Rivermen official website

They also shared this shot of a green jersey autographed by the team. And this report wouldn't be complete without a look at the sweater in action during Sunday's game against the Griffins.

Thanks to our good friend and designer Aaron Masik, the San Antonio Rampage looked pretty sharp in their green threads over the weekend.

Photo by Aaron Masik (@MASIK8) via Twitter

The Rampage tweeted a look at the jersey design on Saturday and prior to the game, Masik shared the above photo of the sweater itself by way of Twitter. Unfortunately, there isn't much to see in terms of action photos. At the time of this writing, I've found one shot on the team's Facebook page and it's not that great.

And lastly, there's the St. John's IceCaps, both wearing green and being green by recycling last season's green St. Patrick's Day jerseys.

Photos from St. John's IceCaps via Flickr

The IceCaps were kind enough to share a few photos from this Saturday's game both on Flickr and with a full game gallery on Facebook. Once again, they looked good in green.

I tried to catch everybody, but if there are any teams I've missed, let me know and I'll add them.

Update on Tuesday · Mar 19 · 2013 | 12:05 PM PDT by Chris

Icethetics reader Tony commented on this post to let us know that the Springfield Falcons celebrated their Irish Night back on March 1. Even better, the Falcons posted a bunch of photos from their green game on Facebook.

Photos from Springfield Falcons via Facebook

They look pretty decent apart from all the various shades of green. Again, feel free to drop me a line if there are any teams whose St. Patrick's Day celebrations I've overlooked.

Going Green for a Game

Green is one of the most neglected colors on hockey uniforms. It's a perfectly good color that, far too often, gets overshadowed by the likes of blue and red. But there's at least one day on the calendar when green rules. One week from today is St. Patrick's Day and hockey teams across North America are taking note with green-infused uniforms. Thought I'd take some time today to run down the list of what to expect.

NHL: New Jersey Devils

Devils announce Retro GameSince 2010, it's become an annual tradition for the New Jersey Devils to sport their red and green retro jerseys on or near St. Patty's Day.

The tradition continues for the third year in a row next weekend as the Devils host the Pittsburgh Penguins. Icethetics reader Mike Iannaccone tweeted a photo on Wednesday from the Prudential Center that confirms this.

The Devils wore this sweater for the first time on St. Patrick's Day 2010 — also against the Penguins. (It was actually their first time wearing green since 1992 when it was replaced with black.) The Devils won that game 5-2, but were shut out 3-0 last year when they hosted the Capitals on March 18.

Devils GM Lou Lamoriello has made it known he has no interest in New Jersey wearing an alternate sweater on a regular basis, but if he ever changes his mind, this one is a classic.

ECHL: Trenton Titans

Elsewhere in New Jersey, the ECHL's Trenton Titans will sport the green plaid for Irish Heritage Night when they face the Reading Royals.

But oddly, this Irish Heritage Night will not take place on March 17, but rather a week later on Sat., March 24. The promotion had to wait a week since the Titans will be on the road for St. Patrick's Day. But they wouldn't miss this opportunity.

In fact, when the Titans his the road next week, they'll be in Chicago. That takes us to...

ECHL: Chicago Express

Chicago Express St. Patrick's Day jerseyThe ECHL's Chicago Express, currently embarking on their inaugural season, will celebrate St. Patty's Day with a special jersey as they host the Trenton Titans next Saturday night.

The Express's green-themed sweater is decidedly not plaid. In fact, you might say it's a little more... alcohol-y. If that wasn't a word I just made up, anyway.

The bubbles up and down the front and back of this jersey certainly make it look like the players will be giant green beers skating around. Though you'd be more likely to see that if you already had some green beers in you. That's all I'm saying.

The primary logo is normally navy and powder blue, but the standard colors have been swapped out for green and orange for this event.

For what it's worth, this jersey has all the bad design markers, from the black for black's sake right down to the illegible name and numbers. But they'll get auctioned off for charity after the game, so we'd all sound silly to complain.

While we're in Chicago...

AHL: Chicago Wolves

The AHL's Chicago Wolves will wear their St. Patrick's Day jerseys for three home games over the next two weeks — though not on the actual day itself.

The jerseys are green with WOLVES arranged diagonally across the front in cream. Based on the image below, provided by the team, it looks like there will be a patch on each shoulder — one with a black shamrock and the year, the other with the Wolves' primary logo. As is the norm with these things, they will be auctioned for charity.

You'll note the jersey will be worn for home games on 3/14 vs. the Peoria Rivermen, 3/24 vs. the Hamilton Bulldogs, and 3/25 vs. the Houston Aeros but not on March 17. That's because the Wolves are traveling that night to... yes, Cleveland. Folks, you can't make up segues like this...

AHL: Lake Erie Monsters

The AHL's Lake Erie Monsters will be wearing their St. Patrick's Day colors when they entertain the Chicago Wolves in Cleveland on March 17. Unfortunately, while they've made the announcement on their website, they haven't offered us any pictures of the "shamrock-filled jersey," as they put it.

But, you see, the Monsters may have won St. Patrick's Day simply by doing one thing. They're painting the ice green that night. Yikes. Here's what their press release says:

The Monsters will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day all weekend long, next Friday and Saturday, March 16th and 17th! We're teaming up with The Ohio Lottery to bring you the luck o' the Irish in back-to-back games at The Q.

The team will be wearing one-of-a-kind, shamrock-filled green jerseys both nights (which will be auctioned off at the games). Plus the ice will be painted green as well!

Along with the game against the Wolves, the Monsters will also trot out the St. Patrick's Day jerseys the night before against the Milwaukee Admirals.

Sadly, there's no clever transition to be had here...

AHL: St. John's IceCaps

The AHL's St. John's IceCaps will also sport green threads in honor of St. Patrick's Day. They're the only Canadian team on this list (that I know of).

The IceCaps are in their first season playing in Newfoundland after the Manitoba Moose were uprooted by the relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg. The IceCaps are currently affiliated with the Jets.

The team has been holding drawings to determine which lucky fans will win these green jerseys right off the players' backs after the March 17 game against the Manchester Monarchs. Here's a look at that sweater.

I think that's all I've got for you today. If I've overlooked any St. Patrick's Day jerseys, let me know and I'll make the appropriate updates to this post. 

Update on Monday · Mar 12 · 2012 | 5:02 PM PDT by Chris

As expected, I managed to overlook a handful of teams that plan to sport special St. Patrick's Day jerseys this weekend. We'll begin this update in Texas...

AHL: Houston Aeros

Aeros' St. Patrick's Day jerseyThe AHL's Houston Aeros are among the few teams that wear green on a regular basis. But on Saturday, they're doing it a little differently.

We got our first look at the team's special St. Patrick's Day jersey this morning by way of Aeros winger Jon DiSalvatore, who tweeted this picture (right). DiSalvatore's tweet was later confirmed by the team through Twitter.

Though the tweets don't specify exactly when the jersey will be worn, March 17 is a safe bet as the Aeros host the Abbotsford Heat. They're also at home against the Rockford IceHogs the night before, for what it's worth.

Interestingly, this jersey appears to feature an argyle pattern (in a gradient no less) which is somewhat unusual. I'm pretty sure argyle originated in Scotland.

Then again, so did plaid for that matter. Or tartan patterns, which are a type of plaid but commonly just referred to as "plaid." (See the Trenton Titans jersey above.)

I realize those last two paragraphs were pretty nerdy, but St. Patrick's Day is an Irish holiday that we're borrowing, right? And while the clovers are certainly relevant, I'm not sure the Scottish jersey designs are.

Anyway, I don't really care about that, it was just something I noticed and wanted to point out. My thanks to reader Chris Fraterrigo for letting me know about this today.

All right, so I'm attempted another neat segue here. This Aeros jersey was first shown to us by Jon DiSalvatore, who is originally from Maine — which happens to be where the Portland Pirates play...

AHL: Portland Pirates

Another team doing the green thing this St. Patty's Day is the AHL's Portland Pirates. And for them, Green Night is not just a time for a new jersey color but altered logo colors as well.

For one night only, the Pirates will swap the red and silver in their logo for green and gold when they face the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at home this Saturday. They've even altered the the colors in their NHL affiliate shoulder patch. In fact, the patch used in this jersey is normally seen on the Phoenix Coyotes' third jersey. The Pirates wear the Yotes' primary logo on their regular home and road uniforms.

The design was posted for all to see on the Pirates' official Facebook page.

It looks like there's enough space underneath the wordmark on the front to fit a uniform number. But as this is a design sample, I can't say for sure. I'll keep an eye on it this weekend.

Got to squeeze in a shout-out for commenter Frank C. for keeping us in the loop.

AHL: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Baby Pens' St. Patrick's Day jerseyThe AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins don't miss an opportunity for a specialty jersey. And March 17 is just an excuse for one more.

Right off the bat, I have to express my disappointment with the lack of creative originality with the crest design. (Visit Google Images and search "four leaf clover" and take note of what you find in the top 10.)

I realize it's just a simple clover for a one-off jersey design, but it isn't that difficult to draw a four-leaf clover. And if you're going to nab one from the web, does it have to be the first one that you spot in an online image search?

This is turning into the tartan/argyle rant all over again. It doesn't really bother me that much but it's still worth mentioning.

We have a pretty bare-bones jersey here, as you can see. It's based on the Minnesota Wild's red home sweater. There's not a lot to it, but of course it does have its share of green.

This preview (right) of the sweater design was posted last month on the Baby Pens' official Facebook page. My thanks to reader Eric Rodgers for letting me know about it.

We've got one more from a different league...

CHL: Wichita Thunder

Wichita Thunder's St. Patrick's Day jerseyThe Wichita Thunder of the Central Hockey League will be among the many North American hockey teams donning green this Saturday.

The Thunder showed off the design via their official Facebook page back on Feb. 27. It features a recolored version of their old logo — similar to what they've been using on their uniforms this season to celebrate their 20th anniversary.

On Saturday, the Thunder host the Arizona Sundogs. (Damn. Just realized the Sundogs are affiliated with the Coyotes and Pirates. I think I could've finagled a decent transition before the Baby Pens if I was up for rewriting this post.)

Wichita's colors are normally black and blue but they're going with forest green and bright orange for St. Patrick's Day.

One final shout-out goes to commenter Jason S. who let us know about these jerseys in Wichita.

And this is where I leave you (again). If I've left out any of the teams that are celebrating the color green next weekend with special sweater designs, you know what to do.

Update on Friday · Mar 16 · 2012 | 10:43 AM PDT by Chris

Two more teams to add to the March 17 madness tomorrow.

NHL: Dallas Stars

Dallas Stars' St. Patrick's Day warm-up jerseyThe Dallas Stars are set to take the ice prior to tomorrow night's game wearing green practice jerseys emblazoned with Irish-ified nickname nameplates.

For example, Alex Goligoski's sweater calls him O'Goose. Brenden Morrow is O'Morrow. In fact, the whole team is doing it.

Here's a list of some other Irish-themed Stars names:

• Stephane Robidas — O'Robi
• Trevor Daley — O'Daley
• Jamie Benn — McChubbs
• Adam Burish — O'Legend
• Toby Petersen — FitzPetie
• Radek Dvorak — O'Devo
• Loui Eriksson — O'Loui
• Tom Wandell — O'Wandy
• Eric Nystrom — Guinness
• Adam Pardy — O'Pardy
• Mark Fistric — McCrush'em
• Steve Ott — O'Daddy
• Kari Lehtonen — O'Lehts
• Vernon Fiddler — McFiddler
• Sheldon Souray — O'Hammer
• Mike Ribeiro — McRibs
• Michael Ryder — O'Rydes

I think McRibs may be one of the funniest.

It's a neat little promotion the Stars are doing and as is typical with these things, the jerseys will be auctioned off after the game to benefit the Dallas Stars Foundation.

ECHL: Stockton Thunder

Also joining the fun will be the ECHL's Stockton Thunder as they sport green lightning bolts tonight and tomorrow night. "Easy Being Green" is how the event is being marketed, but Zeus is wearing a leprechaun's hat and a shamrock on this jersey so let there be no mistaking it's really all about St. Patrick's Day.

Stockton Thunder's St. Patrick's Day jersey

Thanks to Wade B. for the tip.

IceCaps Unveil Familiar Uniforms

IceCaps jerseys unveiled / Dave SalterThe AHL's St. John's IceCaps officially unveiled their uniforms today. It should surprise no one that they are identical to those of their NHL parent club, the Winnipeg Jets.

IceCaps owner Danny Williams and player Jason King were on hand this morning to model the new sweaters for cameras. And for an AHL team, they look incredibly good.

Now a moment ago I said "identical," but obviously that would be silly. The IceCaps have their own primary logo on the front and the Jets' logo on the shoulders. Add in an advertisement or two and that's it as far as differences.

Here's how the new look was described in a press release on the AHL's website:

The jerseys, which are modeled after the parent Winnipeg Jets uniforms, consist largely of two shades of blue. The primary navy blue base of the home dark jerseys is referred to as Polar Night Blue. The lighter, secondary blue is called Aviator Blue. Each jersey includes sleeve piping, accenting the colors. 

The IceCaps will wear the white jerseys at home and the blue jerseys for road games. 

“I could not be more pleased with the final product we are unveiling today which will be the signature look of the St. John’s IceCaps,” said Mr. Williams. “These are incredibly sharp looking jerseys that are sure to catch the eye throughout the league.”

If you haven't been following along this summer, the IceCaps were known as the Manitoba Moose until that club was displaced by the purchase and relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg. The team, still owned by True North along with the Jets, moved to St. John's, Newfoundland and unveiled their logo on July 29.

As I said yesterday, I like the Jets' new uniforms, so naturally I like the IceCaps' as well. I almost like them better because I like their primary logo better. But despite my understanding that advertising is necessary to the business aspect of an AHL franchise, I've never liked it on the uniforms. Otherwise, solid look.

IceCaps uniforms nearly identical to Jets / AHL

But wait, there's more minor league news...

San Francisco Bulls joining ECHL in 2012

San Francisco Bulls joining ECHLYesterday, the ECHL Board of Governors approved the membership of a new franchise to begin play in the 2012-13 season. They're called the San Francisco Bulls and appropriately, they'll play at the Cow Palace.

But before you get too excited, the logo being used to represent the new California club on the ECHL's website is absolutely atrocious. It's not design. It's just a sad mess.

The bull head looks like some sort of futuristic, metallic thing while the font couldn't look more dated. And the crossed hockey sticks look like a tacked-on afterthought. Painful is what it is.

I'm hoping that by the time next summer rolls around, they'll have a real logo to show us. And maybe a revised color scheme? Who thought gold, red and black used in this way was a good idea? The 49ers do it right. This doesn't.

In any case, next year the ECHL celebrates its 25th anniversary and it's cool to see them adding new teams in west coast markets after so many have come and gone in the recent past. Heck, if the Florida Everblades were to visit, I might even fly down to see a game. 

St. John's IceCaps Unveil Name, Logo

The worst kept secret in the American Hockey League became official this morning. True North's Manitoba Moose have officially become the St. John's IceCaps. (Note that's one word, not two. And in upper and lowercase, reads like this: St. John's IceCaps.)

As you'd expect, the IceCaps' colors line up with their NHL parent club, the Winnipeg Jets. Two shades of blue and two shades of gray/silver. Only the IceCaps wisely left out the red maple leaf.

The primary logo makes heavy use of the wordmark, but that's not surprising considering the name. And it's not a bad name, it just doesn't lend itself well to imagery the way that, say, "Jets" does.

Perhaps the best thing about this mark is its easter egg. At a glance, it's merely snow cover atop a rugged mountain. But when you really look, there's a sort of stylized "N" and "L" carved out for Newfoundland and Labrador — which also happen to be shaped like the actual map boundaries. That's a very cool feature. (Pun.)

St. John's IceCaps logos / @markdenineIf you're like me, you're satisfied — even pleasantly surprised — by this logo but just hoping they drop the "St. John's" bit at the top when it comes time to slap it on a sweater. Regulars may be a bit surprised to find that I like a logo that's basically a wordmark, but there are always gray areas.

I don't care for the Anaheim Ducks' wordmark because, well, a duck is an easy thing to put into a textless image. IceCaps can be more challenging. You don't want to lose your brand identity trying to create a logo that's too clever for its own good. Especially in the minors.

And you can argue all you want with the name choice, but I can't say I mind it. Yes, it breaks some critical rules by including the word "ice" and running it all together with a capital letter in the middle, but it's just one of those throwback things.

From the press release:

“Caps” not only perfectly complements the name in the literal translation of an icecap, it is also pays tribute to the St. John’s Caps, a Newfoundland Amateur Hockey Association team which played in the former provincial senior hockey league. 

Along with this logo, the IceCaps unveiled a new wordmark, which includes the same elements as the primary — just repositioned. You can see it on the poster used at this morning's unveiling event (above) thanks to Mark Denine, who tweeted this photo for us.

There were no secondary marks revealed today, but I'm sure at least one shoulder of the uniforms will get the new Winnipeg Jets logo. Speaking of jerseys, they were not unveiled today either and will probably come out closer to the start of the season. I'd bet they use the same design as the Jets' jerseys, and we're not expecting to see those until early September. Maybe we see both at the same time.

I'll grant you this logo is no replacement for the Manitoba Moose, but it's certainly not as weak in terms of design as the Jets' new primary. Now it's your turn. Hit or miss by True North?

Trenton Titans Return to ECHL

The ECHL welcomed the Trenton Titans back into the league today, filling the gap left in New Jersey's capital city with the demise of the Trenton Devils.

The team has already launched its new website — which at this point, merely links you to its Facebook and Twitter pages. Today's announcement also confirmed the Titans will be affiliated with the Philadelphia Flyers. And the club's new logo will be the same as the one introduced when they first hit the ice 12 years ago.

ECHL commissioner Brian McKenna at Trenton Titans press conference / Martin Griff, The TimesThe franchise played under the Titans name from 1999 until 2007 — a tenure which included a 2005 Kelly Cup championship — at which point the New Jersey Devils bought the franchise and rebranded it, just as they'd done the year before with the AHL team in Lowell, Mass.

All the Devils' affiliates were called the Devils and basically had the same logo and uniforms for the next few years. Last summer, when the Albany River Rats became the Charlotte Checkers, the Lowell Devils headed to Albany. They then became the Albany Devils.

On July 6, the New Jersey Devils gave up on their ECHL player development plan and shut down the Trenton franchise. It was then bought up by new owners who rebranded it with that familiar Titans moniker. So Trenton hockey fans aren't missing a beat here.

So like the resurrection of the Winnipeg Jets, what's old is new again in hockey this year. And full credit to Chris Creamer over at SportsLogos.net for predicting the return of the Titans more than a month ago! Included in a blog post was the revelation that the ECHL has re-registered the Titans trademark on June 21. He assumed either the ECHL was getting into the retro gear business, or the Titans were staging a comeback.

But wait, there's more...

St. John's AHL Team Unveiling Name & Logo

When True North moved the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg, it caused a ripple effect that impacted several other leagues, including the AHL. The arrival of the Jets displaced True North's Manitoba Moose, who have since found a new home in St. John's, Newfoundland. Now they're getting a name and logos.

The AHL tweeted this morning that the new St. John's franchise will officially unveil its branding identity (meaning name and logo) on Friday morning at 11 AM local time. That's 9:30 AM Eastern and 6:30 AM on the west coast — which is far too early for me. It's widely believed the team will be named the St. John's Ice Caps.

The Ice Caps would obviously be affiliated with the Jets. And because the Moose were previously affiliated with the Canucks. But there's an easy fix. The Thrashers' departure left the Chicago Wolves without an affiliate, so naturally Vancouver is filling that void.

Unrelated to the Jets' move, there was another three-way affiliate swap this summer. The Buffalo Sabres are once again joining forces with the Rochester Americans. Their former affiliate, the Florida Panthers, have hooked up yet again with the San Antonio Rampage. (Didn't I just say what's old is new again?) That left the Portland Pirates and Phoenix Coyotes without partners so they just sort of looked at each other and said, hey why not?

This will all be explained again in graphic form in the Icethetics Season Preview in September.

What about the Jets' jerseys?

With the question of the logos fully answered, what now remains is this: What will the new Winnipeg Jets jerseys look like?

Details have been eking out at a slow pace, but a pace set by the franchise itself, for a change. Icethetics reader Jacob McInnis tweeted what he heard True North chairman Mark Chipman talking about on FAN 590 on Tuesday.

For one thing, Chipman said the only red on the uniforms will be in the maple leaf on the logos. Now that extra shade of blue in the alternate wordmark makes sense. He also said the secondary mark, the wings, will be the shoulder patches.

New Jets in new T-shirts / JetsAs far as when the new sweaters will be unveiled, I still haven't seen anything official, but the expectation is still early September.

One thing worth noting however, are the new Jets T-shirts which you can find in both light blue and dark blue — keeping us guessing about which color the home jersey will be. This photo (right) was tweeted by the team earlier today.

Frankly, the logo looks better on dark blue, but I would love the irony of the Jets using the same color jerseys as the Thrashers did. Though I'm sure Atlanta fans wouldn't find it nearly as funny.

Jacob also said Chipman talked about a desire to honor old Jets jersey numbers, similar to what the Toronto Maple Leafs do. This makes more sense that all out retiring numbers for players who never actually suited up for this particular franchise.

Got any other Jets nuggets I've missed? I'd love some links if these details are in print somewhere.

And there's a reason that this final link is at the end of this post. Lots of folks went nuts-o when they thought this alleged "NHL 12 leak" was the Jets new uniform. I'm not saying it again. But obviously, it isn't. It's a Capitals jersey. That is all.

By the way, I do hope my contempt for these EA video game "leaks" is coming through. I wouldn't want to downplay it at all. Just saying.