Sneak Peek at New Pats Jersey?

If you haven't heard, Wednesday is the big day for all three Canadian Hockey Leagues. The OHL, QMJHL and WHL teams that have yet to unveil their new Reebok Edge jerseys will do so on 9/9/09. It's going to be a busy day here at Icethetics.

However, it seems Regina Pats fans may not have to wait that long for a sneak peek. The WHL team's new sweater may have been inadvertently leaked by their own play-by-play announcer today.

On his blog, Rod Pederson posted what I would imagine is some kind of marketing photo. It depicts a wild, screaming Pats fan decked out in red face paint and, interestingly, a red Reebok Edge jersey with the Pats' secondary logo on the front. Take a look.

Pederson writes:

I love this photo. Get used to it because I'm going to be using it LOTS this fall/winter whenever discussing the Regina Pats.

You can't see much, but it's definitely red and it definitely lacks the "Pats" wordmark fans have become accustomed to seeing on the front. Instead, it looks like the secondary mark has taken its place.

You can see in this picture to the right — taken last season — it does appear to be the same logo (facing in the opposite direction of course).

I'm not much of a WHL fan but I've always thought of the Pats in blue so it's a little strange to see the jersey in red. However, I can't really say for certain that this is the new dark jersey. Perhaps it's a third? Maybe nothing more than a marketing thing?

Icethetics reader Curtis wrote in with the link to Pederson's blog and even himself questioned the validity of the photo. Obviously we'll know for sure one way or the other on Wednesday. But I at least wanted to share the picture in the meantime.

What do you guys think? I'd especially like to hear from Pats fans. I know you're out there. Are you happy with a change to red in the Age of Reebok and all the piping that goes along with it? Or are you distraught by the hostile corporate takeover of the last remaining bastion of decent hockey sweater design?

(Were those questions a little too leading?)