Winter Classic Windfall

If you've been following the comments in the previous post today, then by now you're aware of what I'm posting tonight. If you steer clear of the comments as I do, it's time to catch up on the big news of the day and it's all about the 2010 Winter Classic.

First, the Philadelphia Flyers officially unveiled their new jersey for the outdoor game.

Keeping in step with the previous four Winter Classic participants, the Flyers will don a classic look that harkens back to their earlier days. Unsurprisingly, it is simply a reversed version of the orange jersey introduced as an alternate last year. (It will become the new home sweater this season.)

Flyers players shoot at a wall of ice to reveal the jersey

Daniel Briere, Simon Gagne and Braydon Coburn were on hand today to reveal the new design by shooting pucks at a wall of ice that concealed it. The three Philadelphia skaters then modeled the sweaters for photos.

Briere, Gagne and Coburn model the Winter Classic threads

Interestingly, the biggest talker with this unveiling wasn't even the design itself — which had been rumored expected for months. From the comments and emails I read, many people could not get over the black nameplate on the back of the white sweater.

Notice the black nameplate on the white sweater...

Personally, I don't mind it. It fits well in context with the orange jersey (which features a white nameplate). It opens the door to making this the new road jersey in the near future. I know many of you are hoping for that. Maybe an orange nameplate would've been better, but black will certainly be more legible.

I recommend checking out the full photo gallery on the Flyers' web site.

The surprise of the day? The Boston Bruins third jersey was leaked online! And no, not at the hands of Icethetics. (Surprisingly.)

In fact, I'm actually not sure where this picture originated. But it clearly shows Tim Thomas wearing a yellow jersey the Bruins have never used before. (Much better than yesterday's poor excuse for a leaked image.)

Take a look.

Is Tim Thomas wearing the Bs' new Winter Classic sweater?

There's little doubt in my mind that this is the real thing — the Bs' brand new Winter Classic sweater. We'll get official word on that next Thursday when it is unveiled at the State of the Bruins event.

As far as the source of this image, the closest I could find was The Boston Sports Network blog. But I am not certain. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I certainly don't want to credit the wrong source.

Anyway, that wraps up today's big Winter Classic news. Just 110 days until the big event!