Oilers Put 30th On Ice

A photo of Edmonton Oilers rookie Taylor Chorney on the team's official web site reveals the new paint job on the ice at Rexall Place. It's the traditional Oilers logo with a giant "30" at the bottom.

You can go to their site or see the image below.

By the way, I said "traditional" because you'll notice the distinct lack of a red circle encompassing the logo. It's what I anticipate seeing on this season's third jersey.

Thanks to Darren for the tip on the photo.

It's a simplified version of the 30th anniversary logo I posted last month. That logo was found in public document filings by journalist James Gordon. For a refresher...

I imagine that or something similar will serve as a special patch somewhere on the Oilers' jerseys this season.

IHA Poll: St. Louis Spirit

Cast your vote and leave a comment about your decision. Then tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Starts Fri Sep 12
Ends Mon Sep 15

This is the final IHA logo poll. It closes on Monday so sometime in the middle of next week I'll post all the winners and this project will be complete.

Happy voting!

Sabres' Jersey Leak The Real Deal?

It would appear that leaked photo of a Buffalo Sabres jersey that's been floating around the web is the real thing.

Just to be clear, I don't consider anything "official" until it comes directly from a team, but I do trust journalists and John Vogl of The Buffalo News wrote in his blog Sabres Edge that it has been confirmed — I'm assuming he means by the team. He also had a couple more tidbits we didn't previously know about.

This jersey photo that has been leaked is, in fact, the actual third jersey, The News has learned. Two other things have been cleared up:
1) The logo is the same color as the jersey, the darker blue. It only looks different because the different fabrics aren't reflecting the same.
2) It will have numbers on the front shoulder.

In case you forgot what it looks like, here's the jersey we're talking about.

The Sabres are scheduled to officially unveil their new third jersey next Saturday, September 20 at Puck Drop 2008. I'll have complete coverage at that point right here on Icethetics.

Thanks to Mike for the heads-up on this!

Regarding NHL 09

I've been receiving a lot of emails regarding the release of EA Sports' NHL 09 video game. The questions are about whether the game, which was released yesterday in North America, features the new third jerseys.

Last year, when the new Rbk EDGE jerseys were released, NHL 08 featured a special code to unlock the jerseys since the game was going to be out before all the teams had unveiled them. That didn't work out so well since the code was "accidentally" leaked before it was supposed be.

Regarding NHL 09: It is my understanding this game also features an area where a code is to be entered to unlock 19 "alternate jerseys" for 18 teams. It actually features two for the Sabres. My guess is that one is the third jersey, which is blue, and the other is possibly the Winter Classic sweater, which was white.

I do not own a copy of the game so I'm only going on what I've been told by others.

Now for the important part. No, I do not have the code. No, I do not know when it will be released. I'm sure that if it does leak, someone will send in screenshots of the jerseys included in the game — just like last year — and I will post them.

That is the extent to which I'm going to talk about the game on Icethetics since that is the extent to which the game is relevant to hockey jerseys or logos.

I hope that clears up some things. This is all I know so any more emails on the subject will be disregarded.

No Third For Wild — This Year

Michael Russo, beat writer for the Star-Tribune, says the Minnesota Wild will not have a third jersey this season. In his blog Russo's Rants he wrote the following about two weeks ago.

I’ve gotten a number of emails this summer regarding when the Wild will unveil its third jersey. The Wild is not having a third jersey this season but is exploring one for 2009-10.

That came just two days after team owner Craig Leipold pretty much said the same thing. So for anyone still wondering, there's no way to make it clearer than this — the Minnesota Wild will NOT have a third jersey this season.

I, for one, hope to see a return to the green jerseys if they move forward with this next year. What better way to celebrate an anniversary than to use a throwback jersey — yes, going back all of three years. Still, the Wild have never disappointed me with a jersey design.