Sabres Unveil Third Jersey!

After weeks of speculation, the Buffalo Sabres have officially unveiled their new third jersey. The team broadcast the unveiling ceremony live on their web site.

They also made the official announcement of the new sweaters with this graphic.

The ceremony, which began after a team scrimmage, featured each member of the team stepping out onto the ice in the new sweater. Ryan Miller got things started, giving fans their very first look at the new duds.

It's a great redesign of their classic look — with an update of the logo and blue uniform.

We got a decent look at the full uniform when Maxim Afinogenov and Drew Stafford stepped out. You can see the Sabres will keep the sweater number on the front shoulder and add new socks to match the jersey.

You'll also notice a silver area under the arms in this picture of Teppo Numminen. They're very sharp jerseys.

Once everyone was out there, the players skated a few laps around the ice and waved goodbye to fans.

The Sabres had the following statement regarding the new sweaters on their web site.

Utilizing the original crest from the 1970s, the logo has undergone minor modifications for an overall vintage appearance.

“The first thing we wanted to do is go to our new color scheme, which is the deeper blue and gold,” said Director of Creative Services, Frank Cravotta. “After that we added the striping pattern, introduced some silver accents in it and put some silver vertical piping along the front… It makes for a new and unique look.”

The jersey also encompasses a tie at the collar to “reinforce the retro style,” according to Cravotta.

I couldn't agree more with Cravotta's statement. And to every person saying the vertical piping is "unnecessary"... can you please define what is necessary outside of a uniform that identifies a group of players as teammates? Stuff like that has me in stitches.

I've set up a photo gallery for the Sabres' third jersey. Right now, it's made up primarily of screenshots from the live broadcast of the event on Sabres TV. I'll add more images when they're available.

If I hear anything else or see any better photos of these sweaters, I'll be sure to keep you updated.

Icethetics Live Chat IV

(10:58 AM) Sorry about the Live Chat failure today, guys. Not sure what it was. Combination of my crappy internet service provider — Comcast, under the bus — and other things kept me from being able to run the Live Chat the way I usually do. I guess it had to happen sometime. Hopefully we won't be in as bad of shape tomorrow for the Blues.

Sabres To Stream Unveiling

Just like the Hurricanes did, the Buffalo Sabres will be streaming live video of their third jersey unveiling today at 10:30 from their official web site.

That means we'll all get to watch the unveiling ceremony as it happens this morning. So just like last time, I recommend having two browser windows open — one with the live video and the other with today's Icethetics Live Chat which starts at 10.

Official: Blues Tease New Third

The St. Louis Blues news keeps coming. According to the team's official web site, it's official. The Blues will unveil their new third jersey on Sunday at FANfest.

They even teased us with a new photo of the jersey itself.

Ok, so it is just the shoulder of the sweater, but it's still something. St. Louis Post-Dispatch writer Jeremy Rutherford did say they original Blue Note will appear on the shoulders. He got a chance to see it privately yesterday and wrote about it in his blog Morning Skate.

Naturally, the Blues have even more information for us. The jersey will go on sale November 19, two days before it is first scheduled to hit the ice. But at FANfest, there will be merchandise for sale with the new Gateway Arch logo that will don the front of the new sweaters.

Here's the team describes the new jersey.

In contrast to previous Blues uniforms which were (and are) primarily accented in royal blue and gold, the new third jersey and matching socks lean toward navy blue and white. Features of the third jersey include:
• A powerful base color of navy blue trimmed in white gold.
• A new logo on the crest of the jersey featuring the time-honored Blue Note against the Gateway Arch, the iconic symbol for the City of St. Louis, captured within a gold circle highlighted by the words St. Louis Blues.
• The Blue Note, in navy, trimmed in gold and white on each of the shoulders.
• Uniform numbers on the back and sleeves in white — a first for the Blues — trimmed in gold and navy.
• A classic, old-school draw string — another first for the team — at the base of the white-trimmed collar.
• Navy socks trimmed in white and gold will complement the on-ice look, resulting in a navy blue combination from head to toe – helmets, jersey, gloves, pants and socks.

They're certainly going to be blue. Can't wait to see it!

Habs Jerseys Bear New Patches

Training camp is underway for the Montreal Canadiens and the Montreal Gazette has photos. They're on the Habs Inside/Out blog. Why is that interesting?

They have this shot of Robert Lang, Georges Laraque and Alex Tanguay wearing their new red sweaters — with some new shoulder patches.

Obviously the right shoulder bears the new 100th anniversary logo — which can now be seen at center ice in the Bell Centre. Habs Inside/Out has a better picture.

What's not obvious is the patch on the left shoulder. You can make out something on Tanguay's sweater but it's out of focus in this picture yet clearly not the same as what's on the right. None of the other pictures I saw in the gallery show that shoulder. However, if I were to guess, I'd say it's the 2009 All-Star Game logo.

Most teams seem to wear the logo on the front of the jersey when they're hosting, but there's no reason it couldn't be up on the shoulder. So there you have it. If any new pictures turn up, I'll have them.