Pens To Debut 3rd Against Classic Foe

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the Pittsburgh Penguins will debut their new third jersey on Saturday, November 15. The date Icethetics has for the unveiling of this sweater is Thursday, November 6.

It's expected the Pens will go with a design similar to, if not the same as, what they wore at the Winter Classic against the Buffalo Sabres — their opponent for the November 15 game.

The article doesn't cite a source but does say the team is finalizing plans for some sort of unveiling event. You can read an excerpt below or click here to read the full text.

The Penguins will debut their alternate uniforms Nov. 15 at home against the Buffalo Sabres, the Tribune-Review has learned.

The uniforms will mirror the retro-themed ones worn against Buffalo at the New Year's Day NHL Winter Classic. The alternate design borrows from several early uniform incarnations and consists of a predominantly baby blue sweater and socks, with navy pants, gloves and helmet.

The Penguins had no comment Monday regarding the alternate uniforms debut date. However, they are finalizing plans for a formal re-introduction, which could include players modeling the alternate uniforms sometime prior to the Nov. 15 contest.

The alternate uniform is slated to be worn at select home games throughout the season.

By the way, the image associated with that article is the jersey from the Winter Classic — NOT the third jersey.

Thanks to Ken for the tip.

By the way, I mentioned a rumor the other day that has the Pens dropping the gold for the two-tone blue color scheme in two years when they move into their new arena.

It wouldn't surprise me considering those were their original colors when they joined the league more than 40 years ago and throwbacks seem to be all the rage. This new jersey may be a step in that direction. But don't shoot the messenger. We'll see what happens.

AHL Third Jersey Update, Part 2

This weekend, I wrote up a bit about new third jerseys around the AHL — something I didn't get to as part of the Icethetics Season Preview. I've got more, thanks to some awesome readers.

The Hershey Bears are going the simplicity route with minimalist text across the front of their third jersey. You'll have to forgive the picture quality. Cell phone cameras... what can I say?

Psst... how about that California Seals towel in the corner of the picture?

Anyway, next to it is the Portland Pirates' new third jersey — different from their regular red jersey in that it has much less black and new silver piping. Looks a little plain, but it's got that slug on both shoulders.

If any other new third jerseys turn up, let me know and I'll post them here.

Hurricanes Third With Third

That's really as far as I plan to count. I'm sure it's getting annoying. The Carolina Hurricanes' third jersey made its debut on the ice tonight — as scheduled.

However its coming out party was crashed by the Detroit Red Wings. But I'm not your source for game scores, so here are some pictures instead.

They look good. Wouldn't want them going black full time though. That's Lightning turf.

If my schedule is accurate, we won't see any third jerseys on the ice for two weeks. But keep in mind that this schedule isn't comprehensive. Plenty of teams are keeping their schedule to themselves. I'll of course keep my eyes peeled in the meantime.

IceHL: Pacific Preview

The IceHL project is really starting to get interesting. Last night I accepted the final logo for submission for the Pacific Division. I'm very impressed with some of what I've seen. In all, 42 eligible logo sets were submitted. Today I'm going to give you a sneak peek at all of them.

Below are the primary logos from each set. When the ratings begin, you will see the entire set of logos in full detail along with the artist's credit.

ALASKA HUSKIES (12 eligible logos)

CALIFORNIA WAVE (9 eligible logos)

PORTLAND PIONEERS (6 eligible logos)

SEATTLE AVIATORS (10 eligible logos)

VANCOUVER LUMBERJACKS (5 eligible logos)

Obviously the Huskies were the most popular team to design a logo for. I'm not sure if that's because of its name or because it was first on the list. The Lumberjacks got the fewest entries. But overall, I feel each team has at least one or more very strong potential logos.

Starting this weekend, there will be a week long rating period — just like the name ratings — followed by a week long poll of the top 3 rated logos. This way we can make sure the logo you guys really want gets used.

If you do not see your logo here, one of two things happened. Either your submission was ineligible based on one or more of the reasons I outlined when I began taking submissions — or your email failed to get to me. I will entertain questions via email. Questions in the comments area will be ignored.

A Jersey Joke

I would venture to say it's relatively uncommon to find comedy in hockey jersey numbers — I'm not talking Freak Out Friday here. But the Minnesota Wild have come up with an ad campaign that I thought was funny.

It's centered around the return of forward Andrew Brunette. He walks into the locker room and asks equipment manager Tony DaCosta if he can have his old number back. DaCosta tells him James Sheppard has it. He asks for 25. Eric Belanger. Brunette sarcastically asks for 825. An awkward pause ensues. Now, you've gotten this far, you might as well just watch the video.

In case you were wondering, Brunette did get his No. 15 jersey back. Sheppard's got 51.

And I know this isn't news, but I thought it was funny and wanted to share.