Jackets Investigating Logo Theft

In the category of things that are shockingly stupid, the Columbus Blue Jackets are investigating the theft of their logo by — of all people — a politician!

If you can believe it, U.S. Senate candidate Marc Delphine of Oregon has appropriated a slightly altered version of the Ohio NHL franchise's primary logo to promote his campaign, by flipping it to form a D with the flag — still practically the Ohio flag, by the way.

Here's the banner on his website:

Campaign steals Blue Jackets logo

It became obvious that the Blue Jackets didn't grant the campaign any special permission when the following was posted to the team's Twitter account about an hour ago:

For those who are asking about the misuse of the #CBJ logo, the issue is being looked into. Thanks to those who pointed it out.

To be fair, the logo may not have been stolen by Delphine himself but rather a P.R. hack for the campaign, but it's still a pretty shocking oversight on the part of the candidate.

Thanks to Matt for the tip!

Update on 2010-03-11 04:58 by Chris

In the interest of fairness, read Puck Daddy's posting on the matter. Mr. Delphine explains that the logo was a contribution from a volunteer, and being a Libertarian from Oregon, knowledge of hockey logos is not one of his strong suits. (Nor is being able to properly vet images he wants to represent him as a candidate for high public office, apparently.)

The logo was removed from his campaign website earlier today after a flood of emails and calls from the media and the NHL. The matter has officially been put to bed.

Caps Turn 35, Opt Against Third

Note about Logo Tournament: The voting section of the website will only be the Icethetics landing page on Mondays when new polls are posted. Throughout the rest of the week, polls are available by clicking on the VOTE! tab at the top or in the sidebar.

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Capitals 35th patchWe're tracking Washington Capitals jerseys news today. They just celebrated 35 years and the final word on a Caps third jersey is here.

On Saturday night, the Capitals wore a special 35th anniversary patch on their jerseys. This after it was postponed last month due to inclement weather.

Icethetics reader Lowell sent in this photo of the patch (right) and he plans on sewing it onto his Caps jersey.

In the meantime, if you want to see how it looked in action, here's a shot of Alex Ovechkin wearing it on his jersey. The patch-enhanced sweaters were put up on the auction block on Saturday night after the game. Anyone want to guess how much his went for?

While we're on the subject of rare jerseys, the Capitals have no intention of adding a third in the foreseeable future, according to owner Ted Leonsis.

This is a story PuckDrawn picked up on last week. In a video interview on Caps365, Leonsis said:

There's no active discussion, there's no work on it. We introduced new jerseys a couple years ago. The fan base was not supportive of that. My favorite from one of our message board posters was, "How dare you! This looks like a colostomy bag!" I kept that one.

And now I think our logo and color scheme are amongst the most accepted, best-selling and best-looking in the league. Sometimes injecting change is difficult.

I don't feel the compelling need to have the third jersey. I also think it's unfair to introduce a third jersey because people want to then go out and buy them. And with the economy being the way it is, I just thought it would look greedy on our part.

At some point when it feels right, and maybe the fan base gives us permission to do that, we'll certainly do it, but now didn't seem like the right time.

You can click here to watch the video. The third jersey conversation takes place around the 18-minute mark.

So as awesome as it might be, don't expect a blue Weagle jersey anytime soon. Caps fans don't want it. Yet. But when they do, it'll be one of the best around.

The best chance we have now seeing the Caps in anything other than their current jerseys is the 2011 Winter Classic. Assuming the rumors are true, one would hope they'd opt for a throwback sweater like everyone else has done so far — even if their previous jerseys are pretty awful.

Checking In With the AHL

The Charlotte Checkers are making preparations to check into a new league next fall as they jump from ECHL to AHL. That means the unveiling of a new logo — in a way.

Here's the scoop in a nutshell. The Carolina Hurricanes want their top farm club, the AHL's Albany River Rats, to be geographically closer. So decisions were made to get the team relocated from upstate New York to Charlotte, North Carolina — a quick, 45-minute flight from Raleigh (or about three hours if you're driving).

Basically, the owner of the ECHL's Charlotte Checkers bought the Albany club and will move it to North Carolina, transferring the name of his ECHL franchise. So the Albany River Rats become the Charlotte Checkers this fall and will keep the Checkers' current logo, with some color alterations. It will now match the Hurricanes in black and red, as seen in this banner from the Checkers' AHL website.

Not a big surprise. Is the color change an improvement? More of a lateral move, in my opinion. An article on the Checkers' website discussing the move to the AHL had this to say:

The Checkers have also announced that they will change their logo and uniform colors to match those of the Hurricanes. The team went through an entire rebranding before the 2007-08 season and will simply change colors and incorporate the Hurricanes trademark. The details of these changes will be revealed at a later date.

When they say they will "incorporate the Hurricanes trademark," I assume that just means Carolina's logo will be used on the shoulder — a common affiliate practice. The logo in the banner above is likely the final artwork for the Checkers' updated logo. If anything changes, I'll let you know.

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I'm keeping an eye on some other AHL jersey news.

Wolf Pack jersey design by Mike IvallThe Hartford Wolf Pack seem to have skipped a scheduled specialty jersey event last weekend.

I only bring it up because the jersey was the result of a fan contest won by a frequent Icethetics concept art contributor named Mike Ivall.

According to the Pack's website, the March of Dimes promotion and jersey auction was scheduled for (and took place) Feb. 26 and 27. Only the jerseys auctioned were not the one's Mike designed.

Photo albums posted on the team's Facebook page from the games on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27 clearly show the players wearing their standard white sweaters. I'm assuming it's those that were auctioned off following the weekend's games.

I have emails in both to Mike and the Wolf Pack about the situation. If I get any answers, I'll be sure to share them. In the meantime, if anyone else knows what's up, we'd love to hear about it.

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Last bit of AHL news for the night. John writes in to let us know that during the Olympic break, a couple of American clubs wore specially-designed jerseys modeled after those worn by the United States in 1980 as a tribute to the "Miracle on Ice" team.

Admirals "miracle" jerseyInstead of USA, the Milwaukee Admirals' red, white and blue tribute duds read ADS.

But to everyone in the stands, it must've felt like they were at the Olympics too. (Right?)

The Admirals wore these special sweaters on Feb. 19 and 21 and then auctioned them off afterward to benefit the Power Play Foundation.

In case you were wondering, they were good luck as the Ads won both games, beating the Houston Aeros 2-0 on Friday and the Rockford IceHogs 4-1 on Sunday.

It's a neat tribute and it makes me wonder if it's been done before — or if they were just waiting for a nice, round-number anniversary. But then I feel like all these one-off specialty jerseys are just now becoming more commonplace in the minors. Am I mistaken about that?

Phantoms "miracle" jerseyThe Adirondack Phantoms, who recently relocated from Philadelphia, also wore similar jerseys. Theirs read ADK in lieu of USA.

Unlike the Ads, for which I was able to find loads of information thanks to their incredible and easy to use website, I can't seem to track down any details on when (if) these were worn.

I'm assuming it would've been between Feb. 16 and 28 but then again this is not a game action photo so I can't be sure. Any Phantoms fans out there that care to fill us in?

Anyway, that wraps things up for tonight. Get excited for the new logo tournaments! Voting kicks off on Monday!

Update on 2010-03-07 16:03 by Chris

Phantoms goalie in 1980 USA replicaDoes Icethetics have the best readers or what?

A commenter called chaosof99 added a link with details and even a photo showing the Adirondack Phantoms in action wearing their 1980 Olympic throwback jersey.

The Phantoms wore that jersey in a 3-2 win over the Norfolk Admirals on the 26th of February. Broad Street Hockey got an action shot too.

Good to know.

Another Icethetics reader told me he thought the Lake Erie Monsters either did something similar or plan to, with regard to this 1980 USA throwbacks.

I can't find any details to support that, but I can tell you the Monsters' Pink in the Rink night is March 19.

Update on 2010-03-08 15:24 by Chris

A representative from the Hartford Wolf Pack tells me that Mike Ivall's contest-winning specialty jersey will now be worn on April 10 for the last home game of the season.

See You at the Polls 3.8.10

If you haven't already heard, Icethetics logo tournaments are back! Go read up on the awesome new format and join us for a Live Chat on Saturday morning at 11 AM eastern. Access the new section from the VOTE! tab at the top of the page.

A Capital Idea: W.C. in D.C.

Caps vs Rangers, please!Think of Ovi in a beanie toque. (I'm a Floridian. We don't really wear them here.)

The New England Hockey Journal is spreading rumors that Washington, D.C. could be up next to host the Winter Classic.

An article posted February 20 cites the ever-eager anonymous source, who also claims the Pittsburgh Penguins could be back in outdoor action just four years after their first foray. Let me be the first to say I would be horribly disappointed by that.

I would love to see the Caps host a Winter Classic. Despite their placement in the Southeast Division, it gets plenty cold there. Americans bore witness to the fury of the D.C. winter when the government actually shut down for snow days. Plus, they deserve it, according to the Journal's Kirk Luedeke.

I can tell you that there were a lot of disappointed folks in the nation's capital last summer when it became known that the Bruins' opponent would be the Philadelphia Flyers, so this should soothe the hurt feelings a bit if/when it becomes official.

But I'm not wild about Sidney Crosby getting another parade. It's funny, my wife can't stand him. She's just barely a hockey fan and even she knows he's overhyped. (An incredibly talented player, obviously, I'm just not sure why he gets all the praise.) On the other hand, she can't get enough of watching Alex Ovechkin. And neither can I.

So assuming the rumors are true, who should Ovi and the Caps face on January 1, 2011? It simply must be the New York Rangers. How is it that the NHL's most famous franchise has been left out of the league's biggest event? And while Canada rings in 2011 with their own outdoor game in Calgary, let Americans bask in the flood of red, white and blue in our nation's capital. What could be more fitting?

And if it's names the NHL wants, forget Crosby. Consider Ovechkin and Semin going nose to nose with Gaborik and Lundqvist. An epic winter battle in another American ballpark, to be sure.

That's really all I have to say on the subject. I'm sure you guys all have opinions of your own and I'd love to hear them. Feel free to share them below.

Scott Walker #24But first, just before the Caps edged out my Bolts tonight, the boys from D.C. skated out in camouflage for warm-ups. You can see what new Cap Scott Walker thinks of it. It's written all over his face.

Actually, the best comment on these jerseys probably came from Tampa Tribune beat writer Erik Erlendsson, who tweeted this tonight:

Not what those jerseys are the #Caps are wearing tonight for warmups, but I'm getting dizzy tryiing to figure out what they are????

He followed up with a clarification from his Washington Post counterpart.

According to @TarikElBashir those are military jerseys and will be auctioned off to military charities; look more like hunting fatigues tho

The Blackhawks and Ducks did the same thing earlier this season, wearing exactly the same jerseys. Only the logos and numbers have been changed. Reebok's taking care of everybody.

By the way, I've got minor league jersey and logo news to come. So keep an eye out for that. Also... I might finally explain the cryptic messages that keep appearing on the blog and Twitter. Hmm...

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Icethetics makes old school new again. 3.8.10