Loose Threads: Ending a Busy Week

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Seven blog posts in seven days, and I even took yesterday off. But believe it or not, there's still more news to talk about. I have four items today I'll try to get through as quickly as possible.

Sens Release Partial Third Jersey Schedule

One of the big stories of this week has been the Ottawa Senators' new third jersey. They're calling it the Heritage Jersey and we got our first look at it on Tuesday. Then a few days later, the team officially announed its 20th anniversary plans.

In the press relase, the Sens confirmed the existence of the Heritage Jersey but, despite the leak, opted not to officially unveil it. That will happen closer to the start of the season. However, the team did post ticket package options online which tell us, in part, when the new sweater is scheduled to be used.

Ottawa Heritage Jersey (colorized)The Heritage Jersey will be worn for 11 home dates, but the ticket packages only reveal eight. Here's that list along with a couple more: 

  • Thurs., Oct. 13 — vs Colorado Avalanche
  • Sun., Oct. 30 — vs Toronto Maple Leafs
  • Sat., Nov. 12 — at Toronto Maple Leafs †
  • Wed., Dec. 14 — vs Boston Bruins
  • Tues., Dec. 27 — vs Montreal Canadiens
  • Sat., Jan. 14 — at Montreal Canadiens †
  • Tues., Feb. 7 — vs St. Louis Blues
  • Fri., Mar. 2 — vs Chicago Blackhawks
  • Fri., Mar. 16 — vs Montreal Canadiens
  • Sat., Mar. 17 — vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

† Along with the 11 home games will be a pair of nationally televised road contests in Toronto and Montreal, according to information that was part of the jersey leak. I take that to mean Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts — which are on Saturday nights. The Senators visit the Maple Leafs for Saturday matches on Oct. 8 and Nov. 12, but the team has already stated the jersey will see its debut on Oct. 13. And the only Saturday game hosted by the Canadiens takes place Jan. 14. By process of elimination I think we can safely include Nov. 12 and Jan. 14 on the schedule. But that's subject to change, of course.

UPDATE (9/25/11): As it turns out, Nov. 12 wasn't a safe date to include. The Toronto Maple Leafs just released their full third jersey schedule which includes that date. And for TV purposes, we won't see blue versus black. So strike that date from the list. Must be a different nationally-televised game.

I've also taken the liberty of colorizing the leaked jersey design from earlier in the week to give us an idea of what it might look like. I've used vintage white since many things are hinting at that right now.

Kings Throwbacks Coming Back

Kings throwback jerseyIn March, LA Kings Insider Rich Hammond wrote that the Los Angeles Kings would be overhauling their uniforms next season. He added, "the vintage purple-and-gold jerseys will go into mothballs for a while now."

I've been citing that little nugget for months in the various NHL JerseyWatch updates. What I didn't know until I started scouring his archives is that just over a month later, Hammond changed his tune.

Buried in a mailbag-type post on April 30, where he answered reader questions, was the news that the Kings were in fact bringing back the throwbacks for at least three home games next season.

Minnesota Kings Fan asked: To add to the uniform questions what about something with purple & gold?

Answer: The current plan is for the Kings to wear the purple-and-gold vintage uniforms for three home games next season.

I feel bad I overlooked that little piece of information during the last few months, but thrilled that the Kings are bringing this uniform back in 2011-12. It looks great and fans love it!

It's also the perfect counterweight for a club with black and white primary jerseys. I won't call them boring because I actually like them, I just don't want to see them lose the purple altogether.

And for the record, neither does Luc Robitaille.

IceMen unveil modified logo, new jerseys

The Central Hockey League has been getting a lot of blog time lately, and they're about to get a little more. In just their second season, the Evansville IceMen will already be donning a new logo and jerseys.

It's not really a new logo so much as a modified version of their previous logo which was used during their inaugural season in the CHL last year. They're keeping the same "ice man" as before, but with a different posture and some new gear. As for the uniforms, they're completely new — even if they aren't entirely original.

IceMen unveil new jerseys for 2011 / IceMenManiacs.comThe IceMen held a press conference on July 14 to show off the (not so) new look. (Try to ignore the blatant headline misspelling.) They had a few players on hand to model the new jerseys (right).

Mark Cody (18) wore the alternate, Todd Robinson (19) had the blue and Brian Bicek (10) donned the white sweater. In the CHL, teams wear white at home for the first half of the season and then switch.

If you can look past the fact that all of these uniform designs come from the Pittsburgh Penguins' closet, what else do you notice?

We've seen it before, but never this bad. Not one color in the logo is found on the jerseys. Each one uses two shades of blue, neither of which match the single shade used in the logo. There's also no grey in the uniforms even though it dominates the primary mark.

I'm not oblivious to the fact that minor league teams have to spare expense by using existing jersey designs. But knowing that, why not make it look like you put some thought into the design and alter the logo colors to match? It doesn't look that bad, considering the logo they have to work with. But I'd lose the black.

That's all I really have to say about that because the truth is I love these jerseys — just not the crest. I think the colors and striping look great. By the way, I should give a shout-out to IceMenManiacs.com for the photo above and coverage of the unveiling.

Blazers celebrate 30 years with Oilers logo

On Friday, the WHL's Kamloops Blazers unveiled their 30th anniversary logo and it may look awfully familiar to you. That's because it's based on the Edmonton Oilers' 30th anniversary logo from 2008. The green craze is really hitting hockey design hard this year. Everybody's recycling!

The use of the Oilers' logo for the Blazers isn't as odd as it might seem at first. When the team was founded in 1981, they were known as the Kamloops Junior Oilers. So in reality, this logo works well as an homage to the team's own history. They became the Blazers in 1984.

The Blazers have announced some of the 30th anniversary celebration plans. Here are the ones of interest to Icethetics readers:

To celebrate 30 years, the Blazers have introduced a new logo that will be placed at centre ice for the entire 2011-12 season. The Blazers will also be wearing vintage jerseys to commemorate the anniversary this season.

I'll keep an eye out for that vintage jersey. Maybe that Kamloops Junior Oilers logo could be resurrected too. And I have to say that despite the obvious reuse of that Edmonton 30th logo, I do like how the team has worked in both the Junior Oilers and Blazers imagery into the design. Just wish they could've been more original.

I think that finally does it for today. You're now caught up on everything — that I know of. Next up, I'm working on a page that will be under the VOTE tab above. Basically, you'll be able to vote on all of the new logos and jerseys — even the unofficial ones — that we've seen this summer. Should give us an idea of where everyone stands on the new looks around the hockey world. Plus, it'll be a good recap with lots of links in case you missed anything admist all the crazy blog updates lately.

Sens Announce 20th Season Plans

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Official 20th anniversary logo vs. March sneak peekThe Ottawa Senators announced plans on Thursday to celebrate their second decade of NHL hockey during the 2011-12 season.

The club also unveiled its official 20th anniversary logo which, as you can see in this side-by-side comparison (right), differs from the 20th logo we saw in March when the team gave us a sneak peek at the Heritage Jersey.

Two things bug me right off the bat. The official anniversary logo, which is no better than the prototype seen in March, is awfully generic. Generic fonts, generic banner. Nothing about it furthers the Senators brand.

The other thing is the beige, or vintage white as we've come to know it. It's trendy, we get it. The 86-year-old Bruins used it in their Winter Classic throwback jersey. The Rangers used it last year when they turned 85. A little less understandably, the Sabres did it at age 40. But guess what. Two years ago, the Montreal Canadiens celebrated 100 years without that dingy shade of white.

So why is a team that's barely 20 breaking out the antique colors? This is not the same Ottawa Senators club that was a founding member of the NHL in 1917. There was a massive 58-year gap between that team and this one.

I'm not against them celebrating their city's hockey heritage, I just think that trendy beige is silly. And it's just being overused now. I mean, look at that logo. It says 1992—2012 on what's meant to look like a white material that's been aging in the attic for a century or more. Silly.

The Senators did not unveil their new Heritage Jersey at yesterday's press conference, though the design was leaked on the blog this week. The official release will come closer to the season, and the team confirmed some details about when it will be used.

Twenty home games this season will be devoted to the first two decades of the modern franchise. Another 11 are being set aside to recognize the 11 Stanley Cups won by the original Senators, a founding member of the NHL and the league's first true dynasty. The current team will break out a new 'heritage' jersey on those occasions.

In Tuesday's leak we also learned that the Heritage Jersey will see action twice on the road, in Montreal and Toronto. The Canadeisn and Maple Leafs already have white throwback jerseys so I can't help but wonder if they'll wear them for those games against Ottawa.

Though it's not in the press release on the Sens' website, the Ottawa Citizen reported yesterday that the Heritage Jersey will make its game debut on Oct. 13 when the Senators host the Colorado Avalanche.

CTV falsely reports jersey unveilingThat brings me to some shoddy reporting that needs to be cleared up. CTV Ottawa said yesterday that the Senators had unveiled their 20th anniversary jersey. Which they hadn't. Le Journal de Quebec also used the same image in their story, though in their defense, a translation of their article from French reads "the jersey will be unveiled," not that it had been already.

And get this: The design these "news agencies" published was nothing more than a concept pulled straight from this very website more than a year ago.

On March 10, 2010, I posted artwork designed by Tyler Allen that, in terms of design, is identical to what was posted by these two news outlets. Only the shoulders, name and number have been altered (right). The overall design remains completely intact. Lay one on top of the other and you'll find no differences.

Granted, this design isn't far off from what was leaked earlier this week, but it is enough for us to notice. Check out the sleeves and the striping around the waistline. Plus, the numbers on the back are supposed to be white, not black. And where's the new shoulder shield?

I understand CTV Ottawa wanting to give their web vistors and viewers an idea of what the jersey will look like, but reporting "Senators unveil new jersey" is flat out false. They haven't yet. We'll certainly know it when they do.

I hope that clears up any confusion. I know a number of you had emailed me links and been left scratching your heads.

One other thing before I move on from the Senators. I thought this was pretty cool. The Ottawa Citizen referenced Icethetics on Wednesday regarding the leaked Heritage Jersey. They were able to get a response from the team on its validity:

“There have been a number of jerseys that have been produced online and speculated upon as the new heritage jersey,” Brian Morris, the Senators director of communications, said Tuesday. “We anticipate the heritage jersey will be well received by the fan base, but we won’t confirm its design until it is officially revealed prior to the season.”

Nice to see the site getting a little recognition from the big guys. Now one more item, unrelated to the Sens...

Olympiques go colorless in 2011

The QMJHL is getting another black-and-white team this season. The Gatineau Olympiques are going retro, switching back to the colors (or lack of color, as it were) that they wore when they were known as the Hull Olympiques from 1976 to 2003 — black and silver.

An article from LeDroit (translated) explains the transition and even includes a photo of the newly-painted center ice logo which is now black and white with shades of grey. The author says the team hasn't confirmed this change yet, but the writing is on the ice, as it were.

Plus, the new splash page on the club's official website features the desaturated logo. You can see it at the bottom of this post.

The Olympiques are the third hockey team this year to drop their distinguishing colors in favor of a black and white look. First the Los Angeles dropped the purple, then the Q's Montreal Juniors became the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and got rid of the red.

That Olympic torch logo may have had an unusual color palette — purple, yellow and orange with orange jerseys — but it stood out and gave the club its own identity. I know my argument falls down when you consider they're just going back to the colors they previously wore for decades, but it's just so bland.

QMJHL's Gatineau Olympiques alter logo colors / Olympiques

Is This the Isles' New Third Jersey?

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Picked up on a story from Puck Daddy this afternoon. Seems they may have found a potential leak of the New York Islanders' new third jersey set to debut this fall.

The image below, uploaded to Flickr yesterday, comes from the account of a user named roblgraphicd. And as Greg Wyshynski points out in his blog post, the Isles currently employ a graphic designer by the name of Robert Lawlor Jr. The account includes any number of samples of Islanders design work. You can draw your own conclusions.

So the question is this: Are we looking at the Islanders' new black third jersey?

Is this the New York Islanders' new black third jersey or just a concept? / Flickr

From the designer:

2011-12 Season will be the first in which the Islanders take part in the NHL Alternate Jersey program. Featuring modern panels and a somewhat retro type treatment, the jersey also includes the 40th Anniversary logo as a shoulder patch.

First off, he's forgetting that the current home jersey started out as an alternate jersey in 2008. And that they actually had an orange third from 2001 to 2007. So it won't be the first time by any stretch. Second, there's nothing retro about this jersey. It's all super-modern. And not in a good way.

The most prevalent rumors this summer have put the Isles in a black alternate sweater this fall. But more recently, as I wrote in the July edition of the NHL JerseyWatch, I was told that the primary color would be blue and the jersey would feature grey and orange trim. Can't say if that's true or not.

Even if this is not the final design, the fact that it seems to come from a graphic designer who works for the Islanders tells us at the very least it could be a prototype considered by the team. That in itself is newsworthy on this blog. We always enjoying seeing concepts from the pros.

Now if you want my thoughts, I'm of two minds on this. On one hand, it's just nuts enough to be an actual NHL jersey. On the other, I would've hoped the Islanders' had learned their lesson about insane jersey design. This is way too trendy for its own good. Wordmark on the front. Mismatching nameplate on the back. Black. And for what's worth, the design seems to be based in part on the Phoenix Coyotes' third jersey template.

When the Isles launched their Reebok Edge jerseys in 2007, they were quite ugly. They've since rectified the problem by going back to their roots with beautiful throwbacks. But I guess somebody at the top still wants the Isles' to have at least one oddball uniform in the arsenal. And this would surely do the trick.

I can't give you a definitive answer on its legitimacy. I can just show it to you and let you make up your own minds until I have something more concrete to report. And once again, excellent find by Puck Daddy!

Attack, Blaze Unveil New Looks

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A minor league and a junior league team have unveiled new identities for the 2011-12 season this week.

On Wednesday afternoon, the OHL's Owen Sound Attack held a press conference to show off their updated logo and new uniforms.

The revised primary mark consists of a new text element plus a simplified version of the ferocious bear featured in the logo the Attack had used since 2000. The broken stick and the rest of the creature's hulking body have been discarded leaving us with just the growling head.

They're following the trend we've been seeing throughout hockey branding lately... simplify. They haven't gone out and rebranded from the ground up. They've merely removed the extraneous elements of the existing brand.

Owen Sound Attack unveil new sweaters / AttackEven the jerseys are highly simplified — going for the Blackhawks-style stripes instead of the claw-shaped design that was previously featured.

The release on their website is poorly written, but includes this quote from forward Daniel Zweep:

“A bunch of us saw the new design halfway through last season and we loved it,” said Zweep. “It’s definitely a lot cleaner and more traditional. We can’t wait to throw them on and get back out on that ice.”

All right, something tells me that may not be a direct quote but I digress. For better or worse, traditional is indeed the trend of late.

Is the new logo an improvement? I'd call it more of a lateral move. The old one certainly had that late 90s look about it. This one just looks like any other simplified 90s logo. No better, no worse.

The only thing that bugs me about these jerseys is really a construct of the Reebok Edge template... that silly shoulder piping. If you're going to do the piping, it only makes sense for the shoulder yoke to be a different color. And even then, I'd do away with it.

You can read fan reaction to the new look on the Attack's Facebook page.

In the minors, the Central Hockey League's Bloomington Blaze unveiled their logo and uniforms on Tuesday, just a couple weeks after announcing their existence.

The CHL welcomed the team from Bloomington, Ill. in mid-July as a replacement for the Bloomington PrairieThunder. The Blaze will have the same general manager, coach, arena, and probably players as the PrairieThunder. However, since there's new ownership, I'm not sure the Blaze continues the PrairieThunder lineage. It's a little confusing.

The Pantagraph, a central Illinois newspaper, reported the logo was designed by "Skye Design Studios in New England." And while a Google search turns up a variety of companies (and individuals) under that name, none seem to be based in New England. I'd be curious to see what other work they've done.

The black burning "B" is not a bad logo. Bold and simple; and it manages to avoid looking like the Calgary Flames for the most part. I kind of like it. But here's where things get interesting. The jerseys...

CHL Bloomington Blaze jerseys / BlazeThis week we got our first look at the Ottawa Senators' new Heritage Jersey. We could finally put the crazy-striped third jersey out of our minds. And then the Blaze came along.

Indeed, that is the "SENS" jersey template you see there (right) with the new Blaze logo plastered on the front. That sweater will not die. I suppose the good news here is that we get to see what it would look like in white.

Guess it's time for a confession. I never really hated the Sens' third jersey. I just hated that it said "SENS" on the front instead of bearing, you know, an actual logo. It may be a little odd-looking, but you can't deny this is a killer jersey. And honestly, it seems to work with the Blaze logo.

So all in all, I don't truly have anything bad to say about the Blaze's identity. All I will say to their marketing people is this: Get your website up already! (Not that it matters anymore. The logo and jerseys have been documented now.)

If you're so inclined, you can find commentary on their logo and uniforms from fans on their Facebook page — their only online existence at the moment.

Between the Senators, Attack and Blaze, that's a lot of red and black this week. But there's going to be more. The Sens are holding a press conference to announce 20th anniversary details on Thursday afternoon. Maybe we'll get to see the new jersey in color? Or perhaps in a photograph? Stay tuned to Icethetics.

The Summer of the Phony Leak

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Presumably, you visit Icethetics to keep abreast of the latest hockey jersey and logo news. It stands to reason that you'd also count on this site to set the record straight when something is amiss. That's today's topic.

Leaking unreleased designs is by no means a priority here, but it happens on occasion — as seen yesterday with the new Ottawa Heritage Jersey. It's not my purpose to foul up any team's marketing plans. However, this summer has been especially lousy with "leaks" that aren't really leaks at all.

It's all thanks to a bunch of halfwits who aren't clever enough to find an honest way of making money. They sell cheap knock-offs of NHL jerseys. But this is old news. The new trend over the last few years seems to be these manufacturers turning fan-made, Internet-posted concepts into "authentic" merchandise.

Over the past few weeks, I've been inundated with emails from readers convinced that one of these aforementioned outfits has leaked the Winnipeg Jets or 2012 Winter Classic jerseys. Time for me to step in.

The apparent Winnipeg Jets jersey "leak" that's been floating around the web is nothing more than a mutation of Columbus Blue Jackets jerseys.

Alleged Jets leak is nothing more than a recolored Blue Jackets jersey

It doesn't take a trained eye to see this is a Photoshop job, not an official photo that's been leaked. The collar on both jerseys is a dead ringer for the collar on the official Reebok photo of the Blue Jackets' home jersey. Almost everything below the collar is taken directly from the official photo of Columbus' third jersey. Only the stripes and colors have been altered. 

If you're still not seeing it, study some of the details. Look at the creases and the way the sleeves hang. There's no question it's a direct copy. Even the stripes along the waist line up perfectly with the Jackets jersey. And to make all of this moot, True North chairman Mark Chipman has already said these are not the jerseys. He didn't say "no comment," he said this isn't the design. Take that for what it's worth.

Having made my point, I should also say that I haven't seen the design of the official Jets' uniforms, so I can't say with any certainty that they won't look anything like this. They might, though I highly doubt it. (I also doubted the logo leak an hour before I was proven wrong so there's that.)

The alleged 2012 Winter Classic jersey "leaks" bouncing around are based off of a concept posted on Icethetics in June.

Phony Winter Classic 2012 jerseys based on concept art

As you can plainly see, these jerseys were born out of a concept created by DC Visual Arts, which I posted on the blog in June. Not only have they ripped off the jersey designs — which, let's be honest, are not all that original in the first place, but rather based on historical sweaters — but they've even used the guy's Winter Classic logo.

Quakers-based Flyers concepts have been all over the place as have white Rangers jerseys with the logo instead of the wordmark on the front. You can see lots on the Icethetics Concepts page alone. Look, if it comes down to someone just wanting a physical representation of their own design, there are legitimate ways to go about it. But let's call this what it is. These boneheads are saying they're "authentic" just to make a buck. It's embarrassing.

As with the Jets, I'm not saying these designs could not possibly be similar to the 2012 Winter Classic jerseys, but simple fact is, the event hasn't officially been announced yet. We know from the schedule that the Flyers will host the Rangers in the elements on the afternoon of Jan. 2, but who knows whether they'll even have new retro jerseys. In fact, both teams are already wearing throwbacks on a regular basis.

My goal here isn't to be a downer. I'm just trying to help you separate what's real from what's not. You don't have to buy it, but I have offered evidence. And just understand that if/when any NHL uniform design does leak, it certainly won't be coming from an illegitimate Chinese company that makes lousy knock-offs.

Some final thoughts: If you're the sort of person who's eager to hand his money over to an illegal business for a fake NHL jersey, then you lose the right to complain when your team has a shitty season or the owner does anything you don't like — be it snubbing a high-value player or not fixing up a run-down arena. It just makes you a hypocrite. Buy officially licensed merchandise and support your team. That's my bit.