S.F. Bulls Plan Sharks Homage

San Francisco Bulls to sport old San Jose sweaters

For all you lovers of the original Pacific Teal, the ECHL's San Francisco Bulls are about to make your weekend. The classic San Jose Sharks sweater returns to the Cow Palace ice after 20 years this Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. 

The Bulls, who are affiliated with the Sharks, will be wearing their parent club's very first teal jersey — only without the awesome shark on the front. In their press release, the Bulls point out that this will be their first time wearing something other than their orange and white jerseys.

If you can get over the ugly crest, the jerseys will be auctioned off during this weekend's games. The Bulls host the Bakersfield Condors for both games on Sat., Feb. 9 and Sun., Feb. 10. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for photos to share.

Jersey Brief: AHL Classic Edition

Late January was a busy time for some "classic" American Hockey League uniforms. We'll start with the 2013 AHL Outdoor Classic which took place on Sun., Jan. 20 at HersheyPark in Hershey, Penn. between the Hershey Bears and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. (Does anyone else have a sudden urge for chocolate?)

Photos by Matthew O'Haren / The Sentinel

By the way, it turns out that jersey the Pens photographed for Instagram last October was the one they'd be wearing to the big outdoor game a few months later. Now we know. It's surprisingly lackluster for the Penguins, but it works for an outdoor hockey game, which sort of demands that old-timey look and feel.

Photos by Kyle Mace / Sweetest Hockey on Earth

The Penguins ended up winning the game in an OT thriller on a goal from Paul Thompson.

By the way, for more fantastic photos of the Bears' uniforms from the game, head on over to Sweetest Hockey on Earth. Lots of great shots by Kyle Mace. I particularly like the felt appliqué crests on these. Adds even more to the throwback feel of an event like this. Penn Live has more game photos.

Speaking of throwbacks, before the Outdoor Classic, a bunch of alumni from the Bears and Penguins got together for a game of their own — wearing, of course, sweaters of olde.

Photos by JustSports Photography

JustSports Photography has posted shots from the game on their Facebook page. (Note there were three separate links there as they posted their many photos in three separate albums.)

That wasn't the only classic AHL game in the month of January.

Just over a week later, on Mon., Jan. 28, the best players still left in the AHL (after the NHL nabbed a bunch of them) descended on Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, R.I. for the 2013 AHL All-Star Classic. After 15 years of pitting an all-Canadian AHL team against players born in other parts of the world, the league switched up their All-Star format in 2010 — to east versus west.

Photos from AHL via Facebook

Since it's not obvious from the sweaters, I'll tell you that the team wearing blue was the Western Conference All-Stars. The Eastern Conference wore white. And both teams feel like a bizarre mix between the old Montreal Canadiens' and Washington Capitals' uniforms for some reason.

For those of you that can't get enough of these "fauxback" jerseys, the AHL is the league to watch right now. And if you want one of your very own, they're up for auction on ebay.

Photo from AHL via Facebook

The West ended up winning the game 7-6. (Maybe because East players started shooting on their own goalie?) But what's interesting about the teams' jerseys is that they were worn during warms-up prior to last year's All-Star Classic. Why is that interesting? Check out this year's warm-up jerseys.

Photos from AHL via Facebook

I'm not saying they AHL All-Stars will wear black and gold in 2014, but these are unique. I doubt the league would stray from their red, white and blue. I'm also not sure I like how the Boston Bruins' primary and secondary logos have been redesigned for the purpose of this event. Seems like they could've been a little more original.

In case you're interested, the Journal Star reported last month that the AHL is considering Peoria to host the 2014 All-Star Classic. (Concept logos, anyone?)

And finally, this...

On first glance, from above, it looks like this could be the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators — or the Boston Bruins in their 2009 Winter Classic threads. But no, it's Providence and Worcester both wearing colored sweaters! Proof that you don't need a white jersey to have a hockey game.

Get with it, NHL. If they can do it, certainly you can too.

More on the Millionaires Tribute

We received some surprising news last Friday when the Vancouver Canucks revealed how they'll be honoring the old Vancouver Millionaires on their uniforms this season. Since this is actual jersey news in a season where we weren't expecting any, you can bet this will be a frequent topic of discussion.

Vancouver Canucks official website

On Friday, the Canucks' alternate jersey made its season debut with a new addition — the blue Vancouver Millionaires patch on the chest. It only improves upon a jersey that's already outfitted with some pretty awesome logos. (That Johnny Canuck V mark needs to become the primary logo. What are they waiting for?)

By the way, I'm not ignoring that Hockey Talks logo. All seven Canadian teams will have a version that they'll wear as a helmet decal at various points during the month of February. I'll have a post on that later this week.

Vancouver Canucks via Twitter

But back to the Millionaires. If you're looking to deck yourself out in that classic logo, clearly gear is not in short supply. This photo was posted to the Canucks Team Store Twitter account on Friday. They're even selling the five-year-old third jersey with a new patch. Pardon the pun, but millionaires indeed.

Of course we can't leave out the new sweater that's at the center of all this exciting news. As modeled by Ryan Kesler in photos released by the team last week, this is the Vancouver Millionaires jersey the team will wear at least once during this shortened season. All indications point to March 16 when the Red Wings are in town.

Photos by Severin Samulski via Fort Nucks

Believe it or not, the Red Wings as an opponent for this game isn't as random as it seems. This requires a bit of a history lesson to understand why.

In 1912 came the formation of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA), of which the Millionaires were a founding member along with the New Westminster Royals and Victoria Senators. In 1913, Senators became the Victoria Aristocrats. (Honestly, after four lockouts in 20 years, can you imagine any NHL team today being named the Millionaires or Aristocrats and still having fans? Yeah, the naming thing gets worse...)

Before the 1916-17 season, the Aristocrats left Victoria for Spokane, Wash. where they were renamed the Canaries. (Told ya.) But no one in eastern Washington cared to attend games and the club folded before the season even ended.

Victoria, B.C. returned to the PCHA scene in 1918 with a brand new team — also called the Aristocrats. (Think Winnipeg Jets, except with fewer relocations.) In 1922, the club was renamed once again to the Victoria Cougars. That might actually be a name you recognize if you're at all familiar with Stanley Cup history. (Also, the Millionaires became the Maroons.)

Two years later in 1924, the Seattle Metropolitans folded, leaving just two teams in the PCHA. The Cougars and Maroons moved to the Western Canada Hockey League where the Cougars promptly won their first and only Stanley Cup championship against the Montreal Canadiens!

The Cougars played one more season in the newly renamed Western Hockey League where this time they lost the Stanley Cup Final. It also spelled the end of the team as the WHL was unable to compete financially with the NHL. The teams were disbanded and players' rights were sold to NHL clubs.

Guess who bought the rights to the Victoria Cougars in 1926. Yep, a group from Detroit, who named their new team the Detroit Cougars. The Cougars became the Falcons in 1930. And ultimately, in 1932, they became the Detroit Red Wings we know today.

So you see, the Canucks are really trying to stir up a century-old rivalry. Can't wait to see it. Now if only someone could convince them to wear their 2009 Winter Classic jerseys — which were in fact Cougars jerseys!

Then we'd have ourselves a hockey game.

Design Firm Reveals Stars Concepts

Torch Creative via dribbble

Torch Creative releases concept logos designed for Dallas

What will the Dallas Stars look like next fall? That's still a big question mark. However, the design firm that's worked closely with the team in recent years has designed and released a pair of logo concepts via social media this past week.

Torch Creative is responsible for the logos above. After tweeting them out on Wednesday morning, the company posted more images — including the Stars' 20th anniversary logo — to their dribbble account the following day. As a reminder, here's that anniversary mark.

It's not clear from their tweets if Dallas-based Torch is working on the Stars' forthcoming rebranding or if those logos were just for fun. Have to think they put together a proposal at least.

In any case, Torch called the above logo concepts "the favorites." They don't specify whether it's their own favorites or the Stars'. Though presumably, if they were the team's favorites, they would've used them and we wouldn't be seeing them like this.

Torch Creative has done a lot of design work for the NHL, including the 2008 Winter Classic, the 2009 and 2011 All-Star Games, the Stanley Cup Playoffs logos, and much more. I recommend a trip to Torch's website to peruse some of their past work. It's very impressive.

What do you think of these logos? Could you see the Stars going with something like that next fall?

Update on 2013-02-05 08:36 by Chris

Torch Creative via Twitter

After getting a lot of feedback on their concept logos for the Dallas Stars, Torch Creative made some revisions and and posted the updated graphics to Twitter on Monday afternoon.

Arena Logos: The Retirees

Last weekend, my posts on Arena Logos were an unexpected hit. Turns out, like me, a lot of you are fans of the esoteric. So I thought I'd revisit the subject by displaying some arena logos that are no longer in use. Check out the retirees.

From 2005 to 2009, the home of the Boston Bruins was known as TD Banknorth Garden. Four years ago, Banknorth was removed from the name and the arena is now known simply as TD Garden.

In 1999, the Buffalo Sabres' building was renamed HSBC Arena. That lasted for 12 years before they started calling it the First Niagara Center. But what the heck is going on with that logo? Might be the most abstract arena logo I've ever laid eyes on.

One of the more recent arena name changes saw Raleigh's RBC Center become PNC Arena last year. The Carolina Hurricanes call that building home.

Thanks to its unique roof design, the home of the Calgary Flames will always be called the Saddledome. But that doesn't mean sponsors won't try to stick their names in front of it. Before Scotiabank shelled out in 2010, Pengrowth Energy paid for 10 years worth of naming rights.

When United Airlines merged with Continental Airlines, a corporate rebranding led to a new logo for the United Center as well. This logo was used from the day the doors opened in 1994 until 2011. The Chicago Blackhawks have played there since 1995.

Not unlike the situation with United Airlines, when Pepsi rebranded itself, Denver's Pepsi Center also got a new logo. It was a really more of an update with some mountains added and the sponsor's logo revised. Still, what you see here is how the arena was branded when it started hosting Colorado Avalanche games in 1999. The new logo came about in 2009.

The home of the Florida Panthers has endured more than its share of names during its relatively short life so far. This was the third logo used since the arena opened in 1998. It was known as the BankAtlantic Center from 2005 until 2012, when it became the BB&T Center.

The New Jersey Devils got a shiny new home in the Prudential Center in 2007. But before that, they played out of the Continental Airlines Arena. That building actually became the Izod Center shortly after the Devils moved out.

The Nashville Predators played at Sommet Center from 2007 to 2010. There was a lot of drama with the company that paid for the name so the building actually went back to its original name, Nashville Arena, for a short time before Bridgestone stepped in. Speaking of which...

Eagle-eyed readers might take note that there have actually been two logos during the Bridgestone Arena era. This one above was the original. But it only lasted one season because of Bridgestone's corporate rebranding in 2011. To see the differences in the company's logos side-by-side, look here.

I'm not exactly sure when the change happened on Long Island, but this was the longtime logo of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum before the current logo came along. The new mark features the New York Islanders colors of orange and royal blue.

Now my favorite part! Between 2002 and 2012, the Tampa Bay Lightning played at the St. Pete Times Forum. The building's name changed when the newspaper's did just over a year ago. But the old logo was quite bold and quite boring. And that's not easy to achieve. But that might just be lingering distaste for the name change in the first place.

That's because when the arena opened in 1996, it was called the Ice Palace. Admit it, that's just a badass name for a hockey arena. Why did they ever change it? Everything comes down to money.

As a bonus, I stumbled across this mark in one of my old Lightning game programs. A couple readers mentioned they like seeing how arenas are represented graphically in logos. I think this is one of the coolest ever designed. But again, I'm not hiding my bias here. The ThunderDome also had a pretty great logo before it became Tropicana Field. I'm trying to track down a clean version to display here.

And finally, General Motors Place was home to the Vancouver Canucks until it was renamed Rogers Arena following the 2010 Winter Olympics. Its logo really has nothing to do with the buildling, sticking to natural elements of the Pacific Northwest — green mountains and, well, the sun is just wishful thinking.

That's all for now. One reader also suggested I tackle AHL arena logos at some point. Think I may prepare that post for next weekend if you guys are interested.