Last Hurrah for the Royal Purple

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The Los Angeles Kings announced early this morning that purple is being officially removed from their color palette next week after one last hurrah for the third jersey. See this tweet:

For my part, this is a disappointing development. With purple, the Kings always had a color scheme that was one of a kind.. In black, silver and white, technically they still do, but now it's just boring. Purple is associated with royalty and being named the Kings, this team was in a unique position to claim a color no other club could. Now they're retiring it?

So I'm not a fan of this change, obviously. I think it's a big downgrade. But that's enough editorializing for now. Let's get to the details of this retirement of purple.

Yesterday, Icethetics reader "Tyfighter77" shared a list of third jersey dates he attributes to "Kings TV analyst Jim Fox during Tuesday's game." This is regarding the black and purple sweater.

  • Sat., March 16 — vs. San Jose Sharks
  • Mon., March 18 — vs. Phoenix Coyotes
  • Tues., March 19 — vs. Phoenix Coyotes

The Kings also wore black and purple on Tuesday night in Phoenix.

The real question is, of course, whether the Kings plan to continue sporting the retro "forum blue and gold" uniforms they've used occasionally over the past three seasons. This year, they've seen action on February 23 and March 9. The latter was the final Legends Night of the season and I remember reading somewhere that this would be the last time we'll see those throwback threads for a while (possibly years, but probably not for good).

My thanks to Aaron P., Steve M. and "Tyfighter77" for keeping me in the loop about this Kings news. You can attribute the lack of blog updates to the fact that I'm moving in two weeks and have been spending more time packing boxes than doing any research for the site. Thanks for understanding.

NHL Logos Get Minimalist Treatment

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This is simply too cool not to share.

Segments Design

Icethetics reader James T. pointed me the way of this unique piece of artwork by Segments Design. It was posted on the company's Facebook page last Friday. It's what the designer calls a "minimalist redesign" of all 30 NHL team logos. And it's pretty darn cool.

And if you really like it, you can even purchase a print.

Leafs Prepare Early for Centennial

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Photo by Alan Hudes | Logo from Canadian Intellectual Property Office

First, apologies for the lack of blog updates recently. It's not that there's been nothing worth reporting. Just having difficulty finding the time these days. But I wanted to get this on the record.

Toronto already promoting 100th anniversary season

The Toronto Maple Leafs are wasting no time getting prepared for their upcoming 100th anniversary season — which is, you know, still four years away in 2017. Never too soon, right?

Icethetics reader Alan Hudes wrote in a couple weeks ago with the above photo of a trailer. Specifically, it's the Leafs Nation Mobile Fan Zone. Inside, it contains a replica of the team's dressing room which isn't weird or anything. But that's not important.

What we're interested in is its new look — which prominently features artwork related to that centennial I mentioned before. (The one that's still 52 months away. That's 52 months, not 52 weeks.) The "MFZ" — their acronym, not mine — currently features the previous Leafs logos, including those from before they adopted the Maple Leaf moniker, the Arenas and St. Pats. And there's also a rather boring 100th anniversary logo to top it all off.

Knowing the "creative" for that event is already underway, one might consider a quick trip to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office to turn up another centennial logo. And it's hardly an improvement over the trailer. That's what you see next to the photo. The trademark was filed last March — a year ago today, in fact.

Only 16 years between 75th and 100th anniversary logos

The funny part is that you may recall Toronto celebrating its 75th anniversary back in 2001. Quick math shows 2017 minus 2001 does not equal 25. So what's going on? Well apart from the obvious marketing ploy, the team was only counting its years as the "Maple Leafs" — which started only in 1927.

In 2017, the club will be marking the founding of the franchise in 1917 as the Toronto Arenas with the formation of the National Hockey League. (Next, I want to see the NHL's 100th anniversary logo. Think they'll make all the teams wear shoulder patches like they did with their 75th in 1992?)

I've spent far too long writing about this topic at this point. It could be the late hour or it could be me just trying to make up for my recent silence. If you guys have anything to add, feel free.

Sweaters Worth a Million Bucks

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On Friday, it became official. After leaking out little teasers here and there, the Vancouver Canucks "officially" unveiled their spectacular Vancouver Millionaires jerseys as part of their celebration of A Century of Hockey in Vancouver. Check out David Booth in the locker room surrounded by maroon.

Photo from Vancouver Canucks (via Facebook)

Along with the unveiling, the Canucks announced — as we suspected — that the special uniforms will be worn Sat., March 16 when the Detroit Red Wings pay a visit to Vancouver. If you need a reminder why the Wings are the perfect team to wear this jersey against, check out the previous blog post.

Image from Vancouver Canucks (via YouTube)

The Canucks also rolled out a new video that skims the surface of Vancouver's hockey history just enough for the average fan to understand why the team will be wearing such unusual looking jerseys.

Photos from Vancouver Canucks (via Instagram)

If you're eager to see more photos of the new sweater, be sure to check out the Canucks' Instagram account. There's also a neat gallery of behind-the-scenes stills from the team photo shoot on The Province's website.

Now mark your calendars for March 16. It'll be quite a sight!

Second Chance at Lagers Jersey!

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Lagers jersey on sale again until March 17

If you were one of the people who saw these pictures back in January and thought, "man, I wish I could've bought one of those Lagers jerseys," then your wish has come true!

For a limited time, from now until March 17, the IceHL's Milwaukee Lagers jersey will again be available to buy from the great people at RinkGear — through their Geeky Jerseys store. And just as before, it can be yours, fully embroidered and personally customized for just $95.

If you miss your chance to grab this Lagers jersey now, you'll have only yourself to blame.

The photos in this blog post are great, but I've posted dozens more high-resolution photos that really show off the quality of the jersey on the Icethetics Facebook page. Go check them out. And if there's something else you want to see, let me know and I'll break out my camera again.

For those unfamiliar with the Milwaukee Lagers or Icethetics' fantasy hockey league, the IceHL, check out the free IceHL 2012 Yearbook. It's a quick download and contains everything you could possibly want to know — and then some.

By the way, following this second window for the Lagers jersey, the Hartford Mariners jersey will be up for sale next. It won the last round of voting. So soon enough, you can have not one, but TWO IceHL jerseys in your collection!