When Hockey Sweaters Go Green

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It's a time for green beer and greener hockey jerseys. Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! The only way I can think to celebrate here on Icethetics is by sharing the many green warm-up jerseys being worn around the NHL this weekend. Enjoy!

First up — alphabetically — are the Boston Bruins. On Saturday night, ahead of their game against the Capitals, the Bs skated out for warm-ups sporting a color far from their existing palette.

Photos from Boston Bruins via social media

The team shared a number of photos of these green jerseys online today. A shot of the uniforms hanging in the locker room showed up on Instagram along with another of Shawn Thornton on ice. Then on Twitter, they shared a shot of Dougie Hamilton inspecting his own green threads.

Photos from Boston Bruins official website

UPDATE (3/17): Following last night's game, the Bs added a handful of action shots on their website.

The Columbus Blue Jackets couldn't keep their Irish-themed jerseys off of social media. The team suited up in green ahead of their scoreless affair with the Coyotes on Saturday.

Photos by Alison Pegg via Twitter

Team publicist Alison Pegg was perhaps the most prolific sharer of photos, including these shots of the sweaters from the locker room and auction table. She even offered up a moving picture through Vine. Of course green was not absent from the official Twitter account of the Blue Jackets.

And Icethetics reader Dan Caron even shared some of his own photos with us on Twitter. Needless to say, Columbus' St. Patrick's Day jersey was well-covered on social media.

The Dallas Stars were entertaining as ever with their St. Patty's jerseys on Saturday night. No surnames needed. Just add some Ireland-inspired nicknames to the backs of these bad boys.

Photos from Dallas Stars via Facebook

The Stars posted a picture of every player's jersey on their Facebook page. I pulled a couple of my personal favorites to post above — "McJagger" for Jaromir Jagr and "O'Romeo" for Aaron Rome. They're up for auction starting today if you find yourself in need of one.

The Edmonton Oilers are hosting the Predators tonight and may be among those teams donning green duds during warm-ups this weekend. On Instagram, the club posted a shot of a St. Patrick's Day prize pack which includes a green Oilers practice jersey. They also shared pictures of more St. Patty's-themed team merchandise on Twitter.

Conspicuous on this St. Patrick's Day was the noticeable absence of a recent tradition of the New Jersey Devils. Since 2010, the Devils have sported a throwback jersey which featured their original colors — red and green — every year for a home game on or near St. Patrick's Day. But not this year. And they were home hosting the Canadiens last night and everything. Would've been a perfect game for it.

Beating everyone to the St. Patrick's Day punch were the New York Islanders, who celebrated in green last weekend, when they hosted the Capitals on March 9.

Photo from New York Islanders official website

The Isles posted another great photo on their Facebook page after the game last night.

Photo from New York Islanders via Facebook

The jerseys were auctioned online leading up the big game.

Photo from Ottawa Senators via Instagram

UPDATE (3/17): The Ottawa Senators also joined the St. Patty's Day celebrations with the above photo posted on Instagram this morning. I presume they'll be wearing them during warm-ups today prior to their game later against the Jets.

Photos from Ottawa Senators official website

The Sens posted a couple of photos of the players skating in green on their website.

Later today, the Pittsburgh Penguins will host the Bruins. But before they do, the players will skate a little while wearing the green practice jerseys seen below.

Photos from Pittsburgh Penguins

According to the team: "The unique warm-up jerseys feature a green skating Penguin crest with Celtic lettering and numbering — and shamrocks on each shoulder." They will be put up for online auction beginning Friday.

Photos from Pittsburgh Penguins official website

UPDATE (3/17): This morning, the Penguins shared some more shots of the green on Instagram. There's one in the locker room and another of Craig Adams on the ice. Later, they posted a few more in the game's photo gallery.

UPDATE (3/17): The San Jose Sharks have been celebrating the Irish all week. The Sharks Foundation has been coordinating auctions of these green jerseys on March 9 and 14.

Photos from San Jose Sharks via Twitter and Facebook

Just today, the team tweeted a shot of the players wearing green at a recent morning skate. They've been a bit more prolific on Facebook with close-ups of the backs of these special sweaters, showing Patrick Marleau as well as Douglas Murray and others. (Thanks to @puckguy14 for the help!)

The Tampa Bay Lightning also joined the ranks of St. Patrick's Day teams on Saturday night by warming up in green before taking on the Hurricanes. The team did share some photos with us as well.

The Bolts posted some close-up photos on Instagram and a shot of the full locker room decked out in green gear on Twitter. There are several photos of players wearing the sweaters on the team's website.

Photos from Tampa Bay Lightning official website

Thanks to everyone who pitched in with links on Twitter yesterday! Let me know if you've spotted any teams I've missed and I'll be sure to add them. I'm also working on a separate post to highlight St. Patrick's Day jerseys around the minor leagues.

UPDATE (3/17): Also joining the St. Patty's Day fray were the Washington Capitals, who hit the ice in green tonight prior to defeating the Buffalo Sabres in the nation's capital.

Photos from Washington Capitals

Earlier tonight, the team tweeted a shot of a couple of jerseys hanging up in the locker room. Later, all of the green sweaters were on display at the arena so they could be auctioned off. And for more photos, check out the game's photo gallery.

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!