Panthers, Ducks Plan Throwbacks

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They're not even of legal drinking age and they're already getting nostalgic. Two teams will commemorate their 20th NHL seasons this fall. Let's talk about how.

When the NHL schedule was announced this past week, the Florida Panthers used the opportunity to announce their plans for the year as they mark their 20th anniversary. The Cats open their season on the road, but when they return home on Oct. 11, they'll have what they're calling a "Throwback Night" — though it's not entirely clear what that means.

Instantly, jersey geeks like us have been conditioned to immediately assume we're getting a throwback jersey. I could see that. Those triangular shoulder yokes don't get used anymore in the Age of Reebok, and that's sad. But the Panthers haven't said anything about a special jersey.

In fact, they haven't really said anything yet. From the press release:

The Cats took on the Penguins in their first regular season game in South Florida on Oct. 12, 1993, nearly 20-years to the date. The night will be a “throwback” night with details on all of the Opening Night festivities to be announced in the coming weeks.

So we'll keep an eye on things over the coming weeks.

Then there's the Anaheim Ducks. They also used the the schedule release to talk about their 20th anniversary plans. And it sounds like the old Disney Duck could be making an appearance. 

Icethetics reader and Ducks season ticket holder Andrew Heidecker emailed me excitedly last week to share some details.

I am a season ticket holder for the Anaheim Ducks. During their select-a-seat promotion, they had all the high-ups of the Ducks organization there. I spoke with one of them and he informed me that the Ducks will become Mighty once more during a game in October.

They will revive the 1993 [inaugural] jersey (he was not sure if it would be eggplant or white since home was light colors back then) but he did say that it will be set to the new Reebok Edge jersey and will be available for sale all season long in the Ducks team store.

Currently, the jersey is set to be worn for only one game early in October, but that can be altered to more than one game. Not to sound antsy, but the way he said it, it sounded like there may be more than one "MIGHTY" jersey being produced for wear this season.

If I find anything else out, I'll let you know!

If true, that's exciting news for fans of the old Mighty Ducks brand. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

It's worth noting that the Ducks' own press release fits in line with this report. 

As part of the 20th anniversary celebrations, the 2013-14 regular season will include a number of special events at Honda Center. Planned occasions will include look backs at great moments in Ducks history and retro merchandise available for purchase.

In addition, the club will host a “Throwback Night” near the start of the 2013-14 regular season, paying homage to the inaugural 1993-94 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim season. The club will have further announcements surrounding the festivities at a later date.

That "further announcements at a later date" line again. Heard it before.

Anyway, it sounds promising. And for what it's worth, the Ducks could get double-use out of such a throwback jersey. Don't forget that they play the Kings outdoors on Jan. 25, 2014. That'll probably involve a throwback jersey of some kind just as every other outdoor NHL game has in the past six years.

So what do you guys think? Is 20 too soon for throwbacks? Or are you nostalgic enough to take a throwback in any form at any time? Hockey does love its traditions after all.

Sabres Sneak Another Glimpse

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Photo from Buffalo Sabres (via Facebook)Today was an odd sort of non-stop day for me. That's why I'm only now getting around to writing about a new third jersey photo the Buffalo Sabres shared 15 hours ago.

Incidentally, if any fans of The Postal Service are reading, you should know they put on a good live show. Though the music's the same as it was a decade ago.

But back to the point. The Sabres revealed another ambiguous look at their forthcoming new sweater on Thursday morning. It doesn't really show us anything we haven't seen before.

However, I have to follow-up on some tweets I wrote earlier today. In response to some saying parts of the jersey were clearly grey, I said I wasn't convinced.

Remember that busy day I've been having? I'd only seen this photo on my tiny smartphone screen. But when I got home tonight and got a better look on a proper computer screen, Idecided to change my tune.

I'm joining the group that says the bottom half of the sleeves are grey. The stripe down the arm, however, I'm less sure of. Still could be white. The lighting in this photo does seem a bit odd.

Feel free to chime in with your thoughts on what we've seen so far. For more, take a look at my review of the sneak peek video from last Friday.

Iowa's Wild New Logos

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Back in April, the Iowa Wild unveiled their new logo and home uniform. Since then, we've gotten a look at some other elements of the franchise's visual identity. For one thing, the graphic above shows how the logo is colored on a dark background. It's been seen on the backdrop at recent press conferences.

Previously, we'd only seen the green version used on white backgrounds, including the white jersey that was shown to us. (We still haven't seen a road or alternate jersey yet.) Here's a reminder of what the green version of the logo looks like.

But that's not all. A few weeks ago, the Wild tweeted this photo of new T-shirts fans can get their hands on. And it showed yet

Photo from Iowa Wild (via Twitter)

On the right you can see a modified version of the logo Minnesota uses on their home sweater. Does that mean Iowa could be taking a similar route? Might not be the worst thing if they did. I know it's easy to complain when a minor league team takes on the branding of its NHL affiliate, but sometimes it's cool to see the variations.

I believe that covers all of the Iowa Wild's logos for the 2013-14 season. But there is one more thing I wanted to mention. Obviously, this team has yet to take the ice, yet you can already find "photos" of the new uniforms in action — all thanks to Photoshop.

Images from Iowa Wild (via Instagram)

The image on the left was featured in an Instagram promotion and the one on the right was part of splash page graphic on the team's official website. (They have a different splash screen now but are still using a similarly Photoshopped player.)

It's basically just the old Houston Aeros alternate jersey with the new logo pasted on. Not a terribly complex solution, but at least fans get the feel of seeing the new Wild in action, right?

What do you think of teams Photoshopping new jerseys onto their players in the offseason? We've also seen it a lot with NHL teams given all the player movement since free agency began. Does it bug you? Could you care less?

Sabres Preview New Third Jersey

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Series of "glimpses" offered up by Buffalo today

We knew we were getting a little something out of the Buffalo Sabres today with regard to their new third jersey. But I'm not sure I expected as much as we got.

Sabres goalie Jhonas Enroth appeared to be the impetus for some of today's jersey action. Though I'm not sure if it was staged as a social media marketing effort or if Enroth was legitimately curious about the new uniform. I don't know anything about him and his Twitter presence.

It began this morning when Enroth tweeted, "when is the sneak peek for the new 3rd jerseys?" To which the Sabres' official Twitter account replied, "our jersey teaser video will be played in the arena during the scrimmage today."

Then in a follow-up tweet, he tried to cajole a picture out of the team. And would you believe it, he got one! That's why I wondered if it was staged.

So that was it. At 11:49 AM PT, we got our first official "sneak glimpse" of the Sabres' new gold third jersey. And there was much more to come, of course. But first, there was some debate on Twitter as to what part of the jersey this is.

Photo from Buffalo Sabres (via Twitter)

Is it the bottom of the jersey? Sure looks like it could be. But if we flip the photo around, now it looks like it could be a shoulder with a yoke design inspired by an old Boston Bruins sweater. Very clever, Sabres marketing people. Very clever.

So really all the photo tells us is that the jersey is mostly gold with some navy and white in there. Standard Sabres colors. Good to know. (At least it's not black, right?)

Photo by Eric Schmitz (@3rdManIn via Twitter)

Fans tweet gold t-shirts with new wordmark

The other thing we got today was our first look at the Sabres' new wordmark. (They've been using the Slug-era mark for the past few years despite not using the Slug anymore.) Eric Schmitz tweeted the photo above. Garret Wolowski was actually the first person I saw to tweet a picture of this shirt but Eric's shot had better lighting. (Sorry, Garret.)

This is a solid, modern logo — something Buffalo hasn't faired to well with over the years. It's striking in its simplicity. Basic letter shapes that form sharp, blade-like serifs. And even the sword from the crest has been incorporated, though straightened out to fit with the style.

So where else might we see this new logo? Glad you asked. As promised, the Sabres posted that teaser video on their website this afternoon and it gave us a few more insights into the new look.

Frame-by-frame: The Sabres' teaser video

First, a lot of tweeters bemoaned the lack of anything of substance in the video. But of course they're missing the point. This "I want it now" culture of ours is sad. Whatever happened to building anticipation? Plus, it'll give us more to talk about here on Icethetics for several more weeks.

That said, I'm afraid I won't be satisfied to just give you the video link and be on my way. Yeah, I'm going to have to break it all down frame for frame. I can't help myself. I write an entire blog about hockey uniforms. You understand.

All video stills from Buffalo Sabres

We begin on a tight shot of blue jersey material as the stitching animates on. This is odd because everything prior to this has indicated the jersey will be gold. But this is a big swatch of blue. Of course we can see a sliver of gold and white at the top of the frame, but deciphering what part of the jersey this is exactly is near impossible.

For what it's worth, I am intrigued by the white stitching on the blue areas of this jersey. That will make for an interesting look. On most jerseys, isn't the stitching the same color as the fabric itself?

Next we cut to what appears to be the right sleeve. But even as I say that I'm unsure. This patchwork mess doesn't really resemble any Reebok Edge material I'm familiar with. And it looks like the top half of the sleeve is colored and the bottom half is white, giving it that T-shirt effect the Predators used to have.

Plus, it looks like the front of the sleeve is gold while the back is blue with a heavy white stripe running between them down the length fo the sleeve. Is that right? Or is this another part of the uniform altogether?

Hey, it's that new wordmark we saw earlier! And there's no question about what this is. We're looking at the pant shell, the right leg to be specific. Good a place as any for a wordmark. Better than the chest at least. And this is a great-looking logo. Modern and retro all at the same time.

Cut to what is clearly the collar. We've come to know that triangle very well thanks to our friends at Reebok. And look, a shoulder yoke that extends below the triangle. This is new. But this still frame doesn't tell the whole story. All throughout this video various elements have been animating on, just like the stitching at the beginning.

Here, the word BUFFALO animates on just below the collar. It's the same style of text as the wordmark. This is NFL territory, folks. But for better or worse, it seems the NHL is dipping a toe in. It could be kind of cool. Remember that the last Sabres third jersey also had the word BUFFALO plastered across the front. But this one seems to be more toned down. Of course we haven't seen the crest yet.

Now we're on the collar itself. First, it's dual-toned in a way we haven't seen before on an Edge jersey. It's white until just above the triangle where it abruptly goes blue. But more noticeable than that is Reebok's "hanger effect," which really doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

Inside the back of the collar is crammed a bunch of words: belief, commitment, character, discipline, trust and excellence. I'm assuming it's some sort of locker room mantra for the Sabres. Seems like a bit much for a jersey, but to each his own.

By the way, this shoulder yoke is starting to remind me of those hoodies sold in the NHL's online store. It looks huge and given what we saw in earlier frames of this video, it may extend down to the elbow.

At last, with the video winding down we get a look at the crest. Thank goodness! It's the classic Sabres primary logo from the home and road jerseys — albeit the one from 2008 with silver trim. But I'd rather that than another new logo from this organization. Normally I'm in favor of alternate crests on alternate jerseys, but every time the Sabres try something new, they manage to miss the mark. By a lot.

The video ends on a graphic reading, "coming this fall." It's not clear whether they're talking about the full reveal or the on-ice debut — which would have to wait for the fall since the season doesn't start until then.

After posting the video, the Sabres made it clear in a tweet that seeing the whole uniform is still far off at this point. They promised more photos "in the coming weeks." So we should keep an eye on their Twitter account for a while.

Another thing worth keeping in mind is that the Sabres typically hold off on jersey unveilings until training camp, when more eyes are on them. So the full reveal could be up to two months away in mid-September. But now is a perfectly good time to get some buzz started. It just better live up to the hype now.

All right, I'm done. Time to share your take on all this. Maybe you saw something the rest of us didn't. Maybe you're looking at these photos and video stills in a way others aren't. Comment away!

Prepare for a Gold Sabres Sweater

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Is Buffalo ready to emphasize a new color?

In yesterday's NHL JerseyWatch mini-update, I mentioned that a trustworthy source informed me the Buffalo Sabres may be launching a gold third jersey on Friday. This is a source that prefers to be kept anonymous. I know who it is, but it's not important that you do. This source has never led me astray. So either it'll be a first or the Sabres are about to go gold.

Either way, the new sweater should be revealed on Friday — or so said the daughter of the team's owner via the team's own Twitter account on Tuesday. But having had some time to think over her exact words and some other factors, I can't help but wonder about that a bit.

Let's set the stage. Tomorrow is the Sabres Summer Fan Fest. It's the final day of the Sabres' prospect development camp, which includes the annual Blue & Gold Scrimmage. The team is promoting the event heavily online. They're touting food, music, player autographs and even a fireworks display. If you live in or around Buffalo, they want you to go.

So if they're really going to unveil a new jersey, why not promote that too?

Sure, it would make for a nice surprise for the fans who do show up, but wouldn't you sell more tickets if you told everyone in advance? And isn't that really the point?

The anatomy of a tweet

Now I'm skeptical. So let's look back at exactly what Kelly Pegula said. When asked for details about the new third jersey, she tweeted, "if you're at development camp, you'll get a sneak glimpse on Friday."

First, she doesn't say the jersey will be unveiled in so many words. She says "a sneak glimpse," which itself is vague. Apart from actually being able to see the jersey, what other way is there to take that comment? How about this? It's a "Blue & Gold" scrimmage. One of the prospect teams will technically be wearing gold. (The Buffalo News has pictures if you want to see what that looked like last year.)

It may be a stretch, but "sneak glimpse" doesn't exactly scream official unveiling. (Also the fact that the team isn't promoting it.) So I'm wondering if that was just a sneaky thing to say. Or maybe I'm reading too much into a tweet. That's very possible too.

But let's say the unveiling is happening and the jersey is gold. What then?

Photos from Don Hasey

Fan created his own gold Sabres jersey in 2010

Here's a little something to get you into that gold jersey state of mind. In the spring of 2010, jersey geeks were abuzz about the uniform changes the Sabres were planning. Finally the slug was getting salted. The classic crest was coming back and — to mark 40 years in existence — the club was adding a new third jersey.

That's where Don Hasey of Charlottetown, P.E.I. enters the picture. He actually made the gold jersey pictured above. Here's why:

Some friends of mine in Buffalo suggested that gold for the new third jersey could look pretty awesome. Since I've been doing jersey customization and cresting for myself as well friends since I was a kid, I took it upon myself to put something together just to see what it would look like.

I purchased a [University of] Michigan jersey and added a bit of old and new elements to it — the B's with swords from the slug era on the shoulders, along with the traditional logo stitched onto some off-white backing just to give it a more retro feel.

I also used off-white with navy trim for all the letters and numbers and altered the neck to include the tie-up laces.

It received a lot of negative [feedback] but some gave it two thumbs up. Either way, it was only meant to be a concept for my own collection. I wonder if the sneak peak on Friday will be anything close to this. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Indeed we will. Is it possible Don is psychic and the Sabres will actually go gold more than three years after he predicted it? I can't wait to find out.

The funny thing is these photos actually turned up in my email shortly after Don posted them online. He didn't send them; another reader did. For a while I meant to include them in a concept post. It never happened but I'm glad to finally get them on the site — and at the perfect time.