NHL reveals 2016 Winter Classic logos

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The 2016 NHL Winter Classic now officially has its logos! The unveiling of the new marks took place at the site of the New Year's Day game, Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. — home of the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.

The first team to host the Winter Classic twice, the Boston Bruins will face off against the Montreal Canadiens this time in an epic match-up between two great long-time rivals.

If you'd like to know more about what inspired the design, Fanbrandz is once again responsible for some brilliant NHL event branding. The story is up on their website. (Stay tuned — I hear they've also created the 2016 Stadium Series logos... coming soon!)

In addition to the logos that will represent the big event, we got our first look at the logos that will represent the teams. Ssadly though, the sweaters were not on hand at Wednesday's press event.

That said, the logos do hint at what era of jerseys we should expect to see on Jan. 1. It seems the NHL will resurrect looks not seen on the ice in more than 90 years — way back to 1924 or 1925.

Here's a look at the team logos released today.

The Bruins' color palette includes black, gold, and brown. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for a primarily brown jersey for this game. At their last Winter Classic appearance in 2010, the Bruins wore a yellow jersey with brown trim.

A couple of alternate logos were also part of the package released today, including a variation of the primary with the primitive bear silhouette and retro style spoked "B." It would surprise me at all to see that "B" as a felt-embroidered shoulder patch on the new sweater.

For Montreal we get an even more primitive "CH" in and handful of color variations. The Canadiens have hardly changed their jerseys in their 98 years in the NHL — apart from minor tweaks and refinements here and there. But I'd put my money on more of a retro-inspired sweater than a true throwback replica — just for the sake of being different.

But that's just a hunch. We'll have to wait and see what these teams have come up with.

For now, I'll leave you with a look at the progression of Winter Classic logos since the event began in 2008. You can leave me with your comments below.