At last! Third jersey news is upon us! The final two from this year's class of third jerseys will be unveiled before the end of the month — the official word from both the Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers. 

The Avs' unveiling is happening fast — on Thursday actually. According to new information posted on their web site today, Milan Hejduk and Paul Stastny will be on hand to model the new alternate sweaters at a press conference.

Then on Saturday the jerseys will make their on-ice debut when the Avalanche host the Canucks. Here's the excerpt from the site regarding the big event.

Third Jersey Update

With the help of assistant captains Milan Hejduk and Paul Stastny, the Colorado Avalanche will officially unveil the team’s new third jersey on Thursday, Nov. 12. The Avs will then wear the third sweater for the first time on Saturday, Nov. 14 against the Vancouver Canucks.

Check back to ColoradoAvalanche.com on Thursday afternoon for more information, including photos from the unveiling.

For sure I'll be watching that game thanks to my new NHL GameCenter account. Seriously guys, I've never wasted so much time as I have since I started having every NHL game readily available to me.

If you want a sneak peek before Thursday, Icethetics has posted a few leaked images. If you want to be surprised, don't click that link.

Thanks to Dayle and Devin for forwarding along some of the details on the Avs' third.

If you're a Florida Panthers fan, you'll have to wait a little bit longer. Yours is the only team that hasn't endured a real leak of some kind. But the wait will be over come Monday, November 23.

That night the Cats will take to the ice against the Pittsburgh Penguins in their brand new alternate uniforms. Or so says their official web site at least, where they're offering fans a chance to pre-order the new jersey now.

However, they've also dropped a little teaser on that page.

That logo in the background seems to be yet another new Panthers mark for the 2009-10 season.

Some other observations: For one thing, it seems like a safe bet the new third will be blue — sad since the home jersey is already blue. It's been rumored the Cats will go with a template similar to the Wild's red home jersey and from this image, it appears they're joining the Predators in launching a simplified version of their primary logo. (It's missing its whiskers too!)

The release doesn't go so far as to say whether there will be an unveiling of any kind — or if the unveiling will just be the guys skating out onto the ice in the new threads. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks to Ben and Darren for sending along the Panthers' info.

Within the next two weeks, all will be revealed. Just wanted to keep you guys up to date with where we stand.

And of course, count on Icethetics for photos of the Avs jersey on Thursday.