Photo from Calgary Flames

Calgary's alternate sweater officially launches

On Sunday afternoon, the Calgary Flames officially unveiled their new red third jersey to fans at Flames Fest. There weren't many surprises since the sweater was mistakenly leaked a few weeks ago by EA's NHL 14 video game. But notice I didn't say "no surprises."

Take a good look at the shoulder yoke. It's difficult to tell in some of these photos, but that's not a straight line that runs from the collar to the shoulder. It dips down forming a sort of triangle. The photo below gives us a slightly better look at what I mean.

Photo from Calgary Flames

The first thing that comes to mind is the old Colorado Avalanche jerseys mean to resemble mountain peaks. And to think Reebok said it couldn't be done with the Edge style. Perhaps this means the Avs can soon be fixed? But this post is about the Flames. So let's continue.

One feature that caught my eye was the new number style. Definitely unique in the NHL.

Photo from Calgary Flames

For one thing, the 5 looks like an upside down 2. It's not, but it looks that way on first glance. That might take fans a little getting used to. But I'll get more into those details in my full review this week. I just wanted to take this time to get some photos up and point out a couple of interesting items.

Speaking of interesting, the Flames also released a video that talked about the development of the jersey and some of what was considered during the design process. Included in the video is a shot of an idea board that shows a lot of unused concepts. I know we love seeing that sort of thing.

Video still from Calgary Flames

You can see some alternate versions of the shoulder patch — which make it more clear the yellow patches were meant to symbolize Alberta's wheat fields, apparently. I had been wondering about that. There were also a lot of cowboy-themed logos under consideration at some point. The bladed boot stuck out to me as a very retro style logo. Any of them pop out to you guys?

While you consider that, I'll leave you with a photo from today's event that features just about every sweater from Calgary Flames history.

Photo from Calgary Flames

Extra points if you can name what's missing — without going to NHLUniforms.com! Again, I plan to post my full review of Calgary's new third jersey this week. Meantime, share your reaction!