Photos by Severin Samulski via Fort Nucks

How long have we been waiting for this?!

The Vancouver Canucks revealed some great news today. As part of their season-long tribute to the 100th anniversary of pro hockey on the west coast, the Canucks have unveiled a Vancouver Millionaires jersey — modeled above by Ryan Kesler.

So when will this jersey see game action? That's not entirely clear, but I'll get to that in a minute. First, the reason this unveiling came today is that the Canucks will wear their third jersey tonight — a third jersey that will feature a special Millionaires patch on the front.

Here are some details from the press release:

The Vancouver Canucks are proud to announce they will celebrate 100 years of hockey on the West Coast by wearing the Vancouver Millionaires “V” patch on their sweaters for select home games in the 2013 season beginning tonight versus the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Vancouver Millionaires were the first professional hockey team on the West Coast, playing in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association from 1912 through 1922. The Millionaires won the Stanley Cup in 1915 against the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey Association, which later became the NHL. The Millionaires played at the 10,500 seat Denman Arena built by Frank and Lester Patrick at the corner of Georgia and Denman and were the first Canadian team to play hockey on artificial ice.

The Canucks will wear the “V” on the front right chest of their sweaters in honour of Vancouver’s original hockey heroes such as Fred “Cyclone” Taylor, who was a member of the Stanley Cup winning Vancouver Millionaires squad.

To my knowledge, the Canucks have not yet released their third jersey schedule.

Now back to that Millionaires jersey at the top of the post. A line in that press release may indicate that the Canucks are planning to wear it in a game next month.

Check back often for more exciting Millionaires news as the Canucks continue to honour Vancouver’s hockey roots, particularly in-game March 16th as the Canucks host the Detroit Red Wings.

There's no reason Reebok would produce this jersey if there was no intention to wear it in a game. Looks like we may get it sooner rather than later. Mark your calendars for Sat., March 16. That could be one nice looking hockey game if true!