Minor leagues teem with milestone marks
/The ECHL turns 30, the Hershey Bears hit 80 and the Utica Comets are... well, 5. Cute. See all the new logos here.
Read MoreThe ECHL turns 30, the Hershey Bears hit 80 and the Utica Comets are... well, 5. Cute. See all the new logos here.
Read MorePhotos by Kyle Mace from Sweetest Hockey on Earth
Photo by Kyle Mace from Sweetest Hockey on Earth
Photo by Kyle Mace from Sweetest Hockey on Earth
Photo by Kyle Mace from Sweetest Hockey on Earth
Here in Seattle, today was all about a certain football game. It was impossible not to notice. By the way, congrats to the Seahawks on their domination!
Apart from being Super Bowl Sunday, a look at the calendar reminds us that today was also Groundhog Day. Punxsutawney Phil says more winter remains, and the Hershey Bears celebrated their fellow Pennsylvanian with specialty jerseys.
I recommend checking out Sweetest Hockey on Earth for more great photos from Kyle Mace. The Bears beat the Norfolk Admirals 3-1 wearing these jerseys, which Mace said were designed by the team's trainer, Dan Stuck.
The design is rather cartoony, but it's cute if you take the time to appreciate it. On the front, Phil sees his shadow, predicting an extended winter. On the back, he doesn't, so spring comes early.
That was this weekend. Last weekend also brought a special set of uniforms for the Bears.
Groundhog Day Jerseys this Sunday! Will be available for auction on http://t.co/RFeR1Qqe89 #AHL #HBH pic.twitter.com/4JaPVfe3Nn
— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) January 30, 2014
Photo from Hershey Bears via Facebook (JustSports Photography)
Photo from Hershey Bears via Facebook (JustSports Photography)
Photo from Hershey Bears via Facebook (JustSports Photography)
Photo from Hershey Bears via Facebook (JustSports Photography)
Photo from Hershey Bears (JustSports Photography)
Last Sunday, Jan. 26, the Bears wore their third set of specialty uniforms for the 2013-14 season — this time to celebrate the upcoming Olympics in Sochi.
This design, as you can see, was considerably less flamboyant than what we saw this weekend. In fact, I'd almost call it a bit boring in comparison.
The jersey features sweeping gradients and stripes comprised of symbols representing the various events of the Olympic Winter Games. But at least it has that classic chocolate hue.
For additional photos, hop over to the Bears' Facebook page.
Two more specialty jersey nights remain for the Bears this season. On Feb. 23, they'll represent their NHL affiliate with Washington Capitals sweaters.
Next month, on March 16, the Bears will go green for St. Patrick's Day — a yearly tradition. Check back here for updates on both.
Bears to wear Olympic themed jerseys this Sunday that will be auctioned off following the game. #AHL #HBH pic.twitter.com/46YFPYhq5k
— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) January 22, 2014
This is a big weekend for specialty jerseys around the minor leagues. Let's start in the AHL!
How can we not start here? The Rockford IceHogs donned these numbers for Los IceHogs Dos this weekend. If you missed "Uno," check out this post from last year. They are really something.
I talked with IceHogs' communications director Mike Peck who said the team partnered with the Latino Leadership Coalition in Rockford for the event. In fact, they inspired the jersey design.
"They really wanted to highlight the strong musical aspect of the Hispanic/Latino culture," said Peck.
The IceHogs wore this uniform on Friday night and auctioned them off afterward with "proceeds being donated to La Voz Latina, an organization dedicated to serving the Rockford region’s Hispanic community through education, workshops and youth programming," according to the press release.
The great thing about these specialty jersey nights around the minors is that these teams are always raising money for charity. So no matter how silly the team may look on the ice, at least it's for a good cause.
The Worcester Sharks wore these jerseys on Friday and Saturday to benefit The Autism Resource Center of Central Massachusetts. The puzzle piece pattern is the standard symbol of autism awareness.
This Veterans Day weekend was marked by a number of patriotic or military-themed jerseys. The Texas Stars called it Stars & Stripes Military Appreciation Weekend and wore these jerseys on Friday and Saturday. The subsequent jersey auction is benefiting the Texas Stars Foundation.
The cool part of this uniform is who designed it. Remember Taylor Vause? He played for the Swift Current Broncos a couple seasons and ago and was responsible for designing some fo the team's specialty jerseys. He's continued that hobby since graduating to the pros.
Vause spent most of last season with the Stars but is currently with the club's ECHL affiliate, the Idaho Steelheads. So unfortunately, while he designed this jersey, he didn't get to wear it this weekend.
The Springfield Falcons and Hershey Bears honored military veterans in different ways this weekend. The Falcons wore the Hometown Heroes Night jerseys above while being shut out 3-0 on Friday. (This is the only photo I've been able to find of the jersey so far.)
The Bears, on the other hand, are going the camouflage route with tonight's set. I have yet to see any photos of the actual jersey, but the rendering above was posted to their Facebook page on Thursday.
And finally, we wrap up in the ECHL where this is happening tonight.
Had to make it huge so you could truly appreciate it. The Bakersfield Condors are always trying to go outside by the box with specialty jerseys. And I really don't know what to say about this one. Perhaps I could address the irony of the sponsor being Dignity Health. Because that's just what the players won't have after they wear these for three hours.
If you can't get enough, the Condors have a photo gallery on Pinterest.
I know there are some I've missed so I'll have a follow-up to this post likely later this evening. In the meantime, what do you think of these? Any favorites in the bunch?
As promised, I wanted to follow up with a few more recent minor league event jerseys.
Last weekend, the ECHL's Toledo Walleye and Michigan K-Wings coordinated a one-of-a-kind Star Wars Night. This is a schtick that's been done many times before. In fact, just the week before, the Orlando Solar Bears hosted one of their own!
What made this one interesting was how both teams came together for this event in Toledo, Ohio. I have to be honest. I've never been a Star Wars fan, so I don't really understand all these teams doing this or even the references involved. But I can understand it's a big part of popular culture and many fans get a good kick out of it.
I read that the Walleye are dressed as X-Wing pilots (in orange) while the K-Wings are dressed up a Darth Vader. Of course as names go, wouldn't it be more appropriate to have the K-Wings dress up as X-Wing pilots? But then the game was in Toledo, so the Walleye can't be the baddies.
Anyway, it was visually a rather interesting game. No denying that.
If you're a team trying to raise money for charity, the best you can probably do is cancer research. The Providence Bruins and Portland Pirates recently held their Pink in the Rink Nights — an event that a vast number of hockey teams have started to latch onto in recent years.
But taking the crown this weekend were the San Antonio Rampage who focused on cancer affecting children. Because there's no bigger bummer on which to end a blog post. But you know what, when the jerseys are sold, it's money those researchers wouldn't have otherwise had. So good on these teams for their efforts!
This past weekend was chock full of green jerseys all across the hockey universe. Yesterday, you got a comprehensive look at the various NHL tributes to St. Patrick's Day. Now it's time for a trip to the minors. Here are the AHL teams that went green this weekend.
Let's begin with the Binghamton Senators, who gave their alternate logo a bit of a recoloring for the occasion. The big difference between how the NHL and AHL celebrate the day o' green — apart from the variety of designs you'll see here — is the fact that in the AHL, they're not just warm-up jerseys. They're full on game sweaters.
That, of course, means plenty of pictures. So head over to the B-Sens' Facebook page and get a good look at this unique uniform design. There's a huge photo album for your enjoyment.
Next up, the Chicago Wolves were in on the St. Patrick's Day fun as usual.
Once again Facebook is the medium for a boat load of game photos. This is one of my personal favorites from the weekend. Definitely a more classic look and feel.
The Hershey Bears opted for green plaid on this day of St. Patrick. And I'm not sure they were better off for it. If the Wolves' jersey was toward the top of my list, this one was toward the bottom.
The plaid aside, it's just a very dark and busy jersey. I'm not saying it's badly designed, but I wouldn't want one. It's a little bit much.
So far, the only game photo I've seen comes by way of Anthony S. Fiore Jr. who posted this to the Bears' Facebook page on Sunday night.
The Lake Erie Monsters marked St. Patty's Day with a black sweater and a recolored crest. Somehow the green lake makes the monster look a bit scarier.
The Monsters posted another photo on Facebook Sunday night which gives us a better glimpse at the shoulder patch and the name and numbers on the back. It's really a nice-looking sweater!
Not ones to miss out on any specialty jersey fun, the Peoria Rivermen sported green on Sunday. At first glance, the crest looks unchanged. But on closer inspection, the eagle-eyed will note the the "O" in Peoria has a four-leaf clover forming its center.
Green is good and this is a brilliant example of that. And looking at this jersey, it occurs to me that this is a color scheme we rarely see in hockey. Green, blue and gold makes for a really sharp look. On Facebook, the Rivermen posted a photo collage that shows the finer details of this sweater.
They also shared this shot of a green jersey autographed by the team. And this report wouldn't be complete without a look at the sweater in action during Sunday's game against the Griffins.
Thanks to our good friend and designer Aaron Masik, the San Antonio Rampage looked pretty sharp in their green threads over the weekend.
The Rampage tweeted a look at the jersey design on Saturday and prior to the game, Masik shared the above photo of the sweater itself by way of Twitter. Unfortunately, there isn't much to see in terms of action photos. At the time of this writing, I've found one shot on the team's Facebook page and it's not that great.
And lastly, there's the St. John's IceCaps, both wearing green and being green by recycling last season's green St. Patrick's Day jerseys.
The IceCaps were kind enough to share a few photos from this Saturday's game both on Flickr and with a full game gallery on Facebook. Once again, they looked good in green.
I tried to catch everybody, but if there are any teams I've missed, let me know and I'll add them.
Icethetics reader Tony commented on this post to let us know that the Springfield Falcons celebrated their Irish Night back on March 1. Even better, the Falcons posted a bunch of photos from their green game on Facebook.
They look pretty decent apart from all the various shades of green. Again, feel free to drop me a line if there are any teams whose St. Patrick's Day celebrations I've overlooked.
Late January was a busy time for some "classic" American Hockey League uniforms. We'll start with the 2013 AHL Outdoor Classic which took place on Sun., Jan. 20 at HersheyPark in Hershey, Penn. between the Hershey Bears and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. (Does anyone else have a sudden urge for chocolate?)
By the way, it turns out that jersey the Pens photographed for Instagram last October was the one they'd be wearing to the big outdoor game a few months later. Now we know. It's surprisingly lackluster for the Penguins, but it works for an outdoor hockey game, which sort of demands that old-timey look and feel.
The Penguins ended up winning the game in an OT thriller on a goal from Paul Thompson.
By the way, for more fantastic photos of the Bears' uniforms from the game, head on over to Sweetest Hockey on Earth. Lots of great shots by Kyle Mace. I particularly like the felt appliqué crests on these. Adds even more to the throwback feel of an event like this. Penn Live has more game photos.
Speaking of throwbacks, before the Outdoor Classic, a bunch of alumni from the Bears and Penguins got together for a game of their own — wearing, of course, sweaters of olde.
JustSports Photography has posted shots from the game on their Facebook page. (Note there were three separate links there as they posted their many photos in three separate albums.)
That wasn't the only classic AHL game in the month of January.
Just over a week later, on Mon., Jan. 28, the best players still left in the AHL (after the NHL nabbed a bunch of them) descended on Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, R.I. for the 2013 AHL All-Star Classic. After 15 years of pitting an all-Canadian AHL team against players born in other parts of the world, the league switched up their All-Star format in 2010 — to east versus west.
Since it's not obvious from the sweaters, I'll tell you that the team wearing blue was the Western Conference All-Stars. The Eastern Conference wore white. And both teams feel like a bizarre mix between the old Montreal Canadiens' and Washington Capitals' uniforms for some reason.
For those of you that can't get enough of these "fauxback" jerseys, the AHL is the league to watch right now. And if you want one of your very own, they're up for auction on ebay.
The West ended up winning the game 7-6. (Maybe because East players started shooting on their own goalie?) But what's interesting about the teams' jerseys is that they were worn during warms-up prior to last year's All-Star Classic. Why is that interesting? Check out this year's warm-up jerseys.
I'm not saying they AHL All-Stars will wear black and gold in 2014, but these are unique. I doubt the league would stray from their red, white and blue. I'm also not sure I like how the Boston Bruins' primary and secondary logos have been redesigned for the purpose of this event. Seems like they could've been a little more original.
In case you're interested, the Journal Star reported last month that the AHL is considering Peoria to host the 2014 All-Star Classic. (Concept logos, anyone?)
And finally, this...
On first glance, from above, it looks like this could be the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators — or the Boston Bruins in their 2009 Winter Classic threads. But no, it's Providence and Worcester both wearing colored sweaters! Proof that you don't need a white jersey to have a hockey game.
Get with it, NHL. If they can do it, certainly you can too.