New Blues jerseys leak on Twitter before unveiling

/

As I write this blog entry, the St. Louis Blues are minutes from the Ice Breaker event where they will officially unveil their new home and road uniforms. But just hours ago, photos of the new threads showed up on Twitter.

Photos via Twitter

These photos were were later removed from Twitter, but I grabbed copies.

This confirms the design details I first shared back in July.  In addition, the photos gave us our first look at the white road jersey and confirmation that the number and letter styles will remain the same — as seen on the home sweater.

Check back to Icethetics tonight for full coverage of today's big unveiling!

See the new chrome NHL All-Star crest on a jersey

/

Today we get a sneak peek at what's coming to the 2015 NHL All-Star Game. Specifically that flashy chrome crest.

A source wishing to remain anonymous provided Icethetics this photo (right) showing a Reebok practice jersey emblazoned with the new logo we first saw last month in a Reebok catalog. The design was included on a handful of All-Star Game related products.

Perhaps this is the practice jersey the players will wear prior to the game being held in Columbus this January.

The one thing that stands out to me from the photo is that the crest appears to be unusually large. It could be the angle, but it still looks big.

What do you think?

Possible 2015 NHL All-Star practice jersey?

Islanders offer peek at commemorative Coliseum logo

/

An NHL team has now taken the distasteful step of sharing unique content on the silly platform that is Snapchat. I'm disappointed.

This morning, the New York Islanders offered followers a sneak peek at the logo that will be used to commemorate their upcoming final season at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

New York Islanders via Snapchat

From what we can see, the mark bears the Isles' primary logo, the years 1972 and (presumably) 2015, and the four Stanley Cups won during this time.

Beginning in the 2015-16 season, the Islanders will move to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

By the way, I really hope this Snapchat thing doesn't catch on around the NHL. For one thing, the audience is too young to care about a logo commemorating an old building. Then again, if they're just looking to expand their social media presence, I guess it worked on us.

UPDATE · Aug 20 · And there's another one. The Islanders went to Snapchat again to share a second teaser image of the logo today. Not sure this hype is going to pay off in any way.

New York Islanders via Snapchat

No, I am sure. It won't.

UPDATE · Aug 21 · Well, it's over now. The Isles took to Snapchat one last time this morning to reveal the full logo — perhaps realizing that to drag it out any longer would be the very definition of pointless.

New York Islanders via Snapchat

From a design standpoint, good grief. So much text. So many wrong colors — Islander blue is not that bright and I count about six different shades of grey. So many different heights for all the Cups.

But I'll stop. It is what it is. And now it's out there.

UPDATE · Aug 23 · One last update to this post with a look at the logo in the wild. Looks better in patch and puck form than it did on Snapchat.

Lightning leak 2014-15 third jersey schedule

/

The Tampa Bay Lightning have yet to schedule the unveiling of their new third jersey, but it seems they've already scheduled when it will be worn during the upcoming 2014-15 season.

The downloadable schedule on the team's official website is nothing more than a JPEG image, but clearly denotes blue and black color-coded home games.

There are 12 games noted in black. Since I know the jersey will be black and that's a common number of games for a third jersey in the NHL — I can only take this to mean these are the third jersey dates.

According to the schedule, the sweater will debut on a Thursday (Nov. 13) but after that will be used on Saturdays only.

  • Thurs., Nov. 13 · vs Sharks
  • Sat., Nov. 15 · vs Islanders
  • Sat., Nov. 22 · vs Wild
  • Sat., Nov. 29 · vs Senators
  • Sat., Dec. 6 · vs Blue Jackets
  • Sat., Dec. 27 · vs Hurricanes
  • Sat., Jan. 17 · vs Avalanche
  • Sat., Jan. 31 · vs Blue Jackets
  • Sat., Feb. 7 · vs Kings
  • Sat., March 7 · vs Stars
  • Sat., March 14 · vs Jets
  • Sat., April 11 · vs Bruins

By the way, I'm holding off on adding these dates to the Icethetics Calendar until 1) we know for sure and 2) the jersey itself has been unveiled.

Click to enlarge.

Hurricanes release 2014-15 third jersey schedule

/

On Thursday, the Carolina Hurricanes announced their alternate uniform schedule for the new season.

The club announced 14 special jersey dates. The black thirds will be used 12 times at home from November to March. And for two games, the team will wear their white sweaters at home.

Here's a look at the full schedule:

You'll be able to find these and other dates for special jersey nights on our new Calendar feature — found in the nav bar at the top of the page.

By the way, if you're interested, the Hurricanes have actually addressed how the alternate jersey scheduling process works. Near the end of last season, a Tweetmail article by Michael Smith published to the team's website broke it down.

Could you explain the rules around wearing the alternate jerseys and also the away jerseys at home? – Jamie K. (@jbk_ltd)
Sure!
NHL teams are permitted to wear their alternate uniforms 12 to 15 times a season. The Canes wore their black thirds 12 times in 2013-14, including once on the road in Florida. In this case, the team had to receive permission from the Panthers to do so.
Similarly, the Canes had to receive permission from Tampa Bay and Columbus to wear their new white sweaters at home.
When planning out and submitting the alternate schedule to the league, a few caveats are considered. The Canes prefer to wear their black third uniform set against opponents who do not wear black pants. Looking at current uniform combinations, that eliminates Anaheim, Boston, Calgary, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Jose. Out of 12 third jersey dates this season, 11 were against non-black teams; the Canes wore their thirds versus New Jersey on Nov. 29 – also Black Friday.
As far as wearing black on the road, as the team did on March 27 in Florida, a one-off trip is ideal since wearing both white and black on a multi-game trip would require lugging two sets of equipment.
For the same reason, wearing white at home is ideal against a team who is on a one-off trip, like Columbus was on March 29 in Raleigh.

Interesting tidbit on the team preferring not to wear the black jersey against teams that wear black pants. Sometimes there are details you just never think about.