One Logo Says It All
September 30,
2009 | Kevin
Zdancewicz
Lost every year amidst the fanfare of the
first month of
football season (which is always a welcome and exciting time, no doubt)
is the
opening faceoff of the NHL. That’s right, hockey starts tomorrow night
and as
part of my seemingly one-man crusade to make sure you know about it,
this
week’s feature jersey comes from the ice north of the border, as far
away from
Virginia as NHL hockey can be found: Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada (a 1-day-and-20-hour
trip by car - trust me, I actually mapped it out). Writing about
uniforms can
be a love-hate endeavor: most of the jerseys I talk about here are
either
really good or really bad in my opinion. Since I am trying to promote
hockey,
we’ll keep it positive by featuring a jersey (here’s a full view) that I really like for a number of
reasons.
Here’s the back story: the
“stick-in-rink” jersey had been
worn on occasion in the mid-2000’s and became the team’s alternate for
2006-07
as a throwback to Vancouver’s look for
most of the 1970’s. It took a season off when the NHL switched to a
new,
league-wide jersey template and then was introduced as the third jersey
in
2008. The logo was updated on the current incarnation,
making the “C”
border a little bit clearer and tilting the stick, I assume to give it
a more “modern”
feel. What the “stick-in-rink” mark lacks in apparent connection to the
team name
or city, it more than makes up with in unique charm and a simplicity
that
immediately makes you think of hockey.
The only gripe I have is that I think the
Canucks should
have used the rink logo with white since, you know, hockey ice is
white. The
home sweaters from the ‘70’s featured the blue rink logo to set it
apart from
the white jersey backdrop and similarly a white rink logo was used to
contrast
with the colored road jerseys. An updated logo with a white rink would
have helped
break up all the blue in the third uniform set and make for a more
realistic
representation as the current logo could more accurately be described
as “stick-in-lake.”
The 2006-07 throwback featured the original white rink logo and it looked great.
While the “stick-in-rink” logo dominates the
conversation
about the Canucks alternate look, there is a lot more to like. The
color scheme
is very underrated and underutilized in the black-dominated world of
professional sports – though the home and third jerseys are arguably a
bit heavy on the blue. The Johnny Canuck logo works perfectly as a shoulder
patch and
makes up for any team identity repping
the stick-in-rink logo neglects. The alternates (as well as the home and road jerseys) also keep a nice element
in
the
hemline stripes that many teams did away with when the NHL switched to
a
league-wide jersey template. An alternate jersey should be just that,
an
alternative to the usual uniform set. The Canucks third uniform
provides a nice
change of pace, while also paying tribute to the history of the
franchise. Now
let’s get it out on the ice!
Photo Courtesy of Waiting For Stanley
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