AHL/ECHL/Minor/Junior League Hockey Changes

[Discrim]

Ooh, a Blades tribute, cool.  

[colinturner95]

 

 

 

Idaho Steelheads quietly added new uniforms this season. Old uniforms below for comparison. 

 

 

Not sure the new uniforms are that much better than what they replaced. the lack of any blue is puzzling. 

 

[DTConcepts]

 

Oof. These are bad, even by one-off standards.

[nash61]

13 hours ago, colinturner95 said:

 

 Not sure the new uniforms are that much better than what they replaced. the lack of any blue is puzzling. 

 

Wait, that's not navy blue?

[colinturner95]

20 hours ago, nash61 said:

Wait, that's not navy blue?

that was a bad image to use

 

 

It is black. 

[tBBP]

15 hours ago, colinturner95 said:

that was a bad image to use

 

 

It is black. 

 

Are they affiliates of the Winnipeg Jets? I see lots of similarities in sweater design there.

 

Funny enough, I remember back when the Idaho Steelheads were still a new team. That was back when the ECHL (at that time still "officially" the East Coast Hockey League) began expanding/adding teams all the way out west and even then younger me was like, "how is that "east coast"? Then they added the Bakersfield Condors, Alaska Aces and other teams and I think right around then "ECHL" became just a name to go by akin to B1G (because we all know B1G has long had more than ten teams).

 

Side note: I kinda miss the heyday of the ECHL. Exposed a whole lot of us down-south Gulf Coast folk to a game we'd only seen in two Disney movies beforehand, then we got a team dropped right in front of us and led to us breaking table and chair legs off, finding a nerf ball and two trash cans, making jerseys out of t-shirts and drawn-on permanent marker, and playing rollerblade hockey in the same streets we played football in. Fun times.

[GriffinM6]

Went to the Atlanta Gladiators game on Friday, and something really annoys me with their white look. The sleeve stripes have no navy on them, while the socks stripes do. I think it looks way better on the socks because the light blue, yellow, and white don't have enough contrast. Not sure why they don't change this. 

 

[officeglenn]

The Pensacola Ice Flyers of the SPHL will wear special jerseys for Blue Angels Night and Military Appreciation Night this Saturday. The jerseys are based on the Blue Angels' flight suits:

 

[Elmos World 17]

On 11/8/2023 at 7:40 AM, GriffinM6 said:

Went to the Atlanta Gladiators game on Friday, and something really annoys me with their white look. The sleeve stripes have no navy on them, while the socks stripes do. I think it looks way better on the socks because the light blue, yellow, and white don't have enough contrast. Not sure why they don't change this. 

 

A lot of AHL/ECHL teams just use their parent clubs pants and helmets. Lazy if you ask me.

[M4One]

19 hours ago, Elmos World 17 said:

A lot of AHL/ECHL teams just use their parent clubs pants and helmets. Lazy if you ask me.

 

I would say it's less lazy and more practical for the gloves/helmets/pants to be the same.  A player gets called up or sent down, they bring their equipment with them and all the team needs to provide is the jersey and socks.  Also, we all know how players can be particular with their equipment.  It's lazy, but standard practice, for the AHL team to use the same template with the parent club.  Even if the jersey design was different, it still would make sense for the helmet/pants/gloves to be the same.

[Geoff]

On 11/10/2023 at 3:50 PM, officeglenn said:

The Pensacola Ice Flyers of the SPHL will wear special jerseys for Blue Angels Night and Military Appreciation Night this Saturday. The jerseys are based on the Blue Angels' flight suits:

 

Flight suits and the planes, The number font on the bank is the same as the number on the tails of the planes.

 

 

They look so good and all my friends I talked to that were there say they looked so much better in person.

[monkeypower]

16 hours ago, M4One said:

I would say it's less lazy and more practical for the gloves/helmets/pants to be the same.  A player gets called up or sent down, they bring their equipment with them and all the team needs to provide is the jersey and socks.  Also, we all know how players can be particular with their equipment.  It's lazy, but standard practice, for the AHL team to use the same template with the parent club.  Even if the jersey design was different, it still would make sense for the helmet/pants/gloves to be the same.

 

There was part of an article during either this most recent baseball season or the one previous talking with Angels minor league/tweener players where some were commenting on how it was a bit of a hassle to have two sets of cleats/batting gloves/accessories when moving between the black and yellow Salt Lake Bees and the red Angels.

 

I would agree with you mostly but the one question I have is, is it simply practicality or is it the NHL team wanting their AHL team to look similar and the practicality is a result? Because all AHL equipment is CCM, so it's not like an AHL team has to source different equipment brands and a player could conceivably want to wear a different brand in the NHL when they have the choice.

 

Also, the majority of AHL teams don't use the same jerseys as their NHL counterparts.

[Stroboy]

On 10/31/2023 at 7:43 PM, JohnnyCowboy5 said:

New 3rd coming

Looks like The Wranglers are teasing it now with a date of November 25th vs Abbotsford

[ruttep]

(Posted this a few days ago in the NHL thread but it makes more sense to post here) I went to see the San Diego Gulls tonight and I was shocked how much I liked the look of what is essentially a recolored Reebok Flames jersey

 

 

Idk the light blue just popped. I guess my point here is that an ugly modern uniform template can really be improved by vibrant color scheme, but using the darker, muted colors of the 2000s made those Reebok designs flop.

[M4One]

16 hours ago, monkeypower said:

I would agree with you mostly but the one question I have is, is it simply practicality or is it the NHL team wanting their AHL team to look similar and the practicality is a result? Because all AHL equipment is CCM, so it's not like an AHL team has to source different equipment brands and a player could conceivably want to wear a different brand in the NHL when they have the choice.

 

Also, the majority of AHL teams don't use the same jerseys as their NHL counterparts.

 

The Syracuse Crunch and San Jose Barracudas share the same colour scheme as their parent clubs, but have very different jerseys.  The Grand Rapid Griffins also have a different template than Detroit.  Yet, all three teams use the same pants/helmets/gloves as their parent teams even though they don't really go along with the jerseys, especially the Crunch.  Those three teams could all go with plain pants, but don't.  So, I would actually say the practicality part is just as important as looking similar to the NHL team.    The NHL logo is even on the back of the pants for all AHL teams and any team logos.

 

A player might switch brands, but if they were to get called up to the NHL during the middle of the season, they might not have the helmet/gloves they want in stock, especially on the road.  Not to mention they would also want to break in anything new before actually using them in a game.  So, having the same gear would mean that wouldn't be an issue.  

 

 

[officeglenn]

The ECHL's Savannah Ghost Pirates are becoming the Savannah Golden Ghosts for one night only to honor their NHL affiliate, the Vegas Golden Knights, and their recent Stanley Cup championship. The black jerseys will be worn in warmups while the gold jersey will be worn in-game. Both are based on the Ghost Pirates' usual jerseys, with gold swapping for their usual neon green.

 

 

[BeerGuyJordan]

3 hours ago, officeglenn said:

The ECHL's Savannah Ghost Pirates are becoming the Savannah Golden Ghosts for one night only to honor their NHL affiliate, the Vegas Golden Knights, and their recent Stanley Cup championship. The black jerseys will be worn in warmups while the gold jersey will be worn in-game. Both are based on the Ghost Pirates' usual jerseys, with gold swapping for their usual neon green.

 

 

They've announced they're expanding it to all three games this weekend.

 

As grateful as I am for even having hockey in Tucson, I am so disappointed with the Roadrunners lack of fun specialty jerseys, especially when I see the Firebirds killing it.

[CaliforniaGlowin]

I am still dying for the Firebirds to drop a true mid-century modern style jersey. They are the only team that can pull it off.

[Ridleylash]

The Calgary Wranglers have unveiled their third jersey, and it's exactly what we all expected it to be and as beautiful as hoped;

Crazy how it's so much better-looking than the NHL team's third just by actually filling in the cuffs and hem.

[monkeypower]

Yes!