Were the infamous Blues '96 thirds ever made

[_RH_]

After seeing the "Wildwing" third at a local minor hockey league game (first time I'd seen one in person) my friend and I got to wondering about some other rare ones. Here's an interesting article about the Kings' 96 thirds (Burger King -esque):

http://www.theroyalhalf.com/2010-articles/march/a-whopper-of-a-jersey.html

But I'm curious if the Blues proposed jerseys were ever made and sold to the public. Has anyone ever seen one? Better yet, does someone here own one?

[hockey week]

allegedly, one is framed in the Blues main office. Other than that, I don't think any others exist. Unlike the Stars gold alternate and the Nordiques husky head jerseys, I've never seen one in a collection or for sale.

[Lights Out]

The prevailing story about those, IIRC, is that the Blues thirds were made and ready to wear, but then the coach refused to let his team wear them on the night they were supposed to debut, and they've been locked up in mothballs ever since.

Then again, I'm no hockey fan, so don't take my word for it.

[Gothamite]

The prevailing story about those, IIRC, is that the Blues thirds were made and ready to wear, but then the coach refused to let his team wear them on the night they were supposed to debut, and they've been locked up in mothballs ever since.

Then again, I'm no hockey fan, so don't take my word for it.

I doubt it - one would have turned up somewhere on the collectors' market if they'd actully been produced.

[Waleslax]

Those Nordiques jerseys were never actually made either. The ones you see on eBay are ones made recently by some dude to sell. Kind of crappy quality too.

[IceCap]

Those Nordiques jerseys were never actually made either. The ones you see on eBay are ones made recently by some dude to sell. Kind of crappy quality too.

I seem to remember two Nords players modelling the new look though (Forsberg and Sakic if I remember correctly).

[Gothamite]

Sure, there were prototypes. But I don't think it ever went beyond that stage for either the Blues or Nordiques.

[imawalkingcorpse]

I owned a sporting apparel store in 1996 here in Kansas City and I remember the rep for CCM talking about a St. Louis Blues 3rd jersey. I never saw a picture but ordered 2 for my store. They were canceled before I got them.

[RedRenesis]

The prevailing story about those, IIRC, is that the Blues thirds were made and ready to wear, but then the coach refused to let his team wear them on the night they were supposed to debut, and they've been locked up in mothballs ever since.

Then again, I'm no hockey fan, so don't take my word for it.

I doubt it - one would have turned up somewhere on the collectors' market if they'd actully been produced.

I think Lights Out is pretty close on this, my understanding was that the coach (Mike Kennan) at the time, refused to let the team be seen wearing them and they got scrapped.

[SenatorJake]

The story I've always heard is that Mike Keenan literally refused to allow his team to take to the ice in those things. Essentially, my understanding of this story has always been that the Blues were supposed to wear the jerseys that night but Keenan, upon seeing these monstrosities, told his team to wear their regular jerseys instead. He subsequently banned them cause he's Mike Keenan and he's just crazy like that. If the team was ready to wear them that night, that would obviously mean that some were made for the equipment manager, at some point, in a very limited quantity.

I don't know if you guys think that maybe Mike Keenan saw some sketches for the third jersey and was able to put an end to the madness before any of these jerseys were made, but as a longtime hockey fan, I highly doubt that. You don't call "Iron" Mike Keenan over to your office so you can show him sketches of a jersey, it's just not done. I'm sure Mike Keenan never even thought twice about the jerseys until he was confronted with what may very well be the most confusing NHL jersey ever to be designed. Seriously, those jerseys look like .

[AlaskaAJ]

I heard it's framed in the office to remind the Blues staff never to make a jersey that bad again...

[Morgan33]

The story I've always heard is that Mike Keenan literally refused to allow his team to take to the ice in those things. Essentially, my understanding of this story has always been that the Blues were supposed to wear the jerseys that night but Keenan, upon seeing these monstrosities, told his team to wear their regular jerseys instead. He subsequently banned them cause he's Mike Keenan and he's just crazy like that. If the team was ready to wear them that night, that would obviously mean that some were made for the equipment manager, at some point, in a very limited quantity.

I don't know if you guys think that maybe Mike Keenan saw some sketches for the third jersey and was able to put an end to the madness before any of these jerseys were made, but as a longtime hockey fan, I highly doubt that. You don't call "Iron" Mike Keenan over to your office so you can show him sketches of a jersey, it's just not done. I'm sure Mike Keenan never even thought twice about the jerseys until he was confronted with what may very well be the most confusing NHL jersey ever to be designed. Seriously, those jerseys look like .

As terrible as those jerseys are I can't help but wish they had been worn. People complain about jerseys like the Mighty Ducks Wildwing or the Kings Burger King but these hideous designs make discussing uniforms so much more interesting. Not to mention collecting them. Had they been worn I doubt they would have lasted any longer than one season and would be quite the collectors item.

[Frylock]

Not to go too far off-topic, but I recall seeing an image of the jersey on nhluniforms.com, but I don't seem to be able to find it anymore since the redesign. Andrew? Anybody?

[poser]

[Quillz]

Had these actually been worn, do you think the reception would have been worse than the "Gorton's Fishermen" look that the Islanders had for that one season?

[Morgan33]

Had these actually been worn, do you think the reception would have been worse than the "Gorton's Fishermen" look that the Islanders had for that one season?

No because the reasons for the backlash against the Fisherman were more to do with the History of the team than the jerseys themselves. When you win Four Stanley Cups in a row in a certain jersey, people are going to react negatively if you change it. It wouldn't matter if they were the best looking jerseys in league history, it simply wouldn't fly. The Blues on the other hand don't have that kind of history so the reaction to adding an alternate wouldn't be so severe regardless of how hideous it is. Personally I think the Fishstick jerseys are really sharp and original. Had they used one of them as an alternate and kept their dynsaty look intact, I doubt fans would have reacted so negatively.

[IceCap]

The fisherman look could have looked nice if they used a more traditional sweater design. The logo change, on top of the stupid wave striping that forced the team to go with that wavy number font was all just to much.

[charger77]

I assume a few may have been made for public sale. The reason I am guessing this is because Dallas was supposed to have a gold alt jersey that never saw the ice. However some were sold at the Stars' rink and one pops up on ebay every once in a while.

[IceCap]

I assume a few may have been made for public sale. The reason I am guessing this is because Dallas was supposed to have a gold alt jersey that never saw the ice. However some were sold at the Stars' rink and one pops up on ebay every once in a while.

I remember seeing one in a hockey equipment store just outside Guelph years and years ago.

[_RH_]

Of course I've heard the story about Keenan saying no to them the day of the game, but I don't believe it. If they were really planning on wearing them that night they would have had plenty in the arena ready to sell.