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CANUCKS HOCKEY BLOG

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Sweater Launch

After months of speculation, the Canucks will finally unveil their new jersey at 12:30 PM today. If you can take an extra long lunch break, you can go to GM Place and witness it live (and partake in some free hot dogs); if not, the event will be streamed live on canucks.com and Global TV.

Will it be this jersey? Or this one?

Especially considering that this new look is only supposed to be a modification of the current jersey, it's funny how much talk it has generated over the summer. I was working at GM Place when they switched from the skate logo to the current Orca one. I even volunteered, along with other Canuckleheads, to stand on the Dunsmuir viaduct wearing the new jersey and waving the new logo to folks driving to work. To be quite honest, I don't remember there being as much hype over the logo switch back then.

Today's sweater launch - as the Canucks have dubbed it - is an event on its own. I mentioned GM Place will be open to fans to witness it live. Well, about 8,500 fans are expected to fill out the lower bowl.

Barring unforseen work things, I'll be one of the 8,500. I'm planning on meeting up with Dave and Rebecca, and hopefully, we can do a quick podcast episode afterwards - I'll post more when I get home tonight.

[update: 08/29/2007, 9:07 PM]


Reaction among the blogosphere on the new Canucks jersey has been quite lukewarm. Listening to TEAM 1040 this afternoon, reaction among Canucks fans has been the same.

My reaction? Well, this is something I've said in the past but I do like the simplicity of it. I'm a big fan of the vintage colors and I don't have the same animosity towards the Orca logo as some fans. Save for going back to the vintage stick and rink jersey, this look is probably the next best thing.

One thing I noticed at today's unveiling was how much the jersey - and especially the colors - stood out and popped out on the white ice. They really do look sharp. And if they can win the Stanley Cup wearing them, they'll look that much better.

(Note: I took some pictures from our seats but they turned out like crap. Good thing Rebecca's pictures turned out. Also, thanks to a reader, Leanne, who took the picture posted above from the club section and sent it in.)


[update: 08/29/2007, 10:09 PM]

More reaction on the new jersey:

[update: 08/29/2007, 10:20 PM]

I met with Dave, Rebecca, and another Vancouver blogger, John Biehler, and we recorded our quick thoughts on the new jersey. Click here for episode 39 of The Crazy Canucks.


[update: 08/30/2007, 6:36 AM]

Even more reaction on the new jersey:

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Comments/Questions: Feel free to post in the comments section or email me at gocanucksgo10 (at) hotmail (dot) com.

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posted by J.J. Guerrero, 6:35 AM

6 Comments:

At August 29, 2007 1:11 PM, Blogger d-lee said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At August 29, 2007 1:14 PM, Blogger d-lee said...

I gotta say that I don't like the way they spelled out VANCOUVER over the orca. The color change isn't so bad, but I really think it was a mistake to add the city name to the sweater.

That's just my $0.02US, and I'm just a stupid Hurricanes fan anyway, but I'm a closet Nucks fan, so I had my eye on this.

 
At August 29, 2007 5:23 PM, Blogger Loxy said...

So what city do the Canucks hail from?

Unnecessary.

 
At August 29, 2007 10:37 PM, Blogger J.J. Guerrero said...

David - When I first saw the Fin's Friend leak, I thought the same. The more I looked at it though, the more I warmed up to the idea.

And after seeing the new jersey on the ice, the more I liked it. It's a nice, simple look, and the colors and the wordmark gives it a bit of a retro feel.

Admittedly, I was hoping the dark home jersey would at least have "Canucks" on it instead of "Vancouver" but whatever.

Let me know how they look on Carolina's ice this season. ;)

Loxy - I'm positive the wordmark is not intended for Canucks fans. Zimmerman has been quite vocal about branding the team and building the market. This is one way of doing it.

Sure, we know the Canucks are from Vancouver, yada, yada... But as a business, he wants to make sure that, Canucks fans or not, hockey fans or not, to identify the logo with the team and the city.

 
At August 30, 2007 8:44 PM, Blogger Sean Zandberg said...

Mixed feelings about it. It may just grow on me yet. Almost too simple though. And I don't quite think the Vancouver on the logo was necessary either. Of course, it will look good on the captain raising the Cup at the end of the year!! haha

 
At September 01, 2007 1:24 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm most pissed off that they messed with the Stick in the Rink logo, that logo was perfect. I think the new whale C actually looks worse than the old one, especially after seeing the colour co-ordinated fake before which was a far better design.

I think a lot of people were hoping for the stick in the rink to make a comeback, and maybe the new whale logo will be so unpopular in a year or two that will be the next move, to keep the current jersey but with the stick in rink logo on it.

Personally the rest of the jersey I am pretty happy about, the "Vancouver" actually looks pretty good imo and the colour scheme is sweet.

 

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