Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Pens To Debut 3rd Against Classic Foe

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the Pittsburgh Penguins will debut their new third jersey on Saturday, November 15. The date Icethetics has for the unveiling of this sweater is Thursday, November 6.

It's expected the Pens will go with a design similar to, if not the same as, what they wore at the Winter Classic against the Buffalo Sabres — their opponent for the November 15 game.

The article doesn't cite a source but does say the team is finalizing plans for some sort of unveiling event. You can read an excerpt below or click here to read the full text.

The Penguins will debut their alternate uniforms Nov. 15 at home against the Buffalo Sabres, the Tribune-Review has learned.

The uniforms will mirror the retro-themed ones worn against Buffalo at the New Year's Day NHL Winter Classic. The alternate design borrows from several early uniform incarnations and consists of a predominantly baby blue sweater and socks, with navy pants, gloves and helmet.

The Penguins had no comment Monday regarding the alternate uniforms debut date. However, they are finalizing plans for a formal re-introduction, which could include players modeling the alternate uniforms sometime prior to the Nov. 15 contest.

The alternate uniform is slated to be worn at select home games throughout the season.

By the way, the image associated with that article is the jersey from the Winter Classic — NOT the third jersey.

Thanks to Ken for the tip.

By the way, I mentioned a rumor the other day that has the Pens dropping the gold for the two-tone blue color scheme in two years when they move into their new arena.

It wouldn't surprise me considering those were their original colors when they joined the league more than 40 years ago and throwbacks seem to be all the rage. This new jersey may be a step in that direction. But don't shoot the messenger. We'll see what happens.

9 comments:

Kevin Y said...

When I was at the Kings/Sharks game at Staples Center on Sunday, I came across a woman who was wearing this jersey. I have to say that it looked absolutely remarkable, and cyan is a color that very closely resembles penguins and the frigid temperatures in which they live in, as well as blue being the color that represents "cold".

I think it would be very fitting that a hockey team named the "Penguins" go to a jersey with a color scheme like this. It looked nice in person; it stuck out, as no other team wears a shade of blue such as this. I don't know if they will, nor do I know if they should; Pittsburgh will always be a gold/black because they are mostly remembered by Mario Lemieux. It would be hard to imagine them wearing any other color scheme, but this is the only one I'd want to see.

Kevin Y said...

Additionally, I really hope this means the Sabres wear the same vintage white jersey they wore in the Winter Classic last season in this meeting, as well.

Daniel said...

If the new 3rd jersey "borrows from several early uniform incarnations", that would seem to imply that it's not the same jersey that they wore in the Winter Classic last year, since that was simply a re-release of their 1968-69 jersey (adapted to the RBK Edge cut, of course).

The Legend of Vincent Tremblay said...

Penguins changing back to two-tone blue full time? I doubt it. Too many of the city of Pittsburgh's symbols are black and gold. It's in our blood.

My guess would be the Penguins following the San Diego Chargers model. Maybe change the third jersey every five years or so, but always make it powder blue. (When the Chargers brought back the powder blues, they were throwbacks, but the new ones are based on the same template as their new navy blue uniforms.)

Hockey Week said...

"The alternate design borrows from several early uniform incarnations"

matches what was said from a much earlier article, from Pittsburgh Hockey.net

"The Penguins scrapped their plan to unveil a new third jersey in the 2003-04 season.

It would have been a virtual replica of the Columbia Blue jersey with the circular crest and tie-down collar the team wore, mostly in home games, from 1968-72.

The hemline would have had striping similar to the 1967 home jerseys."
http://www.pittsburghhockey.net/PensPages/PensJerseyHistory/PensERA/mystery.html

could this be the mystery 3rd jersey we never saw?


Legend, i sure hope you're right. the baby blue is awesome as a historical keepsake that keeps the pens slightly different, but the city unity of black and gold shouldn't be broken. the las vegas gold (now khaki with with non-metallic jersey panels) is blasphemous enough!

Damme said...

I hope it's going to be similar to the Winter Classics jersey.

RIP Alexei Cherepanov

Adam Sacco said...

pens will never give up the black and gold.
the city would be too upset.
they almost kicked the pirates out when they introduced a red jersey.
the city lives off the fact that its sports teams all share the same colors.
like i said before, if anything i feel the pens might go back to pittsburgh black and gold once the new arena opens rather than the vegas gold.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I love the Black and Gold, and I really want to see another slight update to the skating penguin, and a return to the yellow-gold, it would look awesome with a tweek, adding more than the yellow triangle to incorporate it. Again, if they ever go back to the blue on a full basis, it will be a sad day for hockey.

RP said...

Enough of the fascination with powder blue! No need for the Pens to celebrate their past by conjuring Peter Lee, Dave Burrows, Gary Innes and other early era Pens who won nothing.

Leave the powder blue for the third sweater, wearing them occasionally. Wearing them full time would make us remember why they got rid of them in the first place: powder blue as a main color doesn't work.

The Pens should change their colors but they should get rid of the 'Vegas Gold' and go back to the true gold with black that thy wore when winning Cups. Those are teams and colors to celebrate.

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