Hockey

Comparing NHL All Star Uniforms

To me, the NHL and their uniform designs (or sweaters) have always struck a great balance between honoring the history of the game while still embracing the opportunities to try new and innovative visual design ideas. The All Star game has always been a great place to test out said new ideas, whether it’s a neon colored uniform or some silly puck tracking visual on the TV broadcast. And over at NHL.com, Chris Creamer took a look at past All Star uniforms going all the way back to the 1930’s.

From orange-and-black with stars all over to neon green and reflective crests, the NHL All-Star Game has always been the ideal event to experiment with new designs and give fans a visually unique uniform matchup.

This year’s black and white with neon green trim All Star uniforms are a good example of that willingness to embrace a look that will appeal to hockey fans young and old.

For my tastes, the All Star uniforms from the 2004 game (featured image above via cited NHL post) were pretty sweet.

Source: NHL.com

J-E-T-S Winnipeg Jets

The NHL got it right by moving the Atlanta team to hockey’s rightful home in Canada. Winnipeg to be specific. And the Winnipeg franchise got it right by naming the team the Jets, honoring Winnipeg’s hockey history and their original team’s name before they were unceremoniously moved to Phoenix and renamed the Coyotes.

As a sports purist, I think there need to be hockey teams in key Canadian cities and I see Winnipeg as one of those venues. Beyond those important cities, Canada also has some of the most unique and colorful names of cities and towns anywhere on Earth. Imagine the possibilities for team names if the NHL moved some of its other Sun Belt teams to places like Medicine Hat (Alberta), Lucifer Mountain (Alberta), Moose Jaw (Saskatchewan), or Ebenezer (Saskatchewan).

Logo image via Creative Guise

Bruins Win Stanley Cup!

OK, I admit it. I am the epitome of a ‘front runner’/bandwagon/show up late to the party Bruins fan. I don’t think I watched a Bruins game all year until the playoffs. I’m the first to admit that I lost interest in the team and the sport of hockey.

Growing up in New England, I actually watched the Bruins as much as the Red Sox – Bruins teams that included Rick Middleton, Wayne Cashman, Ray Bourque, Terry O’Reilly, Peter McNab, Stan Jonathan, and on and on. So seeing them compete for the Cup and actually win it for the first time in almost 40 years just brought back a flood of childhood memories. Beyond that, watching this Stanley Cup Final series was just an amazing spectacle of hockey by both teams. Hockey gets a bad rap for being the “4th sport” in the US, but the athleticism and speed at which hockey players can do things on the ice is just amazing.

So now, as I look back at the past 10 years from a personal sports fan perspective, every single one of my teams that I regularly follow – Syracuse basketball (2003), the Red Sox (2004, 2007), the Patriots (2001, 2003, 2004), the Celtics (2008), and a certain hockey team that I irregularly follow – have won championships. Good times, good times!

Ice Resurfacing Machines

A new Zamboni going out for a test drive in Los Angeles.

Frank J. Zamboni & Co. still cranks out over 200 Zamboni ice resurfacing machines a year and is the standards bearer for the ultra niche market of resurfacing ice skating rinks. The first Zamboni machine took ten years to build, but today they can crank out a custom ordered one every six months.  For anyone who has skated, played or attended hockey games, the Zamboni machine is as much of the experience as throwing squids on the ice:

The Zamboni machine’s hypnotic mission and captivating name have made it a cultural icon, something the Zamboni family finds both gratifying and a bit puzzling. The first ice-resurfacing machine was built in 1949 and its form, function and sales output have remained consistent for decades.

You would think that this company, which is so synonymous with ice skating and winter sport, would be based in a town like Medicine Hat or Saskatoon, but the harsh reality is that they are based in, of all places, Los Angeles.

Buffalo Doctors Do It Again

Within the past six months, the city of Buffalo has born witness to two pretty horrific sports accidents. Back in September 2007, the Bills’ Kevin Everett suffered a spinal cord injury sustained during a game against the Broncos. As was well documented in Sports Illustrated, Everett is making nothing short of a miraculous recovery due in no small part to the decisions and swift action of the medical team from Buffalo’s Millard Filmore Gates Hospital. Then, this past week, Richard Zednik of the Florida Panthers had his neck and coratid artery cut in a freak accident on the ice during the Panthers-Sabres game this past weekend. With Zednik’s injury, he was taken to Buffalo General Hospital.

Why am I bringing up these accidents? To call out the medical staffs in the city of Buffalo, NY. That’s right…Buffalo, NY. Not Seattle, not Boston, not Los Angeles…Buffalo, NY. Because in both of these cases, the medical staffs at these Buffalo hospitals performed and demonstrated their skill and professionalism at beyond the highest level. The sadness and horror of these two events were countered by the sheer brilliance of these two medical staffs. Kevin Everett may never play football again but he is walking and mobile, something no one thought could happen, because of the swift action of Dr. Andrew Cappuccino. Zednik appears to be on the road to recovery, and I can only hope that to be the case, and his recovery will be in no small measure to the work of Dr. Sonya Noor.

Buffalo, NY…a hot spot for all you burgeoning med students out there.