Jersey

[CowbellGuy]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but all the new jerseys seem to be one solid color with the stripes stitched on. It's possible that they haven't figured out how to do multiple colors with the new material/build.

[Red Neophyte]

When did Ronald McDonald become the mascot for IHS?

[Al DeFlorio]

[quote Red Neophyte]When did Ronald McDonald become the mascot for IHS?[/quote]
Priceless.  Best laugh of the year (to-date).:-}

[ithacat]

[quote Red Neophyte]When did Ronald McDonald become the mascot for IHS?[/quote]

That's just mean. You're picking on a team that has almost as many former players in the NHL as Cornell does, managed to beat 2 top-10 teams last week, and has a goalie whose helmet matches his current uniform...lay off the Little Red. B-]

[KeithK]

[quote ithacat][quote Red Neophyte]When did Ronald McDonald become the mascot for IHS?[/quote]

That's just mean. You're picking on a team that has almost as many former players in the NHL as Cornell does, managed to beat 2 top-10 teams last week, and has a goalie whose helmet matches his current uniform...lay off the Little Red. B-][/quote]It may be mean, but sometimes the truth hurts.  .. I'll take white vertical stripes over that. :-P

[Tom Lento]

[quote RichH]I'm all in favor of improved performance.  But until they've been around for several years, I don't see the corporate branding breaking.  I booed it, but when the puck dropped, I focused more on the players.  That said, to re-stress the second sentence of my post, I'd rather not ditch the tradtional jerseys.  At least until gives us our horizontal stripes back, or another company makes a similar jersey with non-restrictive color design requirements.[/quote]

I think you're right, and this is probably an example of marketing winning out over product design and engineering. The design teams were trying to be sensitive to tradition, but maybe marketing wanted a distinctive look for branding purposes.

There was a rumor on the USCHO board that the jerseys were being tested for fit, and if the players liked the way they felt then they could be manufactured to the school's specs for the colors, fonts, etc. I have no idea if that's true or not, but if so that's good news. The importance of marketing during the test-bed phase of the jersey might keep Nike from making traditional-looking jerseys right off (which I think is a mistake, personally - make them to the school's specs right off, instead of foisting some other design on them, and you're more likely to make a sale), but I doubt Cornell will buy the new jerseys if they don't have the Cornell look. Personally, I'd hate to see them switch to the look of the swift jerseys, and I think everyone here agrees, but I think I'd have no problem with a swift jersey with the same logo, striping, and number placement and fonts they've been using on the regular jerseys.

[Al DeFlorio]

[quote Tom Lento]...I think I'd have no problem with a swift jersey with the same logo, striping, and number placement and fonts they've been using on the regular jerseys.[/quote]
Right.  If, in fact, there is some slight performance advantage to the cut, I suppose that's hard to argue with.  But I don't think vertical stripes or European-style fonts are more aerodynamic or lighter in weight than what we're accustomed to.

[ithacat]

[quote KeithK][quote ithacat][quote Red Neophyte]When did Ronald McDonald become the mascot for IHS?[/quote]

That's just mean. You're picking on a team that has almost as many former players in the NHL as Cornell does, managed to beat 2 top-10 teams last week, and has a goalie whose helmet matches his current uniform...lay off the Little Red. B-][/quote]It may be mean, but sometimes the truth hurts.  .. I'll take white vertical stripes over that. :-P[/quote]

You mean the Ronald really became their mascot? I thought it was a little bear. Well the good news is that I just saw the highlights of tonight's road game and their away unis are much nicer. :-)

[jtwcornell91]

[quote ithacat]
You mean the Ronald really became their mascot? I thought it was a little bear.[/quote]

I thought the Little Red's animal avatar was a skunk.  No, seriously.

[Hillel Hoffmann]

[quote jtwcornell91][quote ithacat]
You mean the Ronald really became their mascot? I thought it was a little bear.[/quote]

I thought the Little Red's animal avatar was a skunk.  No, seriously.[/quote]

Depends which IHS era you're talkin' about: http://www.ithacahighalumni.com/mascot.htm

[RatushnyFan]

[quote Al DeFlorio]I'm sure the "waist lockdown gasket system" alone will be worth at least two goals per game.::wtf::[/quote]That's what I use in the office to avoid any sort of problems.  They haven't invented anti-Viagra yet as far as I'm aware.

[redheadfanatic]

It was a skunh, named 'lil red.  It is now a bear.  We are attempting to bring back the skunk.

[evilnaturedrobot]

[quote Tom Lento]
Sweden won in the old jerseys, so the new jerseys must not improve performance? Wow. . . there's a leap of logic. I heard wind tunnel testing showed that the old loose-fitting sweaters were the equivalent of skating with a sail strapped to your back, so new jerseys could easily improve *skating* performance. The PR reports show a 15% reduction in drag, so I'm guessing your made up number is a little bit off - I'd take 15% with a grain of salt, but even at half that it's a pretty substantial change. The jerseys are not going to suddenly make you a magnificent puck handler or a great passer or anything, and they're certainly not going to make a big difference in team performance. There's a lot more to hockey than just wind drag and skating speed, after all.

I also heard that one of the big problems Nike and other companies doing similar research has faced is the traditional mindset of most players and fans - this thread is a perfect example - and so they've been moderating their re-designs and sacrificing some of the performance improvements for the sake of keeping the design closer to the traditional jersey. After hearing that, I'm surprised they went with the vertical stripes - that's just bizarre, and is bound to get a much stronger negative reaction than the pinched waist. I didn't see them in person, but based on the picture of the Cornell jerseys the vertical stripes are the only change I would have noticed - and yes, they're ugly. If they'd kept the cosmetic look of the jersey - the lettering, the font, etc. - exactly as it was and just stuck it on the new form-fitting sweater I suspect this would have gone over better.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a negative reaction from the player and fan base about switching from wool sweaters to synthetic jerseys, too, whenever that happened. In my sport I always wore cotton shirts and swore I'd never change to these fancy expensive synthetic jerseys - I couldn't imagine how anyone could justify the cost, since I didn't think they'd be any more than a marginal improvement. My team bought wicking jerseys one year so I had to get one to match, and now I won't go back - roughly everything I wear when I play is wicking fabric now (yes, even the socks and underwear - and one pair of my cleats has a wicking liner, which makes no sense given the leather uppers). This gets ridiculously expensive (and smelly), but it's worth every penny. The point of this story is what you're used to plays a large role in what you think is "best" and until you get used to something different you'll think it's inferior, even if it's clearly a better option.[/quote]

1.  Yes I realize that: Sweden won so there is no improvement in performance is a week deduction.  It was late at night and I was a bit worked up so I will admit to being a bit flippant here.

However, the real question is: if everybody switches to these jerseys (which is what Nike and Reebok are pushing for) then doesn't it all cancel out anyway?  In the end nobody will benefit from the drag reduction and we'll have thrown away a classic look for nothing.

2.  My main issue here is that is a microcosm of the greater problem in hockey: executives from non-hockey backgrounds making decisions about a sport they don't really understand in order to market it to an American public that just doesn't care.  New jerseys, the instigator rule, shootouts, NHL expansion into southern markets...

All of these have been implemented without consulting the hard-core hockey fan (who is probably the most dedicated fan in north American sports.)  Will new jerseys kill the sport?  Of course not, but I haven't met a single hockey fan that wants them (most hate them), the only party that does are the apparel corporations that have never treated hockey as much of a priority.  

I buy tickets to both NHL and College Hockey games, I spend money on jerseys, sticks, skates and pads.  Yet neither my fellow hockey fans nor I are ever consulted before an exec from nike or Reebok decides to change the jersey that my team has worn for three quarters of a century or a lawyer with a basketball background decides to legislate grit and toughness out of the sport.  

And its all just an attempt to get Joe Whatever in Phoenix to buy a Coyotes ticket when it's perfectly clear that the average American does not and will never care about hockey.

[sah67]

[quote Al DeFlorio] Does anyone know, with certainty, if/when these new jerseys will be worn in the future?[/quote]

I still don't quite understand all the fuss about this issue.  Yeah, I thought the jerseys were pretty ugly upon viewing the photo galleries from Estero, but from what I've understood from the article about the new jerseys, it seems like their use in holiday tournaments was only for TEST or prototype purposes.  

I didn't read anything in any article indicating that any team was going to be using these jerseys for regular games at any point in the future.  Maybe I misunderstood, but all I gathered was that Nike was looking for an outlet to test the new style (not necessarily showcase them), and the holiday tournaments provided that outlet.  From there, I would think Nike would go back and evaluate the results, team reactions etc., and modify them if necessary...and THEN perhaps pitch the product to team equipment staff in the future.

[ftyuv]

I don't buy that this was only a test of the jerseys.  If it were, they'd have given them to a few teams during less highly publicized games, or even scrimmages.  This was a test of the PR behind the jerseys.  If I were the exec in charge of these jerseys, I'd be reading boards just like this one to see what people do and don't like so that I can tweak either the jerseys or the pitch.