The tough guy post. (gruesome warning)

Hockey is a tough sport. You hear it all the time, mostly because it's true.


This post is about jerseys that get roughed up, or bloodied up and creates quite the scene.




This is Aaron Voros following a fist fight. He suffered a broken orbital bone. I bet if you ask him about it his response would be "you should see the other guy"









This is one of my favorite images of a hockey player. This is Montreal's Jacques Plante in the 1959-60 season. Goalie masks were primitive back then, they were newly introduced. While they were a step up from no masks at all, but as you can tell he got hit in the face and the blood still seeps onto that historic Canadiens logo.

I'm a big hockey fan and nothing upsets me more than a non-fan talking about they looovveeee hockey because of the fights. Fights are rare, they happen as a way to police the game or settle a disagreement. That's not to say I don't enjoy watching fights from time to time. And nothing is more common in the hockey fight than the jersey grab. Here is one between Toronto’s Colton Orr and Pittsburgh’s Deryk Engelland on Jan. 23.

Back in Black

Black is a color that only a few teams where on a regular basis. Some teams where black as their third jerseys, as I hit upon in my last post.

Here's my three favorite black jerseys of all time. It's a little risky because it doesn't always look great, but these sure do.





3. This is a Dallas Star jersey that they wore in the late 90s-early 00s. While it's a little confusing what it is this is constellations that form a bull. It's a pretty cool touch considering the Dallas Stars are Texas's only NHL hockey team. The constellations are pretty sweet too, cause ya know...stars.

Dallas has experimented with black jerseys after this one but none of them were as appealing to the eyes are this one.





2. San Jose's 3rd jerseys are some of the coolest around. While their regular teal is already a fan favorite this black jersey gives the sharks a sleeker look. The black jersey is complimented with teal in the arms and chest crest. The full body shark as opposed to the shark head that is normally on the jerseys is also a great touch.





1. The best black jerseys of all time are none other than the Kings jerseys that they wore in the Wayne Gretzky era. This sweater represented one of the first times that a black jersey was used as a primary jersey (back then dark was the away color). It also helps that Gretzky set some of hockey's more prestigious records while wearing this jersey. I will never be a Kings fan but it's hard to deny how swear these jerseys were.


 

Third Jerseys

Every team in the league has a home jersey and a road jersey. In the NHL the home jersey is colorful, often dark and the road is white. This is part of the rule to avoid the away team and home team wearing clashing colors that confuse the crowd.

Another option for the home team however is the third jersey. These are special uniforms that they can wear on occasion to change it up. Sometimes they work out great, other times....we can't wait for the team to retire them permanently.





Here's an example of a pretty nice one, the NY Rangers third jersey that included lady liberty above the team's initials a great symbol of the city that they play in.





and here on the flip side is the Buffalo Sabres...not so great look





The yellow on the front is offensive enough, too bright. But instead of leaving it at that the uniform decided to also transition to blue on the back of the sweaters. Fans were vocal about not liking this specific jersey and it didn't see much action after the 2014-2015 season.