Colorful failures

This is the sister post to colorful successes  and I'd like to apologize in advance for the offense to your eyes.

too many colors or just colors that didn't quite work, here they are:



New York Islanders 1995-97. Ask any NHL fan anywhere what the worst hockey jersey of all time and this Islanders getup is usually a common response. Ask an actual Islanders fan about it and they probably won't want to continue the conversation. I mean maybe the intentions were good but this thing honestly looks like the official uniform of Woodstock, or an acid trip (well what's the difference there)



Vancouver Canucks 2001-2003. In their 40 year history Vancouver has experimented a ton with their uniform combination and colors. In some reason in the early 2000s they decided they needed to add blue to their logo. And in that bottom jersey they also decided apparently that they also needed a red tint thrown in there? I'm not sure what's going on, and to be honest I don't exactly hate it but if it only lasted two years it must have been a failure up in B.C.




I'm not picking on you Vancouver, I'm really not. But this 1978 uniform almost begs to be ridiculed. They ditched their green and blue for yellow and red and orange. It's a mess in every sense, especially the yellow jersey because it's so bright and then the huge "V" just sits there. It took almost 10 years to completely drop the "V" but the color scheme remained there for way too long.

Colorful successes

Sweaters usually have a dominant color. Sometimes uniforms use different colors for the style. It's really a hit and miss process to go away from a solid color. Here's some successful ones:






Ottawa home, circa 2000s. This modern uniform is similar to older jerseys that tried to pull of stripes. The size of the senators stripes are probably what keeps them looking slick.

New York Americans (1932). This sweater was pretty patriotic for a league dominated by Canadians at the time. The red, white and blue almost looks like it could be our military uniform in cold weather if it weren't for the whole camo thing they're trying. All jokes aside the stars and stripes do actually look pretty good here.





Phoenix Coyotes. 1996-2003
Nothing say 1990s like these Coyotes sweaters. There are lots of colors going on, many of them unconventional. The retro looking Coyote holding a hockey stick really takes me back to the days I first became interested in hockey. The coyotes have since toned down the attitude in their sweaters but personally these babies could have stuck around forever.

Best specialty jerseys

So we'll take a trip into the minors for this one. The professional hockey league doesn't go too wild with special jerseys used in games but the lesser leagues usually have some clever ones. Here's some of the best:




The Tulsa Oilers became the Gotham City Crusaders for Hero's night. The jerseys, pictured on the right give players a six-pack and the batman logo. This is awesome for superhero fans and even if you aren't the jerseys don't look tacky in anyway. Really great design


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The Quad City Mallards out of the now defunct Central Hockey League wore these western sheriff jerseys on Police Appreciation night. These are extremely clever and they did a really good job. I'm not sure if exactly replicates Quad City PD's current uniforms but it really is a sweet touch.




Now this one is gold, literally. On golden ice night, the Kalamazoo Wings of the ECHL  teamed up with no other than McDonald's for a special promotional night. At first I thought wow that's some marketing stunt but it looks like proceeds went to a Ronald McDonald House, for kids with special needs. The ice was also painted yellow, hence the "Golden Ice" name. They actually look really cool if you get over how hilarious it is. That's not something you see every day in sports.