Just Not A Good Look

I'll admit that I've never been an equipment manager or staff member for any hockey team at any level, but there are certain expectations that one should meet if one is privileged enough to land that job. As seen to the left, goaltender Vitek Vanecek likely will want a word with the Sharks' equipment staff after his jersey showed up in his locker with his last name misspelled, and one would hope that the Sharks will never let that happen again. That happened last night in the game featuring the Sharks and Avalanche, but today's jersey snafu is less about a misspelled name and more about meeting expectations when it comes to wearing something timeless and classy.

I was bouncing around the myriad of hockey games on Saturday night, and I happened to wander down the NCAA rabbit hole where I landed on a solid game between Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves and the Northern Michigan Wildcats. I'm already a fan of the Seawolves with their incredible logo and classic hockey jerseys, so this game was an easy one to watch from a fan standpoint.

As a hockey guy, though, I found myself very bothered by one aspect on the jerseys seen, so let's introduce you to the Northern Michigan Wildcats and their diagonally-named jerseys worn on Saturday.

Everything seems pretty solid with these jerseys, right? I thought so as well until I couldn't stop staring at every player's right hip where "NMU" floats above the hem striping. After a while, I caught myself watching the jerseys more than I was watching the game because I'm struggling with the idea that anyone thinks it's a good idea to put the school's abbreviated name on hip of a jersey. Why not the logo which would make more sense? How many letters does one jersey need?

As I wrote The Rundown on Sunday, I kept thinking about Northern Michigan's jerseys because I simply haven't seen many like them. Yes, you could call them unique, but being unique doesn't make them special if it looks bad. Frankly, the "NMU" on the hip feels very out-of-place on these jerseys when one is reading the diagonal name from shoulder to left hip, and any captaincy markings, as shown above, only adds to the alphabet found on the jerseys.

Historically, though, the Wildcats seem to have worn this design for years. I guess it flew under my radar since Northern Michigan isn't the NCAA's strongest team, but there's a trend here seen below.

Again, does anyone think that "NMU" on the hip looks good there? Or fits the aesthetic of the jersey? One could potentially make a case for "Northern Michigan has always done this", but just because something has been done wrong for decades doesn't make it better. By that rationale, hockey players would still smoke between periods and wear cricket pads for shin guards. The history may be there, but it just doesn't look good no matter from what era it came.

You can't tell me the mock-up to the right doesn't look better with the wildcat coming out of the stripe. I get the name across the diagonally, I get the smaller logo on the hip, and it feels less "alphabetical" than having all the letters on the jersey. And while I admit the mock-up is crude as I basically threw it together in about 10 minutes, the wildcat logo looks much better than the "NMU" block letters that Northern Michigan is employing. I'm not saying that this has to be the final design by any means, but give me something more than alphabet soup on the front of the jerseys, please. The 1991 NCAA champions should be wearing something seen in a beer league for team identification. They need to wear their identity proudly just like alumni Dallas Drake, Don Waddell, and Steve Bozek did in their playing days.

Of course, maybe I'm makng too much of this since both Drake wore the alphabet jersey and Steve Bozek wore the jersey as well, but any timeless jersey outside of the New York Rangers' blue sweater with diagonal writing has a logo on it. The Rangers do get a pass for their history, but also because they didn't put "NYC" on the hip.

What are your thoughts on the "NMU" on the hip of the Wildcats? Is that a good design or a bad design? How would you make it better if it needs improving? Leave your comments below and we can discuss that or Vanecek's misspelled name!

For the record, the Wildcats beat the Seawolves on Friday 2-1 before dropping Saturday's rematch by a 5-3 score in the alphabet jerseys. Two goals in 5:49 of play in the third period put Alaska-Anchorage up 4-2, and the Wildcats could not recover in falling to 1-3-0 on the season and 1-1-0 at home. Beyond that, all I can tell you is that the "NMU" on those jerseys would mean "Not My University" if they were wearing them.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!