No Butting Heads Here

When it comes to team branding, we've see a number of minor-professional hockey teams use unconventional names - Knight Monsters? Ghost Pirates? Hammers? - for their franchises. The key to these franchises is that they can save their weird names by having good jerseys, a solid mascot, and an ability to have fun with their names. That's where the New Mexico Goatheads come into play because their choice of team name was, in a word, questionable. I get the tie-in to local flora with which people of the Rio Rancho area are familiar, but it's just not a great name. Today, the team held an event where the jerseys would be shown, so let's see how this party went!

I don't know how the jersey reveal actually went because I can't find a lot of great images of the event, but we did get to see the jerseys.

At first glance, these aren't bad at all. I like the simplicity of the jersey as the logo pops off the chest without the shoulder yoke. The colours are bold with enough striping on the sleeve and jersey hems to complement the logo, but I'm not certain the added colours on the neckline were needed. It doesn't detract from the jersey, but it feels little unnecessary. The thorn logo above the Athletic Knit logo is entirely unneeded, and these jerseys would be improved if there was only one logo on the neckline. That's the only major problem I see.

I went to the Goatheads' store to see if I could dig further into the jerseys when it came to secondary patches and fonts used, but they only had the white replica jerseys up for sale. More on that in a moment, but you can see the Colorado Avalanche logo on the right shoulder while the New Mexico state wordmark logo is on the left shoulder. This is pretty standard with the NHL affiliate being represented, and I have no problem with the New Mexico state logo being used as representation of the community they represent. Again, the major thing that sticks out to me are the two logos above the Goathead logo. Someone needs to do something about that. It's going to bother me every time I look at these jerseys despite the AK logo needing to be there.

Regarding the lack of photos at the event and just the white jerseys in their online store, Jared Chester of KRQE Sports spoke to Goatheads GM Jared Johnson who said, "Unfortunately, we were only able to get 100 of each color here today, but we're expecting to get the rest here in the next couple of weeks to a month. They turned out unbelievable. We're really excited to get those out to the fans. That's been one of the biggest requests we’ve had so far."

Clearly, there's a demand from fans for their new team's threads, so that's a good sign for the expansion franchise. Of course, having a winning team helps to sell tickets and merchandise, and the Goatheads made an announcement at the event as to who will guide this franchise in their inaugural season with a head coach unveiling! The man to the left is who will take the reins this season as former NHLer Zach Stortini is the team's first head coach! The former hockey pugilist was an assistant coach with the OHL's Sudbury Wolves before joining the AHL's Tucson Roadrunners as an assistant coach in 2022. This will be his first head coaching gig in professional hockey, so we'll see how the 40 year-old handles the pressures of managing and deploying his ECHL roster!

Before I wrap this up, I do want to bring attention to one thing that I noticed in the Twitter photos posted by the New Mexico Goatheads. I'm not here to question anyone's jersey choices, but there was a fan at the event today that was wearing a jersey that caught my attention. As you can see to the right, there was a gentleman at this event wearing what looks like a Paul Shmyr California Golden Seals jersey with #22 on the back. Except Shmyr didn't wear #22 and it's not a California jersey because someone needs to appoint this guy as New Mexico's greatest hockey fan. That jersey he's wearing is a Dean Shmyr jersey from the Albuquerque Chaparrals from either 1996-97 or 1998-99 when the CHL's New Mexico Scorpions wore those throwback jerseys! That is some awesome jersey history! Good on that dude!

Amazing historical jerseys aside, the Goatheads should look pretty solid next season. The jerseys are simple, they don't get crazy with colours or added features, and the double logo on the front above the main Goatheads logo is my only major quibble. Yes, there was no font shown for names and numbers, but we'll get there. Of course, these may look different once the Goatheads take the ice, but initial jersey unveiling looks pretty good. It's certainly not the greatest of all-time, but the Goatheads look like they're ready for business!

And yes, I despise the GOAT acronym. People need to stop using it.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!