Party Like It's 1909? 1945? Both Years?

Well, now, don't we look snazzy, gents? The Montreal Canadiens unveiled their look for the upcoming Winter Classic game to be played at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, and they, just as the Boston Bruins did, dipped into their history and brought a hybrid historic look out of the closet for this signature game. As modeled by Brendan Gallagher, Max Pacioretty, and PK Subban above, the Winter Classic look by the Canadiens has a number of interesting things that need to be pointed out.

The chest stripe, you may notice, is a different shade than the stripe the Canadiens currently wear. The stripe on this Winter Classic jersey matches the shade of blue worn by the Canadiens in 1909. There's your first taste of Canadiens history.

You may notice that the Canadiens' logo has the colours inverted so that the "C" is white and the "H" is red. This will draw upon the 1923-24 Canadiens team who were the first of many Canadiens teams to win the Stanley Cup. That's the second historical aspect of this uniform.

There's a third historical reference as you may notice a globe-like logo on the sleeves of this jersey. The 1924-25 Canadiens wore this globe as their logo when they first met the Boston Bruins who were founded on November 1, 1924. Clearly, this has significance considering that the Bruins are the Canadiens' opponents on January 1, 2016.

There's yet another historical piece to this jersey if you'll notice the white jersey with the red collar. This is similar to the road uniform worn in 1945-46 by the Montreal Canadiens who defeated Boston in the Stanley Cup Final that year to win their sixth Stanley Cup.

Talk about sticking it to your hosts. Montreal is literally finding every jersey-related accoutrement they can that's related to their long-standing rivalry with the Bruins! Clearly, there's a story behind these jerseys, so what went into the planning of this jersey?

"A lot of internal meetings because we wanted to understand the story we wanted to tell," Canadiens executive vice president and chief operating officer Kevin Gilmore told the media. "We don't just do a jersey or do something without a reason behind it. We spent a lot of time looking at the history of the team, the history of the jerseys, when we wore certain jerseys, who we were playing against and when they came in the league. And it's great because all the pieces kind of fit in well and allowed us to create what I think is a beautiful jersey."

I have to say that, for a hybrid jersey, these actually look pretty decent. I think the white will contrast the black of the Bruins' jerseys nicely, and the red and blue accents will look great on what will hopefully be a sunny and cool day in Foxborough, Massachusetts. While the Bruins may not be as close to the Canadiens in talent this season, this game will look great based on what these two teams are wearing!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!