A Curious Placement

The player to the left is goaltender Jack Lafontaine of the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. Well, I shoud clarify that WAS him with the Gophers because Jack Lafontaine is now a member of the taxi squad for the Carolina Hurricanes as he left mid-semester to join the NHL club. He won't get to wear a letter in Carolina like he did with the Gophers as he wore both the captain's "C" and the alternate captain's "A" with the university squad, but it's the latter letter that we'll focus on today with respect to Jack Lafontaine.

There's nothing wrong with how Jack wore his uniform when the Minnesota "M" was on his chest. The "C" and the "A" that he wore as one of the team captains are clearly seen and easily identifiable no matter what angle is used to view Lafontaine. While having a netminder as a captain is more of an honourary thing than a functional part of the game, it's still pretty cool that the Gophers encouraged Lafontaine to wear a letter throughout his final seasons with the program. He clearly was an important part of the team and his teams that teammates respected him, so good on the University of Minnesota to see this honour to the end.

As you may be aware, though, teams that use a diagonal word on their uniforms often run into space issues when it comes to adding patches and letters for teams. The NCAA has patches for all sorts of things on their uniforms including the conferences and the manufacturer marks, so finding space to add letters and, where necessary, numbers often leads to weird placements of certain elements.

I will say that the Golden Gophers did a good job in not cluttering up their alternate uniform with all sorts of extra patches or paraphernalia, so the captain's "C" is clearly seen on Lafontaine's jersey once more. If I'm being totally honest, I'm not that enamoured with the diagonal-word jersey that Minnesota opted to use, but they do have a historical basis on which they appear to be based. The jersey is clean and crisp in its execution, though, so no harm, no foul on this one.

If there was a mistake the University of Minnesota made, it was with their 100th Anniversary jerseys that they wore last season in 2020-21 celebrating 100 years of Gophers hockey. The historical basis for the uniforms created for the 2020-21 season is clearly seen in the video on the link above, so, as stated, the diagonal "Gophers" jersey does have history at the university.

Where this jersey loses its way is with all the accoutrements that the University of Minnesota applied to it. Historically, there was a number worn on the front left shoulder, so that spot is officially occupied while the front right shoulder has the "G" in Gophers on it thanks to the diagonal placement of the word on the jersey. The Nike Swoosh eats up space under the neckline, and the Gophers likely can't cover that up due to their contractual obligations with the manufacturer. Where do they put the 100th Anniversary patch that they wore along with the captain's designations if all that real estate is already used?

In looking at the picture to the right, we have to remember that Jack Lafontaine was the alternate captain for the Gophers in 2020-21. While wearing the 100th Anniversary jerseys, you'd be excused if you thought that Lafontaine wasn't required to wear the alternate captain's "A" or opted to let someone else wear it since it's clearly not visible on Lafontaine's jersey as it should be if he is the alternate captain. So why wasn't Jack Lafontaine wearing the "A" on the 100th Anniversary jersey as seen above?

The problem, as you may have guessed from the title of this article, is the placement of the captain's designation, and you can see in the image to the left that the "A" actually gets tucked underneath Jack Lafontaine's arm thanks to how the jersey fits. That bit of black you see hiding in Lafontaine's armpit is the alternate captain's "A" that he normally wears that has been pushed under his arm thanks to the number occupying the space where the captain's designation normally resides. You might ask why the "A" couldn't be moved out front or in place of where the 100th Anniversary patch is sitting, but I don't have an answer for you as the decision by the team and the equipment manager of where to put the letter seems to be a curious one at best.

It's very clearly seen in the image to the right as it's bent around the chest protector that Lafontaine wears thanks to the fit of the uniform. Looking at that image, it really bothers me in terms of where the letter is found, and I wonder why the 100th Anniversary patch can't be moved to the right shoulder above the B1G conference patch, allowing the captain's designation to float above the number where the patch once was. By tacking it onto the end of the number as Minnesota did, the captaincy is rendered virtually undetectable unless one goes looking for it. That's not how it should be displayed, but we can't change the past on this blog. This should be a lesson that is noted by teams and equipment managers everywhere when it comes to figuring out what goes where on a diagonal-word jersey because Minnesota made poor choices.

Let me be clear by saying that teams are free to choose diagonal-word jerseys if they like. I'm not a fan most of the time because they clutter them up, but teams are free to dress how they like. If you're the equipment manager for a team that does, I would advise you to look over the work by the New York Rangers who haven't had problems with clutter on their jerseys very often. If teams choose to wear their numbers on the front - another entirely unnecessary thing - don't put the captain's designation next to the number like an airplane seat either. Find room for both and allow them to exist as their own designations simultaneously.

Honestly, we're two decades into the second millenium on the Julian calendar system, and we still can't do diagonal-word jerseys properly. Don't do what Minnesota did if you're planning on wearing a diagonal-word jersey. If you do and I catch it, expect me to mock you as well. For Jack Lafontaine, his move to the NHL means he never has to worry about a letter hiding in his armpit again.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!