New Year, New Jerseys

As you're likely aware, the NHL Winter Classic, often scheduled for January 1 in the past, will be played on January 2 this year. As we open up the newest calendar year, the Boston Bruins will host the Pittsburgh Penguins at Fenway Park in Boston tomorrow - the second time it will be played at the iconic baseball park in Boston, Massachusetts.

Tomorrow's game at Fenway will make it the first venue to host the Winter Classic twice, and the fourth venue to hold more than one NHL outdoor event. The Penguins, who will skate as the visitors, will participate in the sixth outdoor game with a record of 2-2-1 in their previous five contests. The Bruins, who are the home team, will play in their fifth outdoor game while seeking their fourth outdoor win with a 3-1-0 record in those previous four contests. The Bruins, it should be noted, won 2-1 in overtime over Philadelphia in the previous game at Fenway Park.

All of that aside, the era of rather terrible jerseys worn in outdoor games continues with the two jerseys seen above. There are some historical aspects to both, but, in a time where we have Reverse Retro jerseys that look so good on both teams and already contrast with Pittsburgh in black and Boston in white, we're subjected to two more jerseys that no one needs just so a little more merchandise can be sold. Unfortunately, I don't believe these two Winter Classic jerseys will be all-time best sellers, though.

Boston's Winter Classic jersey for this year is a mash-up of old elements and newly-conceived ideas. The black jersey with yellow stripes is distinctive in its Bruins-esque colours and the bear logo on the front of the jersey was the oft-worn shoulder patch from 1976 through to 1995. The white has been replaced by the NHL's overused vintage white colour for outdoor games, but the "wordmark is a custom typeface created by adidas and inspired by the original spoked-B worn in 1948. The arched form of the wordmark is a subtle classic varsity reference and nod to New England amateur hockey." Advanced marketing lessons aside, this just feels like they're cramming way too much stuff on the front of the jersey when less is definitely more for Winter Classic games.

Pittsburgh's jerseys went back to a time long before the Penguins franchise was even a thought as they drew upon the 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates sweater design for their inspiration. Again, the overuse of vintage white needs to end in a big way, but the Penguins will use that colour as their base colour for this jersey while being accented by black stripes. If nothing else, Pittsburgh should get a few extra marks for not only mocking up a jersey closer to the historic version of the Pirates' sweater, but the fact that they're wearing a Pirates jersey at Fenway Park can't be overlooked from a baseball perspective. It also seems the Penguins opted for the "less is more" idea on these jerseys as they're unfettered with any unnecessary clutter or fanfare on the front.

When it comes down to the game itself, the jerseys don't really matter. Yes, it's worth two points in the standings, Boston has a chance to break a franchise points streak at home if they win that hasn't been this kind of success since 1973-74, and the Penguins are looking to snap a four-game winless streak. At the end of the day, though, it's just a glorified exhibition game with all the hype and excess of an NHL All-Star Game. For years, I've been advocating that the NHL All-Star Game be moved outdoors, and I still struggle to understand why this hasn't been done.

If you watch the game tomorrow, please enjoy it as much as one can. I won't be watching because it doesn't feel like a special event any longer. It's just another game on the schedule with weird jerseys that the NHL has signed off on, and the hockey is often less than ideal compared to what we see inside NHL arenas. Maybe this one will be different and I'll miss out on a handful of special moments, but I feel like we've run the course on outdoor games when teams have played in six of these games and we're starting to use venues a second time.

Thanks to a second-straight holiday landing on a Sunday, The Rundown will appear tomorrow once again before returning to its normal Sunday home next weekend. I'll have lots of fun with this one tomorrow as we look the one main New Year's Resolution for each of the nine teams playing in the Canada West women's hockey conference along with some things I'd like to see moving forward to make the game better.

Having watched and listened to some broadcasts from other leagues from around the world over the break, it wouldn't take a lot of money to make things better. The only ingredients missing from most of these broadcasts is the effort and the passion to push the broadcasts to new heights. More on this tomorrow, though, as we have some fun!

Until then, welcome to 2023, folks!