Skip to content
 

Possibly the Most Unusual Hockey Uniform Ever

Click to enlarge

Thanks to the recent Minnesota State High School League’s Class AA Boys Hockey State Tournament, I recently learned about the hockey team from Prior Lake High School, just south of Minneapolis. As you can see, they have a lot going on with their uniforms, including uni-numbered pants and a football-style front-number treatment. But the real story, as you can see, is that the jerseys have ghosted versions of hockey players — presumably former Prior Lake stalwarts — sublimated into the fabric.

I’ve never seen anything like this. And the sublimation isn’t limited to the abdomen — additional players are visible on the sleeves:

What’s that I hear in the background? I think it’s someone asking, “Does the sublimation on the abdomen extend around to the sides?” Glad you asked — yes, it does:

And as you’ve probably guessed by now, there are even more player images on the back of the jersey, creating a full wraparound effect:

———

Intriguing stuff, no? If the ghosted players are, as I surmise, former Prior Lake standouts, then it’s like the team is wearing its own de facto Hall of Fame on its jerseys!

I wanted to learn more about this, so I tried to get in touch with the team’s coach. But despite three or four emails and a voicemail, he didn’t respond — disappointing. So for now we’ll have to appreciate these unusual uniforms without further background insights. In any case, a unique look!

Meanwhile, did you notice the logo on the team’s left pant leg? It’s a little hard to see, so here it is on another on of the team’s jersey designs:

So the team is called the Lakers and their wordmark is based on the Washington Caps’ logo. Like I said at the top of the page, this team has a lot going on!

(Big thanks to Jason Scherschligt and Spencer Gustin for bringing the Prior Lake uniforms to my attention.)

• • • • •

• • • • •

Look ma, no glove: Bizarre scene the other night, as Chicago goalie Marc-André Fleury lost his catching glove in a scrum and played a sequence bare-handed. Crazy!

Speaking of Fleury, he was traded yesterday to the the Wild and made his first appearance on the ice for Minnesota last night still wearing his Chicago mask.

(My thanks to Twitter-er @The_Big_GB for this one.)

• • • • •

• • • • •

Click to enlarge

Collector’s Corner
By Brinke Guthrie
    

Anyone who’s followed Collector’s Corner for these many years knows I am a sucker for the classic collegiate varsity jacket look, and no one does it better than DeLong. So behold this fantastic-looking Chicago Cubs varsity jacket. Gonna say late 1980s or early ’90s for this, based on the fact I had a red/white Reds model at the same time. My only gripe with that one was that the white felt National League logo patch, while it looked nice, was easily dirtied. Looks like that’s the case with this Cubs jacket too.

Now for the rest of this week’s picks:

• This 1973 Roberto Clemente Memorial Album included comments by then-President Richard Nixon, who, uh, knew a thing or two about audio recording.

• Detroit Tigers fans will always know the time with this early 1970s Team Mate pocket watch.

• It looks like 49ers linebacker Dave Wasick took a red marker to two of the three gold stripes on his Adidas cleats from 1979.

• Here’s a set of round (what?) playing cards for Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Note that the Steelers helmet pictured is just a bit off.

• Check out the artwork on the cover of Bird: The Life & Legacy of Mark Fidrych

• The 1960 Famous Slugger Yearbook from Hillerich & Bradsby-Louisville Slugger features Hank Aaron and other stars on the cover.

• Somebody decided to make a DIY New England Patriots gumball helmet for St. Patrick’s Day

• Here’s a series of “Let’s Go Mets” vending machine cards from the New York Daily News.

• Some great artwork on this pair of 1975-76 Philadelphia Phillies game programs. The 1975 one was $1.50, but the price went up to 2 bucks for the following year’s “Bicentennial issue.”

• Check out the great Willard Mullin artwork on this 1957 New York Yankees/Brooklyn Dodgers/New York Giants schedule. That was the final year in NYC for those last two teams.

• • • • •

• • • • •

Click to enlarge

Shhhh, don’t tell Caitlin: It almost always rains on my birthday, but yesterday was the rare exception — an inexplicably nice, sunny day — so the Tugboat Captain and I decided to go to our local animal rescue place and take one of their dogs for a walk.

Fiona was a little skittish but a real sweetie. Getting to hang out with her was like getting an extra birthday present!

Speaking of my 58th birthday, reader Albert Sanchez checked in with an interesting uni-related tidbit about No. 58:

Here in Mexico there’s this thing where players in Guadalajara wear No 58 (which is very odd in futbol), and the reason is there’s a radio station called Canal 58, which hires players to use the number.

I’ve never lived in Guadalajara, so it was a very odd thing to watch during futbol games. I was always curious about why these players wore that number and just recently found out why.

Interesting, right? Big thanks to Alberto for sharing that, and thanks also to everyone who sent me birthday notes yesterday. You all helped to make it a really great day.

• • • • •

• • • • •

The Ticker
By Alex Hider

Baseball News: We have our first look at how the Rangers’ 50th-anniversary logo will look as a sleeve patch on their home jerseys (from Robert Anderson). … Lots of Nationals news today: Washington is retiring No. 11 to honor Ryan Zimmerman (from Brinke). … The Nats also tweeted out two color swatches Sunday, prompting rumors that their City Connect uniforms will be cherry blossom-themed (from John Muir and @DCSportsNut202). … 2B Dee Strange-Gordon is getting a shot with Washington this spring, so you know what that means: His near-circular NOB is back. Also of note: P Carl Edwards Jr.’s number was riding pretty low during yesterday’s game (from Andrew Hoenig and Meredith Wills). … One more from D.C.: The team has put up pennants around their stadium with a logo commemorating 15 years at Nationals Park (from Tim Kraus). … The Guardians still have some work to do to update the signage at their stadium (from Shaun Sullivan). … The plate ump working yesterday’s Marlins/Mets game appeared to have something attached to the back of his mask strap (from @giantpessimist). … Our pal BSmile shared this 1937 photo that shows the Wrigley Field grounds crew installing ivy on the outfield walls for the first time (from Joe Berkofsky). … Here’s a short video explaining how the Astrodome led to the popularization of synthetic turf (from James Gilbert).

Football News: QB Drew Lock, who wore No. 3 with the Broncos, will wear No. 2 with his new team, Seattle (from Brinke). … A 500,000-piece model of SoFi Stadium made out of Legos has been installed at Legoland (from Kary Klismet). … Florida State shared a few photos of its recently redesigned locker room.

Hockey News: The Leafs practiced in mismatching socks yesterday. As Wade Heidt points out, they were also wearing black equipment that they’ll likely wear when they debut new BFBS uniforms later this week. … Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff made an appearance on TSN yesterday in a polo shirt with a throwback logo. It was presumably a few years old since it was a Reebok-brand shirt (from Moe Khan).

Basketball News: Reader Josh Lehman took a stab at redesigning CBS’s NCAA tourney scorebugs. … Mike Malnicof is celebrating Providence’s appearance in the men’s Sweet 16 by sharing a photo of this vintage “10 Years of Big East Basketball” glass he found at a thrift store a few years ago. … Pacers PG Tyrese Haliburton, who played in college at Iowa State, wore an Iowa State throwback jersey to Indiana’s game against the Trail Blazers on Sunday. Haliburton wore Jamaal Tinsley’s jersey — a Cyclone who would later go on to play for the Pacers (from Kary Klismet). … Also from Kary: Check out the uniforms — complete with belts! — that Real Madrid’s basketball team wore back in 1976. … The College Park Skyhawks, the Hawks’ G League affiliate, will wear military appreciation uniforms tonight.

Grab Bag: A man who was elected to serve as a delegate in the West Virginia legislature had pleaded guilty to participating in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. At his arraignment last week, he wore gear from Tolsia High School, whose team name is, fittingly, the Rebels. … With Taco Bell marking its 60th anniversary yesterday, here’s the company’s logo history (from David Firestone). … The Wall Street Journal (hard paywall) has published a piece on the aesthetics of seed catalogs (from C. Todd Davis). … The next four notes are from Kary Klismet: Here’s an in-depth explanation about TCU’s Horned Frog mascot. … F1 driver Lewis Hamilton has tweaked his helmet and car livery to make it easier for fans to identify him. … Speaking of F1 helmets, here’s a slideshow of all the new helmets worn by this season’s drivers. … This blog examines whether popular logos are still identifiable in different colors.

 
  
 
Comments (33)

    Interesting tidbit about the futbol players in Guadalajara being hired by the radio station to wear #58. I immediately thought of the time back in the 70s when Ted Turner tried to have Andy Messersmith wear #17 with “Channel” for his NOB, to promote Turner’s TV station. Unlike the soccer league, MLB quickly put the kibosh on Turner’s idea. I’m surprised you didn’t mention that!

    Paul’s name is not on the ticker entry today, though, or else I’m sure he would have mentioned it. He did a story on “CHANNEL 17” for ESPN several years ago.

    link

    The passage Joe’s referring to is not in the Ticker — it’s in one of the sub-ledes, and I did indeed write it. But I wrote it late last night, when I was somewhat wiped out by birthday festivities, so that’s my not-so-great excuse for not making the Channel 17 connection (which I should have!).

    Speaking of the Prior Lake uniforms, I am digging a detail on the yellow jerseys. The stars on the jersey. Reminds me of a time when teams in minor hockey and even a few major junior hockey teams back in the 1980s put stars on their uniforms. Just because why not!

    Proofreading in the basketball section of The Ticker: The last name “Hunter” should be “Haliburton” in the item about the Iowa State throwback jersey. Iowa State has a current player named Tyrese Hunter, and I inadvertently referred to the current Pacers PG by the wrong name in my Ticker submission. I sent along a correction, which it looks like was applied to the first sentence of the item, but not the second.

    Many hockey teams wore mismatched socks in practice for Downs Syndrome Awareness Day.

    Hey Paul

    1 – Happy Belated!

    2 – link. Said he got it from a friend, but didn’t elaborate other than said it wasn’t you (he’s in Brooklyn).

    If they continue to honor players by putting their image on future jerseys, it will turn into an infinite loop. The current players would be ghosted on future jerseys, while wearing jerseys that have past players on them. This would continue ad nauseum.

    Do you mean infinite regression? If so that would be quite the uniform detail. Future sweater has a sublimated photo of one of the current players, and that sublimated photo includes a sublimated photo of another player on it.

    Re: LNOB – it is time to rein in the absurdity. If your surname can’t fit in a conventional arc, then maybe it’s time to ditch LNOB altogether. Dee Gordon was Dee Gordon until a couple years ago, he should be Dee Gordon. The contrived hyphenated name is unnecessary. I get the impulse that you want to give some public recognition to a family member but the NOB isn’t meant to be that forum. Ditto the suffixes. I have a suffix but it is not my last name. Ergo, it does not belong as part of my NOB on a jersey. NOB is just that – not a shout-out to your favorite grandparent or acknowledgement that you had a father who named you after him. It’s devolving into farce.

    As unpopular as some people will find your comment, I agree. I was sparked by a commentator on an NCAA game last weekend constantly referring to one player as
    “Wilson Jr”. (It wasn’t Wilson, I just used it as a placeholder). Seemed absurd for the entire game.
    On the other hand, maybe the Nats shouldn’t be trying to ensure their NOBs can be read from the space station.

    100% agree. No room for honorifics. The folly of hyphenated last names was foretold in the “Tikki Tikki Tembo” parable.

    The least they could do would be to bring back the link.

    But really, with today’s on-screen graphics, NOBs no longer serve the purpose they were designed for. (They serve a different purpose, you might argue: so that jerseys sold to fans lose their value when the player is traded away.)

    Kinda funny: USA Cycling tweeted a jersey design contest and the winner will get a free kit, they quickly turned off comments because people immediately started roasting them for trying to get free design instead of paying someone for their time and talent.

    link

    I’m sure the Three Rivers Stadium cards are circular because the stadium was circular. (I do remember a brief trend of weirdly shaped cards back then as well.)

    As seen on MLB Network last night. Joe Maddon rocking two different socks (go to the 1 Minute mark in the video for his explanation) in honor of National Downs Syndrome awareness day.

    link

    “…former Prior Lake standouts.”

    Come on, we couldn’t get one time calling them “prior Prior Lake standouts?” :)

    Collector’s Corner…
    I’m not 100% sure that those gold stripes were colored over red on those cleats; didn’t Adidas made cleats with alternating stripes for the Chiefs and Patriots around the same time period?
    I’m also not so sure “49ers linebacker” Dave Wasick ever played anything but preseason/scrimmages in the NFL.

    Pretty sure the red was colored in. You’ll notice some smear marks that are red; also, the heel tab is gold. I was a big adidas nut during that time, and I never saw ANY shoe that had multi colored stripes out of the box- pretty sure these are paint jobs, just like the Pats and Chiefs were at the time.

    Chiefs may have been painted:

    link

    Re: Patriots…

    link

    link

    Players have 2 different style cleats with 2 different stripe patterns. Heel color matches center stripe color.

    Ebay seller also offering these from same ‘player’:

    link

    Again, center stripe color matches heel…and pics are clear to show these (at least) came from the factory that way.

    Red Sox to wear a patch for Jerry Remy this upcoming season-https://twitter.com/TomCaron/status/1506283582905593862

    Looking at that Carl Edwards jersey, I’m reminded of how he used to wear a single digit when with the Cubs (8 in the minors; 6 when he got called up). It link.

    With that giant long NOB, two digits get shoved even further downward and it looks even more hideous.

    As a Twin Cities native it’s nice to finally see a good story about Prior Lake high school.

Comments are closed.