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swflyers25
8-18-05, 8:24 AM
http://images.tsn.ca/images/stories/20050817/canada_76522.jpg

Canadian Press

8/17/2005 9:14:22 PM

KELOWNA, B.C. (CP) - The new hockey jerseys Canadian teams will wear at the Olympic Games and world junior championships have been designed to be cooler, lighter and make the players faster.

The jerseys were unveiled Wednesday at the Olympic team orientation camp.

The home white sweaters feature the Hockey Canada Maple Leaf logo on the front, black trim around the neck, and red and black stripes on the shoulders. There are also red and black stripes on the sides.

The red away sweaters have black and white stripes.

The public can purchase replica jerseys with a Maple Leaf on the front with Canada underneath. The sweaters also have red trim around the neck and stripes on the elbows.

Bob Nicholson, president of Hockey Canada, said the replica jerseys will probably sell for around $100.

He wasn't sure of the cost of the authentic jerseys.

The jerseys will be worn by Canada's team at the world junior hockey championships in Vancouver and both the men's and women's team at the 2006 Turin Olympics.

Although hockey and cycling having little in common, the Team Canada jerseys were designed with some of the same technology used to help Lance Armstrong win seven Tour de France titles.

"One of the key factors in his project for hockey was it was not purely about speed," said Jordan Wand, global director for the Nike advanced innovation team, which designed the jerseys.

"With Lance Armstrong it was purely about speed. With hockey we knew it was about speed but it was also about mobility, about endurance, about strength."

The new jersey and socks weigh about 496 grams - or the weight of three hockey pucks - less than traditional jerseys.

The jerseys are also better vented. This allows players to keep cool while reducing air resistance.

By cutting air resistance by 15 per cent, it gives a player about a 20-inch advantage in a 50-metre sprint with an opponent.

"You can call that one less stride to get to the puck," Wand said.

While lighter and cooler, the jerseys are also more streamlined in their fit. That makes them harder for an opponent to grab.

"We all know there is this trend to tie the guy up in the middle," said Wand.

"If you can streamline the jersey ... there's going to be an inability for the defensive player to grab onto that player."

Under their agreement with the International Ice Hockey Federation, Nike has to make the jerseys available to all teams competing at the Olympics.

Since Nike doesn't have an agreement with the NHL, no team will be wearing the new gear when the season opens Oct. 5.

While happy to show of the new line, Nike officials were silent on how much the technology cost to develop.

One spokesman said it was "in the middle six figures."

TSN (http://tsn.ca/canadian_hockey/news_story.asp?ID=133807&hubName=canadian_hockey)

It does look like crap. Gags looks like the kid from the Christmas Story, when he had the Easter Bunny outfit on, just looks like he wants to get it off as soon as possible. :laughing:

J.R.
8-18-05, 9:39 AM
http://images.tsn.ca/images/stories/20050817/canada_76522.jpgWTF is that? Did some 12-year-old design those for a colouring conest? I'm disgusted. I don't care that they are "cooler, lighter and make the players faster," I want something visually appealing for Team Canada to wear on the ice. Sorry, try again Nike. :rolleyes:

go_leafs_go02
8-18-05, 1:25 PM
Brutal Absolutely brutal.

Apparently No one likes them..they are absolutely ugly..its hockey NOT soccer.

Man.Utd
8-18-05, 1:40 PM
Those suck! I'm actually a big fan of the jerseys Canada sported in Nagano.

http://www.iwn.fi/~dana/images/thb/thb_gretzky_98.JPG

PDO
8-18-05, 3:12 PM
If you find clothing that makes Gagne look like even more of a fairy.. it has no business being mass-produced.

Those ugly yellow ones are almost more appealing.

I still like the black ones from the WC. Why can't they just use the same scheme and throw it onto the new design?

TimmyTabasco
8-18-05, 4:34 PM
I don't mind them

All that matters to me, is that they win in them! :thumb: :nod:

Iced Tea
8-18-05, 4:47 PM
I don't mind them

All that matters to me, is that they win in them! :thumb: :nod:
I agree with TT, the Canadian team could be wearing potato sacks but who cares as long as I get to see them play and they win.

Leafs_Fa_Life
8-19-05, 1:15 PM
KELOWNA -- The new look lasted 20 minutes.

For one period of running-time scrimmage yesterday, the Team Canada players wore their new Nike Swift sweaters and socks.

After that, Team Canada 2006 executive director Wayne Gretzky sent a message down to the bench: That's enough. Go back to the regular sweaters.

The Nike sweaters were prototypes of the ones Team Canada will wear in the February Olympics. They are sleek, synthetic and tight. Far too tight.

"I didn't even wear it," said Rick Nash who put on a phenomenal display yesterday and snapped home a couple of beautiful goals. "I couldn't get it on. It was way too tight. I didn't bother."

The biggest guy on the team, 6-foot-6 Chris Pronger, followed Nash's example.

"It was a little tight for me," he said. "I just wore my practice jersey. I didn't wear the tight one. I was one of the smart ones. They need to make some tailoring adjustments."

What about the form-fitting socks?

"The socks were a little tight, too," Pronger said. "My feet are still a little numb, they were so tight."

"I think they got the sizes a little bit wrong," said another one of the big guys, 6-foot-4 Joe Thornton. "Normally, I'm about a size 58 sweater. I think I'll probably be a 66 in something like this.

"The socks were tight as well, a bit tough to get used to. The socks we usually use are kind of baggy and real big, and nice and tall. These ones were short. It felt like leotards pulled over your shin pads. It didn't feel too good."

The goaltenders didn't have any complaints, but their sweaters were larger, even though the new league rules require them to be snug.

"It always baffles me why they do these things," Marty Turco said. "I've never made a save with my jersey before, but as long as we don't look too silly, it doesn't really matter to us."

The first impression is that it's a retro look. With the tight sweaters and tighter socks, the players looked like something out of the National Hockey League's opening season. You almost expected a rover to show up on the ice.

"They looked like video-game guys," Turco said.

"Jarome Iginla has probably worn something that tight before," Shane Doan said with a chuckle.

Iginla smiled when asked for confirmation, paused a couple of seconds and then nodded: "Maybe."

"They're not my cup of tea," Todd Bertuzzi offered. "It's something you'd wear to a bar maybe, but I don't know, out on the rink, it's pretty tight. I don't know if they've seen what we look like under our shirts, but not a lot of us are that cut."

"They're different," Doan added. "And I don't know if different is in a good way or a bad way. If you fall down, you actually pick up speed. They're fairly slippery.

"But it cuts down on player costs to the team because you don't need a garter belt and you don't need sock tape because those things aren't moving once you get them on."

Kirk Maltby had a similar observation.

"It's definitely a different look," he said. "I think it will take some time to get used to. The problem is when you go down, you slide. Those socks are like ski pants."

When asked for his opinion, coach Pat Quinn just laughed and said: "I don't answer political questions." Then he added, "It's different. I don't have to wear them."

Later in the afternoon, Steve Jones, communications manager of Bauer Nike Hockey, arrived on the scene to do some damage control and insist that this was just a first attempt.

"The key is that we don't want to make it so over the top that they're not comfortable wearing it," he said. "The feedback is obviously what we need to make some adjustments and we're going to do that."

He heard no objections.

Hopefully this means that Team Canada just goes back to the old jerseys.

J.R.
8-19-05, 1:31 PM
That article is loaded with some golden quotes.
"Jarome Iginla has probably worn something that tight before," Shane Doan said with a chuckle.

Iginla smiled when asked for confirmation, paused a couple of seconds and then nodded: "Maybe.""They're not my cup of tea," Todd Bertuzzi offered. "It's something you'd wear to a bar maybe, but I don't know, out on the rink, it's pretty tight. I don't know if they've seen what we look like under our shirts, but not a lot of us are that cut."
When asked for his opinion, coach Pat Quinn just laughed and said: "I don't answer political questions." Then he added, "It's different. I don't have to wear them.":laughing: :laughing: :laughing: