November 7, 2007, the Buffalo Sabres will wear their WHITE 'home' jerseys while hosting the Boston Bruins at the Blue Cross Arena in Buffalo. This marks the first time in over four years that the Sabres will wear white at home. Four years has been far too long.
The NHL is not football (the only other sport where the home teams wear dark jerseys.) Even some of the oldest, most honored NFL teams choose to wear white at home, realizing its ability to convey class and dignity. My first NHL game was a 1993 Hockey Night in Canada at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. I will never forget the sight of the Leafs stepping onto the ice (still gives me chills), dressed in their home whites - pure class. The NHL hopes to establish class and dignity, so why not a full return to the whites at home? The decision is made, as most in sports are now, due to money. Team color jerseys often sell better than the whites. This is due to the fan wishing to represent the team color fully. The fan is not concerned with seeing the player on the ice exactly replicate the fan's jersey selection. In fact, some fans even leave the jerseys to the players, anyway. While some proponents of dark-at-home correctly claim that NHL teams wore dark sweaters at home in the leagues early times, they fail to note that the teams generally only had one jersey. Another common belief amongst the crowd of dark jersey support is that the colored jersey more accurately represents the differences of the team. However, these people should really pay attention to the play of the teams on the ice for identity, rather than attempt to establish a team identity through color. A fan should be able to recognize their team by the play, not the jersey.
This follows the trend to incorporate black into teams' jerseys during the 1980's. Following the LA Kings lead, after the rise in LA/Oakland Raider apparel sales, many teams - including the Sharks, Capitals, and my beloved Sabres, amongst others, switched to the black themed jerseys. These were meant to intimidate opponents - since that what really intimidates people is black. The worst of these changes involved the Flyers and the Blackhawks. These two proud organizations capitulated to the trends and changed their beautiful orange and red, respectively, jerseys. None of the teams mentioned won a Stanley Cup during this period. The Sharks, Capitals, and Sabres have all switched back to traditional colors for the better (SJ the possible exception - although this is not due to color, but due to the design scheme of the new Reebok jersey.) Hopefully, Philadelphia and Chicago take a hint from these teams and restore class to their organization by dropping the black jerseys.
For the 2007-08 season, the NHL has switched away from the traditional 'sweater' in favor of a trendy, technologically developed jersey. Players complain that these fail to properly absorb sweat, resulting in the need for the rest of the players gear to absorb the sweat. Fans complain about the ridiculous look - these guys look like the ankle-burner at open hockey who stopped playing house hockey 4 years ago, but still insists on wearing his outgrown jersey. Marty Turco claims to enjoy the jerseys, insisting that he is more of a 'Dolce and Gabbana' man. This is what is wrong with hockey. Hell, I had to google 'Dolce and Gabbana' to get the correct spelling. These jerseys, after millions of dollars of Reebok and testing - which apparently was not stringent enough to discover the sweat/water issues - will ensure that we will be seeing these creations for years to come.
This new NHL can keep its new compromised rules, and the heresy that is the shoot-out, just give me back the sweaters and home whites.
