New Canadian Olympic Jersey Under Fire

These days, it seems as though people are never pleased.

According to Allan Maki of The Globe and Mail, the new jersey that was released for the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver has come under fire from many Canadians, for many different reasons.

Firstly, the cost of $135 for the sweater, which is a little bit hefty – considering that’s the non-personalized price – however it is expected and not surprising.

Although I agree that the cost is a little steep, I’m not going out of my way to make an excuse about it.  I’ve purchased many things in my lifetime that have been used once and then put away never to be seen again, just as I bet these people have.

Secondly, Maki’s article stated that a poll done by the Globe on whether Canadians would buy the jersey, only 700 said they would, whereas 11,000 said they wouldn’t.  Many cited reasons based around the “depression”, the appeal of the jersey, and even as far as one columnist from the Toronto Star penning it “too native”.

It has been said that the creators wanted to capture the diversity of Canada within the jersey logo.  According to reports,  some of its features include a Maple Leaf filled with images of gold medals won by Canada’s men’s, women’s and sledge hockey teams, a thunderbird, an eagle, First Nations symbols, a fleur-de-lis, among other things.

This is the most confusing part for me.

When I look at the jersey – albeit only in pictures – I don’t see ANY of the above mentioned things, as it looks like just black blotchy patches inside of the Maple Leaf.

It wasn’t just the Canadian team that had to change their jerseys however, as the USA team developed a new design, with one of the jerseys even stemming back to the 1960′s Olympics.  Gone is there traditional “S-Flag” which has been with them for as long as I can remember.

USA jerseys from left to right: 1960's based 3rd jersey, away jersey, home jersey

Personally, I feel as though there have been too many new jersey creations by Hockey Canada in the past few years that they really needed to design another one.

In 2002 at the Salt Lake games, Canada dawned their traditional whites for away games, but added a new look red home jersey, and a third black alternate jersey.

John Tavares sporting the throwback Canada Cup Jerseys at the World Junior Championships

Then, at this past World Junior championships in Ottawa, Hockey Canada decided to use another third jersey – a throwback to the 1987 Canada cup team.

Why not just roll with these designs?  The black jersey was popular, although creatively dull, and the Canada cup throwbacks were eye-catching and Hockey Canada could have taken an idea out of USA’s playbook and rolled with those.

The big picture shows once again that the IOC is far too involved with a problem that they should not have even batted an eyelash at.  You think they would be more focused on other issues – like prepping for the Olympics or battling doping cases – and less worried about the style of jersey that a team wears.

And for those fans that care to comment negatively on the jersey, for instance, its price?  No one is forcing you to buy it, so why complain?

Once the Olympics do roll around in February, and Canada takes the ice in their first game, do you really think people will be crying about these jerseys?

The answer should be obvious.

For OpenIceHockey, I’m Jesse Michael