Welcome Matt: Canucks specialty jerseys should be worn for the entire game
The Welcome Matt can be heard weekdays on Sekeres and Price. Stream the live show at SekeresAndPrice.com Monday to Friday, or download the latest podcast.
If there is one facet of the organization where the Canucks are best in the NHL, it’s specialty jerseys.
The Canucks revealed their 2SLGBTQ+ jersey, as designed by a queer artist from Sweden named Mio.
It follows in the footsteps of the Black History Month jersey, the Lunar New Year jersey, and the Diwali jersey of earlier this season to kick it off.
As Vanessa Jang of the Broadscast tweeted:
I am once again asking the NHL to let teams wear specialty jerseys for entire games and not just warmups https://t.co/Ht3CfddHR3
— Vanessa (@bigsportsvan) March 8, 2022
Hear, hear, Vanessa.
And hey, if the league isn’t going to allow teams to wear them in games, then at least make these jerseys for sale at the team store!
Heard from an NHL employee Monday night who said it’s the least the league could do.
Look, I get brand standards and I understand that owners, managers, coaches, players, employees, and even some fans may infuse these crests with a sacrosanct meaning that I simply can’t understand.
But here’s the thing: they’d sell like hotcakes.
And better yet, think of how a queer or gay Canucks fans would feel slipping on one of these 2SLGBTQ+ jerseys.
Not only the Pride (pun intended), but the feeling of belonging that their team blazed a trail and got these specialty jerseys to the market, and on to the streets of British Columbia and beyond.
We have long said on our show, no matter their foibles on the ice, in the management suite, and the owner’s quarters, Canucks Sports and Entertainment does a magnificent job of wrapping its arms around the diverse, multicultural, and progressive constituencies of Vancouver and British Columbia.
More recently, Jim Rutherford has forged out to compile a diverse front office that includes two women in senior management roles. There should be a lot of pride over at Rogers Arena on that accord.
And so it comes as no surprise that the Canucks are league leaders when it comes to tasteful, striking, and empowering specialty jerseys.
As hockey blogger Jeff Veillette put it:
The Canucks are the poster child for why
a) Adidas should work with teams to get them actual templates for these jerseys, not just practice blanks
b) Why these should be used in actual games
c) Why these jerseys, or at least adjacent logo merch should be retailed more. https://t.co/62sbNzUZ0M— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) March 8, 2022
Concur wholeheartedly.
In fact, the toughest part of these jerseys for me to stickhandle was Rink Wide’s terrific poll question on the matter. Which one is your favourite?
I voted Diwali because it was the only interpretation on Stick-in-Rink, and I never thought Stick-in-Rink could look that good.
But there’s no wrong answers here. In fact, most of this exercise has been right, so right, and I applaud the Canucks and the artists for celebrating our community living up to the slogan: we are all Canucks.
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