One of the most anticipated aspects of the NHL’s annual Winter Classic game is the sweaters that the players wear while on the ice to ring in the new year. Unlike a typical NHL game, the teams involved in the Winter Classic do not wear their traditional home, away or alternate jerseys on the ice. Instead, they wear a different jersey, one that typically has a retro feel to it.
The 2020 Bridgestone Winter Classic will be no different on Wednesday in Dallas. The home team Dallas Stars and the visiting Nashville Predators have each unveiled the jerseys that they will be wearing for the outdoor contest. Typically, Winter Classic jerseys have a throwback or retro design that is used to pay tribute to either the team or cities hockey history. In the past, teams have donned their team’s retro logos or the colours of the team back when they were first created.
The home teams jerseys pay their respects to the history of hockey in Texas. The Dallas Stars were not the first team to play hockey in Dallas-Fort Worth, this being a reminder to honour the history of the sport in the lone star state. The jerseys feature the royal green colour which has become synonymous with the Stars organization.
The home team will also take the ice wearing different coloured gloves and helmets then they are used to. The helmets are also royal green while the gloves are a caramel light brown with the pants being beige, this helping give the uniforms a more retro feel.
Some teams are known to incorporate the uniforms of the teams that came before them into their jerseys. While some thought that the Stars would pay tribute to the Minnesota North Stars, the team did not feel like it was the right time to do so. Instead, the Dallas Stars thought that it was more fitting to pay tribute to hockey in Texas.
The crest on the Dallas Stars jersey is similar to that of the Dallas Texans who were the first professional ice hockey team to be instated in the state of Texas. The Dallas Texans made their debut in the AHA in 1941 and were operational for only one season while later becoming a USHL team. This would be the case as they joined the league in the 1945-1946 season.
Like the Dallas Stars, the Nashville Predators jerseys also pay homage to hockey’s history in the music city. Hockey in Nashville began over 30 years before the Predators joined the NHL. In 1962 with the implementation of the Nashville Dixie Flyers into the EHL (Eastern Hockey League), hockey in Nashville was born. They were operational for nine seasons, winning the championship twice in that span.
The Nashville Predators Winter Classic jerseys fit the typical retro style that many teams winter classic uniforms embody. The design is simplistic and reminiscent of a varsity football jacket which is appropriate as the jerseys will debut with the game being played at Cotton Bowl Stadium. The venue has a long relationship with the game of football in the NCAA. The jerseys were designed to not only pay tribute to the Nashville Dixie Flyers, but to also reflect the heritage of the Cotton Bowl and college football.
The Stars and Predators will both wear their Winter Classic jerseys in at least a couple of regular-season NHL games. Speaking of which, the New Years Day Classic gets underway at 1:00pmET and it can be seen on Sportsnet in Canada while carried on NBCSports in the United States.