Milwaukeehockey.com

Clean shirt, new shoes...

September 5, 2007

And I don't know where I'm goin' to
Silk suit, black tie
I don't need a reason why
They come runnin' just as fast as they can
Coz every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man
~ ZZ Top

I've got to start this entry with an open apology of sorts.

About 8 or 9 months ago it was announced that the NHL and AHL would use newly designed uniforms made by Reebok. They are a sleeker design that brags about being more aerodynamic, more moisture resistant, more durable, and keeps the players drier. On a few occasions since then, I warned people who may be 'on the fence' about buying their favorite team's jersey to do so before the conventional designed jerseys were sold out. I assumed the price of this new ultra-technical advancement in the world of sports fabric design would cost the jersey-buying hockey fan a whole lot more money.

Well, it appears that I'm probably wrong. The NHL and AHL reminded everyone this week about the new design, showing off a few team's new sleek looks. Just for shits and giggles, I wandered into ahlstore.com and found the price of a replica new jersey to be $115. Shop.nhl.com also had a price of $115 ($170 personlized). I don't have reference of what the price of a jersey was a year ago, but I'm guessing the price went up only slightly. Honestly, I was expecting a new replica to cost at least $150.

So, I'm sorry for scaring everyone. There I said it.

Time will tell what an authentic jersey will run, but if the replica wasn't much more expensive than before, then the authentic will probably follow suit.

Over the past few days, I've looked into the background of some of the potential new Milwaukee Admiral players, and reworked the 'Players' page on this site while I was at it.

As I still do not know Nashville's plans for the recently signed prospects, my roster list probably has a few players who will not actually appear here, but I read into all of their backgrounds to some degree, just in case.

A few things stood out. Goaltenders Dan Ellis and Dov Grumet-Morris both have worn #30 for most of their career. Assuming Ellis doesn't win the #2 spot in Nashville for the entire season, it will appear that one of those two will have to pick another number for their Admirals jersey. Most likely the younger Grumet-Morris will have to switch. With the Predators, both would be out of luck, as Chris Mason owns #30.

I also noticed both Robert Dietrich and Alexander Sulzer were born in the same German city - Kaufbeuren. (Correction - the Predators training camp roster lists Dietrich's birthplace as Ordzhonikidze, Kazakhstan) Because Sulzer is about two years older, they played in different leagues until recently. I have no idea if they knew each other as kids, but they were both were on the German national team earlier this season, and they were teammates last season with Düsseldorfer EG. They are both under contract with Nashville, but it's not known if they are both planning to play in North America this season.

Yesterday, Pat Leahy signed to play this season in Austria. That leaves just four players from Milwaukee's season ending roster that I have no idea of their future plans (Durno, Goehring, Kearns, Uchevatov). I imagine I'll see some or all of those names on training camp rosters somewhere in the next week or so. If anyone knows for certain where any of those guys are headed, drop me a line.

posted by Todd # 4:16 PM

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