Panthers Get A New Logo, Red Wings Get A New Arena, Hockey Twitter Gets A New Member
The 1st round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs completely wrapped up last night with the Nashville Predators coming back to knock out the Ducks in Game 7. So in the East we have the Isles vs Bolts and Caps vs Pens. In the West we have the Stars vs Blues and Sharks vs Preds. That’s all well and good and everything but outside of the actual playoffs, there’s some more shit going on. Since none of them are really big enough to be worthy of their own post, let’s just throw together a Puck Talk Stew over here, starting with the Florida Panthers’ new logo being leaked earlier this week.
This is some MLS looking bullshit. When I see that logo, I think soccer and/or Penn State…
… both of which you can only take so much of in moderation. Now the good news is that I’ve been told by SOURCES that their new uniforms were not designed by Adidas, who will take over NHL uniform duties next season. The uniforms were designed by Panthers ownership and Reebok so it won’t look like a complete soccer “kit”. Chances are they’ll look something like this just with the updated logo:
Welcome to Little Caesars Arena. Home of the Detroit Red Wings
Next year will be the last season that the Wings will play at Joe Louis Arena. Aside from MSG, it’s the only other NHL arena without a corporate sponsor. But for a team that’s strayed from selling out for so long, this is how you make your way into the sponsorship game with a splash. Nobody likes banks (i.e. Wells Fargo Center, TD Bank Garden, M&T Bank Stadium). Nobody likes cable/internet/cell phone providers (i.e. Verizon Center, T-Mobile Arena). But everybody loves pizza. And if you don’t love pizza, well then you can kindly go ahead and fuck yourself. Also, I’m all in on putting ads on NHL jerseys if this is the result.
The Marriage Between Black Twitter And Hockey Twitter Continues To Grow
By now I’m sure everybody is well aware of our boy Tony X aka @soIoucity. In just a few short days, he’s managed to do what I’ve spent years trying to accomplish; become internet famous just for tweeting about hockey. His first experience with hockey was a beauty of a follow and poetry via 140 character at a time. And earlier this morning, he got himself an appearance on GMA meaning that he’s officially the only member of Hockey Twitter that is sufferable enough to put on a national stage.
MID-BLOG UPDATE: Say it ain’t so, Tony!
He had a few more highlights during the games yesterday but it looks like his account was shut down while I was writing this and was too stupid to take screenshots last night. But this gem right here is what, in my very humble opinion, is the best of the best.
I haven’t stopped laughing since because he’s so right. Out of all the major sports, hockey has the most snackability opportunities. Sure, you can snack away while you’re waiting in the dugout in baseball but the cameras are on you still and you don’t want to be “that guy”. You only get 1 halftime in football and basketball. In hockey though? You get two 20 minute intermissions. Just think about how many snacks you can down during that time. I feel like we, as lifelong hockey fans, take that for granted and I’m just appreciative that Tony X is here to put some things in perspective.
UPDATE #2: Looks like Tony is alive again and thank god I’m not in the BREAKING NEWS business because this was a rollercoaster. Guess some imposter son of a bitch tried to hijack his following which means one thing and one thing only. Tony X is about to get that blue checkmark.