Wednesday night in a 3-1 loss to the Wheeling Nailers, the ECHL's Florida Everblades (an affiliate for both the Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning) unleashed their latest contribution to the pantheon of minor league hockey fashion curios: The sunny and well-manicured "Go Green" jerseys.
Technically, this is the second time this season that the Everblades have "gone green" with a specialty jersey. And if you've been able to erase the image of those toxic green Christmas jerseys (with matching socks) from your memories, make sure to tip your therapist.
These "Go Green" jerseys will be worn on Friday night and Saturday night, before being auctioned off after Saturday's game. They were a handy way to reach out to environmentally conscious sponsors like Ferrell Gas and Waste Pro. Alas, no one could get Microsoft on board for the promotion, despite the jerseys obviously having been inspired by their Windows desktop.
Woody Wommack of NaplesNews.com, who had the first image of the jerseys, has a few more photos of the sweaters in action from Wednesday night's game. Jeffrey Briscoe of the Examiner also has game coverage and a few images.
For comparison's sake, this is what the Everblades usually wear on home ice. As you can see, the dainty cloud socks would totally clash.
Overall, not the worst jerseys we've ever seen, especially for a Floridian team. (Although if they wanted to be climatically accurate for the region, the jerseys would suddenly cloud over for 10 minutes, have a thunderstorm, and then return to being picturesque.) The colors, numbers and letters are all OK. The "Go Green" on the bottom could have been a wee more creative.
Heck, they might even have a medicinal effect: Can a player ever be pessimistic wearing these things, without being ironic?
But we can't help but wonder: If this is all about "Going Green," please tell us these things aren't made out of old toilet paper and banana peels. What say you, dear readers?
Pass or Fail: The ECHL's Florida Everblades "Go Green" jerseys.