Newsday: November 25th 2002

 Did we hear right - the Islanders in New Jersey?

Not quite. The hockey team has a new jersey. To be specific , it's a blazing orange number with white striping and blue geometric color blocks at the arms and upper shoulders.

At lunch today at the Marriott in Uniondale, the Islanders will unveil the jersey, marking just the team's fifth shirt since its inception in 1972.

The team considers the new jersey a competitive tool, and will use it to fire up players and fans at big games and for special occasions. Of course, there's a little merchandising going on, too, as fans who already own home- white and road-blue jerseys will surely have to add the new design to their collections.

At the shirt's debut today, star center Alexi Yashin and his girlfriend, model Carol Alt, team captain Michael Peca and his wife Kristin, and their 4-year-old son, Trevor, will model the vivid orange job for press and for assembled guests.

About half of the 30 teams in the National Hockey League have third jerseys, according to Lloyd Haymes, the NHL's director of Center Ice and Sporting Goods Programs. "The point of the third jersey is for the teams to expand their identity, to have them come up with a new look and an alternative look."

NHL regulations allow a team to wear the third jerseys up to 15 times during the regular season. With advance notice to the league, they can also be worn for playoff games.

The Islanders "want to spice it up," Haymes says. They are going after "a wow factor" with the bright orange shirt.

Timothy Gilroy, the Islanders' creative service director who spearheaded the in-house design process, (reportedly everyone from team owner Charles Wang on down put in their two cents) agrees with that assessment. "I think it is going to look fantastic on the ice. It is absolutely eye-popping," he says.

The players, Gilroy said, "like the idea of wearing something different. The age of the average player is 26, and they're very cool with wearing something a little funkier."

The jerseys will get their first taste of ice on Wednesday at Nassau Coliseum, when the Islanders play the Ottawa Senators, a team they haven't beaten at home since 1996. Fans are being called upon to wear orange to the game that day (conveniently, the shirts will go on sale tomorrow).

Will the big orange bring the Islanders' luck? Hockey players are notoriously superstitious, Gilroy says. "If they win with this shirt on, it's going to have their popularity. I'm hoping that it's considered the lucky shirt."

Head coach Peter Laviolette is reserving judgment. "It would be just great if every time we put it on we would win, but I'll have to wait and see on that one." But the coach welcomes the new shirt. "It's good to see a fresh look every now and again. It's like a new flavor."

It will be the fourth new jersey for fan favorite and veteran right wing Steve Webb. "I actually wore the fisherman's shirt my rookie year," he says of the unpopular design introduced in '95 that featured a Gorton's seafood-like logo of a fisherman. Webb, who was chosen to rip that jersey off his body on the ice to herald the return to the old logo in '97, says he's hoping to "break the streak" against Ottawa in the new orange shirt. But more than that, he sees it as an excellent merchandising vehicle. "It's a great marketing thing. It's good for the fans, and it's something new and flashy for the kids."

Mike Rosen, 31, a fan who grew up in Bellmore, and whose family has been season ticket holders since 1972, concurs. "I'm generally a traditionalist. When the Islanders introduced the fisherman jersey a few years back, I didn't like it, and I didn't buy it. That said, I think the orange uniform is a great way to bring in a new generation of Islander fans."

The shirts cost $35 for toddlers, $85 for kids, $90 for adults. For $185, you can get what's known as the "authentic" shirt - the very same shirt the players wear, down to the fight strap that holds the jersey down when players start grappling. The jerseys will be available at Islanders concessions, Islanders stores, NHL.com and at Modell's sporting good stores.

While the temptation to get into the orange might be overwhelming, the NHL's Haymes warns that third jerseys aren't always winners. "There are cases of a third jersey bombing," he says, citing third jerseys served up by the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks as examples. "They were out there for one year, and people were saying, 'Thanks, but no thanks.'"

But if conventional wisdom in the fashion industry holds for hockey fashion, the new shirt is a good choice for a hockey team. In the book, "Dress Code," by Toby Fischer Mirkin (Clarkson Potter, $23), vibrant orange is described as "an audacious, energizing color" that "exclaims that we are outgoing and spontaneous."
Illustration

Caption: Photo by Michael Ross Wacht - Islanders' coach Peter Laviolette's daughter Elisabeth, wife Kristen and son Jack model their new third jerseys. The team will debut them on Wednesday.