RIP Lake Erie Monsters

Hello, all. Time for a rage filled post from your friendly neighborhood prospect geek. Those of you that are long time followers know that along with prospects, the thing I probably know the most about are hockey jerseys or sweaters (owning 130 of them helps…ok ok 129 but the last one’s ordered).

When I heard on twitter the Monsters were having a “major announcement” I figured the team would finish what it started with the CBJ affiliate jerseys and go “full CBJ” by using the blue version of the Monsters logo that appears as a shoulder patch on the CLE jersey. Going full CBJ would only bug me a little as I like it when an AHL team’s jersey looks different from the NHL team’s like the Monsters have always done.

For comparison’s sake to support my guess, I went through all the AHL teams (except Tuscon and the Thunderbirds who haven’t unveiled their jerseys yet), and including what Springfield wore last year as the Falcons (which still looked like CBJ jerseys despite the team being the Coyotes affiliate), it’s actually a pretty even split as 15 teams wore jerseys exactly like their NHL affiliate and 14 wore something different. Of those 14, six were “different” but had the exact same colors as their parent club.

So as for the announcement it was announced that not only would the Monsters be changing colors but changing its name – the team is now known as the Cleveland Monsters and will have new light, dark and alternate jerseys this year. I say light, dark and alternate as this season will be the first that the AHL will copy the CHL’s model of wearing light jerseys at home until midseason and then wearing dark at home for the remainder.

Ok here comes the anger. First, the name. I’m sorry but Lake Erie Monsters just rolled off the tongue while Cleveland Monsters seems kinda clunky. Maybe it’ll grow on me with time but for now it doesn’t sound right. As for the jerseys, first, it was always evident who pays the bills in the Q (Dan Gilbert owns both the Monsters and the Cavaliers but the Monsters only got a small corner of the teamshop and less advertising around the arena than the NBA club) and you can see that Cavs color scheme reflected prominently in the new design.

As for the jerseys template, it took me a minute to figure out who they looked like but then it hit me they remind me of the St. Louis Blues jerseys worn from 2006-2014. Looking at the white jersey, I think the Monsters logo looks odd without the words under it like previous ones. And then there’s the black jerseys. I’ll be honest folks, they’re my least favorite of the jerseys. I believe the only team that should have the diagonal city, team name whatever on their jersey are the New York Rangers. I hated the Colorado jersey like that and don’t get me started on the SENS and BOLTS jerseys from a few years back. As for the yellow one…well it was only shown as a graphic at the unveiling and not shown live. The Monsters have worn bright yellow before on a previous “Cavs night” so as for an opinion let’s just hope they’re not as bright at the Predators yellow jerseys (unless the organization plans on handing out sunglasses the nights they wear them).

A casualty of the rebrand means it marks the end of – at least for the people I know – the favorite Monsters jersey the blue CLEVELAND jersey that the team first wore in its outdoor game.

There you have it folks a quick little reaction on the Monsters new threads. As they say, winning fixes everything so perhaps we won’t be talking much about these sweaters much at all come hockey season!

(Featured image courtesy of Cleveland Monsters Twitter account)