The LA Kings just pulled a Notre Dame.
In 1977, in a matchup between Notre Dame and USC, the Irish warmed up in their traditional blue jerseys. What happened next was the ole’ switcheroo. Notre Dame came back for the game wearing green jerseys in a game that many in Southern California won’t love the outcome of.
Hoping for a different story tonight…..on the result front!
The LA Kings hit the ice for warmups tonight in a night like any other. It’s the home opener in Downtown Los Angeles as the Kings host the Colorado Avalanche. The Kings were on the ice in their traditional home uniforms, warming up a half hour before puck drop as they normally would. Warmups went according to plan.
And then the team took the ice for pre-game introductions.
Gone were the black jerseys unveiled last season, the team’s primary home uniform. The Kings were wearing their new third jersey. A jersey that has been teased, speculated and asked about. With no leaks.
In one of the most unique reveals in sports history, the Kings just walked on out in their jerseys for Opening Night against Colorado. No one saw it coming. No one predicted it. The Kings just did it. In a world where just about every jersey or uniform is leaked beforehand, the Kings managed to not only avoid that, but execute a live reveal on Opening Night, in plain sight.
And that’s pretty cool.
The new third jersey, as noted over the summer, is a dark jersey, which means the Kings will wear it mostly at home. One of the things about the last third jersey was that a white jersey could be difficult to wear at home as teams typically do not travel with dark jerseys, so each usage was a specific accommodation.
The base of the jersey is black, with the Crown taking center stage for the first time on any jersey since the 2022-23 Reverse Retros and on a third jersey for the first time since the 2012-13 season, when the Kings transitioned full-time to the jerseys they won the Stanley Cup in, in 2012 and 2014.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be all that surprised……
