New Haven Knights

Connecticut has a rich hockey history over the past one hundred years. Whether it’s professional, minor league, or college, Connecticut hockey has had it’s fair share of great hockey jerseys. Here are the best jerseys in Connecticut hockey history. But first lets start with the

Worst of the Worst: Bridgeport current alternates

Double trouble

It’s bad enough that the New York Islanders spawned these jerseys in the NHL. However, the Sound Tigers apparently didn’t get the memo and decided to ditch their awesome logo to instead just Sound Tigers script. Just for the simple reason that someone thought it was smart to repeat this abomination is why it deserves this place on the list.

10) New Haven Blades

A classic in New Haven history

This classic beauty belonged to the New Haven Blades over fifty years ago. The red, white, and blue color scheme, this jersey recreates the classic Montreal Canadians original six sweater. Add a classic New Haven script in cursive and you have a beautiful piece of hockey history. I know one thing this type of jersey may be old, but it would still look sharp on teams today.

9) Beast of New Haven

A unique logo and color scheme that proves beauty is in the eye of the beholder

While many people may see this as an ugly jersey, I believe it’s awesome. A cool and unique logo that hadn’t been tried before, a dark jersey highlighted with neon yellow and red, and cool claw shoulder logos. You also have to love the neon numbers which made it easy to find the players and combining both the Blue and white colors for both jerseys. Why Beast? It honors New Haven’s gothic architecture with a gargoyle mascot in front of the moon. Hey give them credit for going out on a limb to create a different looking jersey. This jersey did defiantly catch people’s eyes and whose boldness was a favorite of New Haven hockey fans.

8) New Haven Knights

Regal and intimidating

Nothing says intimidating like a black jersey. Spoiler alert there’s more to come. The Knights had a cool logo, but the question was could the colors of purple and gray be incorporated effectively. The answer is yes. These uniforms are beautiful and have the perfect amount of purple with gray accents that really make the jersey stick out. The black makes this jersey both intimidating and sophisticated. Add a great logo with a bold Knight clutching his stick and shield for battle, and you have a great combination. This is one jersey where everything comes together beautifully.

7) New Haven NightHawks (final years)

Patriotism and classic logo come together

Look at these beauties. No this isn’t a team USA jersey, it’s the final New Haven Night Hawks jerseys. The classic Night Hawk logo with clean lines and just the right amount of red and white really make this sweater pop. Hey patriotism and the Night Hawks sounds like a match made in heaven. Hey maybe team USA should borrow these. While these jerseys do inspire the american spirit of a classic New England, they still can’t beat the original…..

6) New Haven Night Hawks Originals

Welcome to the jungle

The pinnacle of New Haven hockey. Nothing says Night Hawks like black and grey. There was a reason the Coliseum was known as the jungle at this time. It was because of the rowdy fans and the home team sporting these bad boys. The Grey outlines really make the black Night Hawk pop on this sweater. Add in the sophistication of the original LA Kings jersey and you have a winner. Ask hockey fans in New Haven and this is without a doubt the most iconic sweater in the city’s history.

5) Yale Bulldogs

Talk about winning in style

When you win a national championship, you want to look good doing it. Sometimes less is more when you look at the Bulldogs sweaters. The double stripe piping on the socks, pants, elbows, and waist is a classic look that you see many teams trying to imitate now, I’m talking to you UCONN. The whiles and Navy with the Yale script on the front with the numbers with the simple “Y” on the shoulders shows that even though these jerseys may be simple, there is a certain element of pureness that you don’t see in hockey anymore. Yale, please never ever change your uniforms! They are already perfect don’t screw these up like many other schools who try to update their “looks”.

4) Connecticut Whale

Classic history with a twist of modern flare

Too bad these won’t be seen anymore. The former AHL team in Hartford, The Connecticut Whale had jerseys that meshed hockey history with modern design. For the purists you had the old Hartford Whalers colors with the Whale main sake. However, the jerseys add a modern “ocean” fringe along the bottom of the jersey with an updated logo that is both fun and different. Especially with the green jerseys, you could have mistaken this group as the original Whalers.

3) Quinnipiac Bobcats

Quinnipiac hockey makes a statement on the ice with some of the best jerseys in college hockey

For the Quinnipiac Bobcats, while they may be the new kids on the block, no other team has three amazing jerseys in their set. While the white, blue, and the new yellow jerseys are all awesome, I gotta go with these ones. When you watch Quinnipiac in their Yellow jerseys, they defiantly catch your eyes. Yellow is a hard color to pull off, but this shade along with the blue piping makes for an eye-catching and great looking sweater. Not only is the color great, but the Quinnipiac Bobcat logo with the “Quinnipiac” script and swiping Bobcat is a sick logo. If you look closely the head and arm of the bobcat create a Q, talk about a slick design. The running bobcats on the shoulders are just a bonus. The Quinnipiac program is just beginning its bright future and have an awesome pair of jerseys to help with the recruiting.

2 Bridgeport Sound Tigers Original

Why did they get rid of these???

Now these are sick. Black jersey, a fierce blue, and yellow highlights to make the whole thing pop. Throw in an aggressive blue tiger logo and you have the best minor league jersey in state history. Unfortunately for the Sound Tigers, like most other minor league teams, their jerseys are exactly the same as their pro counterparts. While the new jerseys aren’t that bad, the original was bold and gave the Sound Tigers their own unique identity. I don’t know about you, but I wish they would bring these back out of retirement.

1) The Hartford Whalers

Forget great Connecticut jersey, these are one of the greatest all time NHL jerseys

Can the Whalers come back just to get these jerseys back?

Was there any doubt? Forget Connecticut hockey, these are some of the greatest jerseys in NHL history. Let’s see the navy and white jerseys with the silver, green and white piping created a sophisticated look that popped and was easy on the eyes. Could anybody else combine Navy, silver, and green, in such a way. The colors balance each other out and there isn’t an overuse of one color. Oh there’s also one of the greatest logos in sports history. The Whale tail in Navy, the W in Green, and in the negative space between the two the silver forming the letter “H” for Hartford. I wish we could just have an NHL team back for the simple reason that the NHL needs classic jerseys like these again. And people wonder why Whalers jerseys are still so popular after the team left in 1997. Go Whalers! Do you guys agree? Any that I missed? Follow and comment to tell me about what you think.

In downtown New Haven there is a large parking lot at the foot of the Knights of Columbus building. For most people it’s just a sea of tar filled with numerous slumbering automobiles. However, for diehard hockey fans this is hallowed ground.

The ghosts of New Haven hockey endure

For 30 years hockey legends were born on this spot as they continued a storied hockey tradition the began in the 1920s. This unassuming lot gave generations of young hockey players their first taste of professional hockey. From 1972-2007 the New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum towered as a metal and concrete behemoth that many claimed was an eyesore for the New Haven skyline. However, you couldn’t judge this book by its cover. Despite its dreary and intimidating facade, the Coliseum’s heart is what made it special. There it provided a lifetime of memories and continued the storied tradition of professional hockey in the Elm city. While it may have been a dump, it was our dump. The memories the Coliseum provided spectators ranged from hockey games to concerts which provided them with some of their most cherished memories in their lives. It was the heart of downtown New Haven and provided an atmosphere filled with crazy and

This towering behemoth cannot by judged by its appearance

die heart fans that supported whoever called the 12,000 seat indoor insane asylum its home. The Nighthawks were by far the most famous and popular tenants who played for 20 seasons from 1972-1992 and made four appearances in the Calendar Cup Finals. The Nighthawks games soon became regular sellouts as fans flocked to see the future stars in the NHL come through the city of New Haven. The team became famous for playing welcome to the jungle which was appropriate for the steel and concrete jungle, especially for the fans in section 14.

For 20 years the Nighthawks became the heart and soul of New Haven

It became a major home ice advantage because of the passionate fans made the Coliseum an intimidating place to play. The seventies and eighties were the heyday for hockey in the city of New Haven. Since the early 1920s hockey helped to define the Elm city, but soon the tide began to turn. By the early nineties minor league sports in New Haven were being put on life support. It started with the Nighthawks ending their tenure in 1992 and being renamed the New Haven Senators. The change was very unpopular with the fan base, but what made it even worse was that after only one season the team decided to leave New Haven. For four years the Coliseum was dark until 1997 when a new team, The Beast of New Haven moved in.

1997 was the darkest year in Connecticut for hockey as the Hartford Whalers (click link) left the Nutmeg state to become the Carolina Hurricanes. Now minor league hockey was asked to fill the void left by the Whalers. For hockey fans it’s like going to a party and being told you must have non-alcoholic beverages after enjoying the real thing for decades. The Beast not only had to try to fill this impossible void but also got competition. The abandoned Civic Center in Hartford was filled with another minor league team, the Hartford Wolf Pack while Springfield was awarded the Springfield Falcons. Stiffer competition, an impossible void to fill, and a building that had been neglected by the city of New Haven were slowly killing the great hockey history of the city of New Haven. As a former hockey player and lifetime hockey fan I have

I’ll always remember watching the Beast with my dad and the great experiences we shared

to thank my father for taking me to my first hockey game. It was in 1997 when watched the Beast of New Haven defeat the Providence Bruins 4-2. I loved the Beast and can still remember meeting Peter Worrell, a hulking forward who became a superhero like figure. My dad always took me to as many games as possible and we would always sit behind the Beast net to root for my favorite player, goaltender Mike Fountain. While my dad took me to the games my mom helped make my bedroom a shrine to the hockey team. Heck one year I dressed as the Beast mascot for Halloween. While many people root for professional teams or college teams my team was my team. I would watch them on local tv and listen to every away game that I possibly could. My dream became to wear those white and blue uniforms with the giant Beast emblem on my chest in front of the hometown crowd. However, some dreams just don’t last forever.

In 1999 it was announced the Beast would be leaving and I was crushed. I sat teary eyed trying to figure out how could my heroes just be leaving? A nine-year old kid at the time, I couldn’t comprehend the situation and wondered why were they leaving me? I now know it was because Mayor Destefano refused to renovate the coliseum and didn’t see the importance of keeping minor league hockey in New Haven. He didn’t appreciate the rich history that he was destroying for generations of fans in the Elm city.The state also invested in the new arenas built at Mohegan Sun and in Bridgeport which soon made the Coliseum obsolete. Why play at a deteriorating arena when a franchise could play at a brand spanking new one filled with all the bells and whistles? With the death of the Beast, the clock was striking midnight for hockey in New Haven. With their passing the last shred of the former Hartford Whalers was taken away from Connecticut. While the New Haven Knights became the new tenant in 2000, the drop from AHL to UHL hockey was noticeable. The reason people didn’t come to games was because the UHL did not have the talent or pedigree of hockey that the AHL had. Like the Whalers why should the fans just accept a decrease in the level of hockey then they were used to? In the AHL you had future NHL stars on every roster, but in the UHL you’d be hard pressed to find players who had a future in the NHL. I even tried to get into the Knights and while I did enjoy their games it just wasn’t the same.

This is what I pictured myself doing when I grew up and the uniform I would wear

Three years later the Knights would ride off into the sunset and with them New Haven’s hockey legacy. Our beloved old Coliseum was finally taken off life support in the early morning hours of January 20th, 2007 (link to watch implosion). I watched the destruction with my parents at my side as we watched almost a decade of memories collapse in 10 seconds. The life of the coliseum defined my hockey career as it began with the Beast and ended in 2007 with the Coliseum after I finally surrendered to my battle with concussions and hung up my pads for good. It’s been years since I first took the escalator from the upstairs parking garage down into the Coliseum and I will never forget it. I still can smell the hotdogs, Zamboni fumes, and the roaring crowds chanting “sieve, sieve, sieve” after every Beast goal. The song machine head followed by a booming voice that filled the cavernous arena with Ladies and gentleman! Here are your Beast of New Haven! To be honest the Beast began my longtime love affair with sports and if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be writing this today. The Coliseum created a lifetime of memories, especially with my father.

I felt like the luckiest kid in the world to be sitting in the stands with him as we went back and forth about the game. I wish the Coliseum was still there to inspire the next generation of young hockey fans. While Yale and Quinnipiac certainly have certainly helped to fill the void, the next generation of New Haveners will never get to experience the same joy that my generation was privileged enough to enjoy. I always come back to those experiences that I enjoyed with my dad and I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. Now every time I head south on State Street and pass the gravesite of the once mighty Coliseum I can still visualize the concrete and steel racing towards the heavens while hearing thousands explode into cheers after a Beast goal. I can still remember ascending the massive escalators as I would look up into my father’s blue eyes and say “thank you for taking me to the game”. Then the images and sounds fade away as the sea of asphalt comes back into view. I always have to fight off a tear as I thank the Coliseum for the memories.

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Connecticut hockey’s greatest jerseys

Gone but not forgotten, the ghosts of hockey in New Haven