Once You Go Black

The Sharks debuted their new black 3rd jerseys Saturday night. As a long-time fan of ice aesthetics and ARDENT critic of the orange-and-teal abominations, I greatly anticipated/dreaded the unveiling.

I'm glad to say, these sweaters are abso-fucking-lutely gorgeous.

• It's hard to fuck up black but the lack of any unnecessary piping, patches, or other bells-and-whistles gives the jersey a sleek, intimidating look.
• There were some ugly rumors of vertical neck-to-waist teal piping on the back of the sweater (kind of like the Caps vertical stripe in the above pic). Good to see those rumors were unfounded. No vertical striping here.
• The arm & sock horizontal bands are perfect. A simple white & teal look is all it needed.
• The old school neck tie-up thing is an total jean creamer. I've been infatuated with those since they started making a comeback. So much so I wanted to convert into a Bruins fan. Thank God we avoided that.
• Nice use of the full-body Shark logo. Not an earth-shattering change, yet not the same old same old.
  
• And of course, the number one reason to love these sweaters - NO. ORANGE.

On the nitpicky front, I still think the jersey is too busy with shoulder patches and shoulder numbers, as well as the number on the front breast. But don't let that deter you from buying one for your favorite Sharks blogger this Christmas!