I have done several jersey articles during my time here at BCHLNetwork. I’ve criticized teams and given suggestions to change, watched for changes teams have gone through in the off-season, and the top five jerseys in BCHL history.
This time around I’m talking about some of the most questionable jersey designs for each BCHL team. To clarify I’m not knocking jerseys from the 1970s and 80s, I’ll only focus on the last three decades from 1990 to the present day.
Alberni Valley Bulldogs
The Bulldogs have had some nice jerseys over the years with their black, copper, and white color scheme. When they switched to red, black, and white, they followed the path of the Ottawa Senators and used the Sens Reebok Edge jersey. The red and black only on the sleeves make it almost look like a practice jersey.
The Bulldogs have also just used their logo and it is not so great. However, the Bulldogs redeemed themselves this season with a very classy third jersey that mimics the Ottawa 67s of the Ontario Hockey League.
Cranbrook Bucks
The Cranbrook Bucks only have one jersey as they are the newest franchise. Their jerseys are fantastic. The only criticism I have is to go with consistent striping from the sleeves and bottom of the jersey.
They should remove one stripe from the sleeves and add one to the bottom or add two more stripes to the bottom of the jersey.
Chilliwack Chiefs
The Chiefs have had fantastic classic jerseys from their Rangers/Jets-style jerseys in their first nine years to their iconic rage jerseys of the early 2000s and their jerseys from the last few seasons.
The worst ones were when the Chiefs returned to Chilliwack in 2011-12. The team revised the third jersey from 2004 that was inspired by Denver University. Not having their iconic logo on the front of the jersey or even as a shoulder patch makes this the worst in Chiefs history.
Coquitlam Express
For the Express, there’s only one jersey I can put on this list and that’s the first jersey it had. It is a blue and black Calgary Flames-inspired jersey with the infamous Thomas the Tank Engine logo.
To be honest, I personally like these jerseys, but a lot of people don’t because of the cartoonish logo itself. The logo made a return on the Express third jersey this past season as a shoulder patch.
With the Island Finals starting Friday, North Cowichan Mayor Al Siebring and Leonard Krog Mayor of Nanaimo have made a little wager.
Whoever wins the series, the other cities mayor will wear the opponents jersey for the next council meeting! @ClippersHockey pic.twitter.com/mZt27wXcxb
— Cowichan Capitals (@cowichancaps) March 11, 2020
Cowichan Valley Capitals
Like many teams, the Capitals followed the design of an NHL team when it came to jerseys in recent years. For Cowichan Valley, the Caps mimicked their NHL namesake in Washington.
The worst they had were their white jerseys from 2019. It had blue shoulders that were cut off before the sleeve, and a solid red stripe on the sleeves. The bottom of the jersey had a huge red stripe that took up a quarter of the jersey.
Frankly, this was a poorly designed jersey. They rectified it this past season with a new simple red jersey with blue and white stripes that are proportioned perfectly.
Langley Rivermen
The Rivermen have only had one jersey in their history. Here’s hoping for a change in the jersey sometime soon to give people a different look. With that being said, I’m going with the Langley Thunder jerseys from 1995.
It’s hard to tell in the black and white photo above, but these were black with lightning bolt stripes on the bottom and the sleeves on a diagonal. They did change the jersey to be regular stripes later on before rebranding in 1998 as the Hornets.
Merritt Centennials
Merritt has had some very nice jerseys over the years. The only thing that’s wrong with them is the logo. The worst jersey the Centennials had was their Buffalo Sabres-inspired jersey.
The Cents introduced a new wordmark logo with a flying maple leaf that made it look like the team was ready to deliver food for your barbecue.
The jersey lasted from 1996-2007 when as part of the franchise’s 35th anniversary, the team returned to a version of its original logo and jersey from the 70s and 80s.
Sneak peak at Clippers new jerseys. pic.twitter.com/kNDsN4TrZx
— Nanaimo Clippers (@ClippersHockey) September 13, 2020
Nanaimo Clippers
Nanaimo is one of those franchises that has had some great jerseys over their years. The worse one is the new jerseys the Clippers introduced this season.
These do not look good and I hope they decide to discontinue them. The striping and use of black is incomplete and quite frankly, are a bit of an eyesore.
Penticton Vees
Just like the Clippers, the Vees have had some fantastic jerseys over the last 30 years. It is very hard to choose their worst ones. I won’t include the Panthers in this, but for the Vees, it is their first jersey after their rebrand in 2004.
These jerseys had a 1998 Canada Olympic style to them. The white jersey has black shoulders with blue and white piping that comes to a point on the sleeves. It features dark blue numbers on the sleeves and back.
The black jersey had just white piping that came to a point on the sleeves and had the same blue numbers as the white jerseys.
Powell River Kings
Like many BCHL teams, Powell River has also had some very good jersey designs. Going back to their Paper Kings logo with green and gold was a home run.
After they dropped “Paper” from their name, the Kings used Dallas Stars-inspired jerseys with the Kings word mark over the top of a crown. It was nice at the time but stands out as their worst overall.
Prince George Spruce Kings
Prince George kept the status quo for most of its time in the BCHL with a small rebrand in the late 1990s and early 2000s to their cartoon spruce tree logo. PG’s worst jerseys are its first ones after coming over from the Rocky Mountain Junior Hockey League.
It was a New York Rangers-style jersey with a red version of their crown logo. They had the same jersey design and colours as Chilliwack until the Chiefs rebranded in 1998-99.
The Spruce Kings returned to an updated version of these jerseys in 2006-07 and they look much better than the originals.
Salmon Arm Silverbacks
The Backs have been a mimic of the Los Angeles Kings since joining the BCHL as an expansion franchise in 2001-02. The Silverbacks had purple in their color scheme till 2012-13 when they went to simply black and silver.
The worst jerseys the Backs used were in 2006-07. These were the only jerseys that didn’t follow the LA Kings but were based on the 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres angry slug jerseys.
Surrey Eagles
Surrey has had some OK jerseys over its time in the BCHL, their 2003-10 jerseys were their best. The Eagles’ worst were their jerseys from 1996-2003.
It was a Colorado Avalanche-inspired jersey with big cartoon eagle claws on the shoulder. The white jersey had blue on the sleeves and bottom with green trim. The blue jersey had green sleeves with white trim.
Given that they won back-to-back Fred Page Cups and the 1998 Royal Bank Cup, the design of these jerseys didn’t hinder Surrey’s performance on the ice.
Trail Smoke Eaters
Trail, like Penticton and Nanaimo, has had some fantastic jerseys over its history. Their worst one came in 1996-97.
The jersey itself was similar to the Team Canada jersey the Smoke Eaters introduced in 2002. It had an orange stripe with black stripes around it and a soccer-style collar that included all three colors in it.
Trail rectified things with the introduction of its current logo in 2000-01 and moving towards a more Philadelphia Flyers-inspired look.
Vernon Vipers
Since the franchise was renamed the Vipers, it followed the Florida Panthers design for the first five years and the Atlanta Thrashers after 1998.
Vernon’s jerseys from the Reebok Edge designs are its worst. The Thrashers jerseys from that era were not good with weird piping and the baby blue just wasn’t a Vipers colour.
They went away from the classic snake logo to a wordmark with a viper’s head on the top and the word “Vernon” down one sleeve on the blue jersey.
The white jersey had the classic logo but with weird piping and blue sleeves featuring a small stripe of white at the elbow.
Victoria Grizzlies
Since rebranding from the Salsa in 2006-07, the Grizzlies have had some pretty good jerseys. The only ones they dropped the ball on were the jerseys introduced in 2012-13.
The white jersey wasn’t so bad with three black stripes and a yellow collar. The black jersey unfortunately didn’t make the grade.
Black jerseys, dark grey stripes, and everything black looked like they were wearing practice jerseys. The only colour on the jersey was the yellow collar and the logo.
Wenatchee Wild
The Wild came into the BCHL and made a statement with their jerseys. Simple blue and white colors and followed the Tampa Bay Lightning design.
The Wild introduce new jerseys in 2019-20 which are their worst. The white jersey had blue shoulders with two blue stripes they went through the middle and continued on the sleeves. The black jerseys only had a thick white stripe bordered by two blue ones that continued on the sleeves.
The only upside to these jerseys is the switch of the old shoulder patch to the main logo.
West Kelowna Warriors
The hardest part with West-K is it could have as many as five or six jerseys at one time. However, the worst one is their road jerseys from 2012-13.
The black jersey had burgundy shoulders that extended slightly past where normal shoulder colors finish. The sleeves were just black and around the bottom of the jersey was a wide burgundy stripe with a gold stripe above it.
