Flyers unveil 'special' Winter Classic jersey

PHILADELPHIA -- Citizens Bank Park, home of Philadelphia's baseball team, began its conversion into a hockey rink Monday, including a transformation of the home-team clubhouse from Phillies' red to Flyers' orange.

With the nameplates of Flyers' players joining their Phillies' counterparts -- Ilya Bryzgalov's name was under that of Phillies ace Roy Halladay, team captain Chris Pronger shared space with Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz -- the team unveiled its custom jersey for the 2012 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic.

The Reebok-designed jersey keeps the Flyers' iconic black logo and orange coloring intact, with secondary colors of black and a vintage off-white. The shoulders are black, as are the numbers, which are outlined in off-white. The nameplate on the back of the jersey also is off-white and features black lettering. It's a design element unique to the Flyers' current and past uniforms.
 
The shape of the jersey is a bit different, consisting of a new silhouette and striping pattern that never has been worn before by the team.

The heritage striping is black and off-white stripes along the bottom and sleeves of the jersey, and is inspired by a sock design worn by the Flyers in the late 1980s.

There also is a retro-inspired neck lace closure.

"This is definitely different," said Flyers Chairman and founding owner Ed Snider, who said he had a hand in the design of the jersey. "And definitely special. It's a special occasion."

"We believe these new jerseys represent our past, present and future," added Flyers President Peter Luukko. "We believe our fans will be just as excited to wear these new jerseys as our players will at the NHL Winter Classic."

The first to wear the jerseys were current Flyers Brayden Schenn and Blair Betts, but fans already can buy their own.

The jerseys went on sale at the Flyers' team store at the Wells Fargo Center at 11 a.m. on Monday, and Flyers Senior Vice President of Business Operations Shawn Tilger said it won't be long before the jerseys will be available in major retail stores across the Philadelphia region.

"We all collectively, between the NHL, Reebok and the Flyers, have worked very hard to keep this under wraps so we could do a major unveil," Tilger told NHL.com. "Because there were a lot of bootlegs out there and rumors of what it was going to be and what it wasn't going to be. This makes it really special in that we were able to … make it a special event."
 
Contact Adam Kimelman at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @NHLAdamK