Blues reveal 2022 NHL Winter Classic jersey

On Oct. 11, 1967, the St. Louis Blues made their NHL debut against the Minnesota North Stars at the St. Louis Arena.
Nearly 55 years later, St. Louis and Minnesota will meet again for a memorable game - this time in the 2022 NHL Winter Classic on New Year's Day.

A lot will have changed in that time. The setting will be different - the old barn on Oakland Avenue will be replaced by a state-of-the-art baseball stadium, Target Field, where MLB's Minnesota Twins play their games. The crowd will be bigger - less than 15,000 could fit in the St. Louis Arena for the Blues' inaugural game but nearly 40,000 can squeeze into Target Field. And even one of the teams have changed - the North Stars moved to Dallas, and now an entirely new franchise calls Minnesota home.
Yet, some things haven't changed much - and that is especially true for the sweaters the St. Louis Blues will wear when they hit the ice for their second Winter Classic.

On Friday, captain Ryan O'Reilly and David Perron revealed the Blues' jerseys for the 2022 NHL Winter Classic for the first time.
"I think they look unbelievable, to be honest," Perron told stlouisblues.com. "I know the fans are really going to like them. We're really excited and lucky to be part of another Winter Classic, so it will be special."
When it came time to decide what the Blues should wear for the event, the answer seemed obvious from the start. When the franchise achieved perfection with their inaugural jerseys in 1967 (at least, in our biased opinion), why change much of anything?

"It's just cool having vintage colors. It reminds me of the first jerseys the Blues wore," O'Reilly said. "Seeing it, I just think of the history. You feel the game, how it's been played long before you and the history of the city. The jerseys are really cool, they turned out great. They did a heck of a job with them."
The jersey - which offers a modern spin on an original worn back in 1967 - features a vintage Blue Note made of felt and chainstitch embellishments as a callback to the inaugural jersey from 1967. The sweater's base color is slightly off-white - some might consider it cream - and traditional old-school blue and yellow make up the striping along the waist and on the sleeves. The shoulders feature the same vintage blue worn on the team's 2017 Winter Classic jersey, with yellow and cream stripes along the collar. The sweater also features historically-accurate fonts from 1967, with player names and numbers made of the same felt used on the Blue Note across the chest.

"I think it's a perfect fit for the Winter Classic game," added Colton Parayko. "The logo, I feel like, has that old-school, traditional feel. The felt on the logo, our names and our numbers adds a perfect touch for an outdoor, vintage jersey."
The Winter Classic jersey was produced by adidas, which has provided authentic NHL jerseys since 2017. It will debut on Jan. 1 at Target Field, but will also be worn in two regular-season games later in the 2021-22 season. Those games will be revealed at a later date.
Fans can purchase the new Winter Classic jersey beginning Saturday at 10 a.m. at the STL Authentics Team Store at Enterprise Center and online at STLAuthentics.com.