The Hamilton Bulldogs have revealed their new duds they will suiting up in next season. If you’re a fan of Hamilton Sports teams, the colors will look very familiar.
Bruiser unveiling your Hamilton Bulldogs' new look for the 2016-2017 season! #BlackandGoldUnite pic.twitter.com/fmXAGlOqSE
— Brantford Bulldogs (@BulldogsOHL) March 13, 2016
When the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs were re-purchased by their parent team, the Montreal Canadiens, they were moved to St. John’s to become the second incarnation of the St. John’s Ice Caps. Michael Andlauer, who sold the AHL Bulldogs to the Habs, then bought the OHL’s Belleville Bulls and moved them to Hamilton to become the OHL’s Bulldogs.
In their first season, the Bulldogs wore jerseys not unlike the one you see in the featured image. Just take away any Habs logo and that was their jersey. It was pretty much known that they would eventually change the jersey to distance themselves from the Habs’ look. The AHL Bulldogs weren’t that popular in Hamilton with the majority of Hamiltonians being fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs. No one wants to cheer for a team associated with the arch rivals.
The team announced a contest for fans to create the next jersey and the eventual winner was created by a 10-year old only revealed as Christina C.
Join us TODAY for Fan Appreciation Day and be the first to see your Hamilton Bulldogs' new look! pic.twitter.com/cS2REHrdhU
— Brantford Bulldogs (@BulldogsOHL) March 13, 2016
So now the Bulldogs share the colors of most Hamilton sports teams, the most popular being the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats. However, the colors actually come from another Hamilton hockey team. The city once had an NHL team all the way back in the 1920s, the Hamilton Tigers. The franchise lasted from 1920 until 1925 before moving to New York and becoming the New York Americans. So now, the jersey has a bit more history in it.
However, that’s not to say there isn’t problems with it. The Bulldogs now join the Kingston Frontenacs and Sarnia Sting to have a black & bold/yellow color scheme. It’s not unusual for two teams in a league to share colors, but three hasn’t been done all that often, if at all.
The one personal gripe I have with this jersey is that it is an exact carbon copy of an NHL jersey. Fans in Pittsburgh might know what I’m talking about. As you can see, the jerseys are exactly the same in everything but the logo. Same colors, same striping in the same exact order. No offense to the creator of the jersey, but it’s not like there was a lot of original thought involved in this jersey.
Hamilton and Pittsburgh do one big similarity as they are both big steel producers. It is then not a problem for them to share colors, but at least the jersey could have been changed a bit.
All in all, this is a new beginning for the Bulldogs. They have two games left in this season as they are trying to fight for the last remaining playoff spot in the OHL’s Eastern Conference. If they make it, the current jersey will have a fitting end to it.