When you hear “Colorado Rockies,” you probably think baseball. But long before there were Rockies running the bases, there were Rockies on the ice. The Colorado Rockies were an NHL team that played in Denver from 1976 to 1982, and while they had a devil of a time achieving success before becoming the New Jersey Devils, the Colorado Rockies NHL jersey has definitely stood the test of time.
For its solid design and continuing popularity (more on that later), we’re excited to make the Colorado Rockies hockey jersey one of our Top 8 uniform picks.
A Mountain of Misery …
The Rockies were originally the Kansas City Scouts, an expansion team that came into the NHL in 1974 along with the Washington Capitals. (These two additions, incidentally, sparked the creation of the four NHL divisions that we still have today.) After two seasons of frustration (coaching changes, massive penalty minutes and a terrible won-lost record), the team was sold and relocated to Denver, becoming the Colorado Rockies.
The team fared only somewhat better in Denver, where it squandered draft picks (with some notable exceptions such as star defenseman Barry Beck), endured a revolving door of head coaches (seven over a four-year period) and went through two agonizing ownership changes. To get an idea of what the hometown fans went through, here are the regular-season records of the Rockies:
- 1976-77: 20-46-14
- 1977-78: 19-40-21
- 1978-79: 15-53-12
- 1979-80: 19-48-13
- 1980-81: 22-45-13
- 1981-82: 18-49-13
Possibly the highlight of the Colorado Rockies era was in 1979-80, when the literally and figuratively colorful Don Cherry became the team’s head coach after a stint with the Boston Bruins, where he won the Jack Adams Award in 1976. Cherry did a great job of motivating the players and making the games exciting for the fans, but constant feuding with management led to his departure after only one season.
The team’s motto and advertising slogan for the brief Cherry era: “Come to the fights and watch a Rockies game break out!” That probably tells you all you need to know about the flavor of Rockies hockey!
A Uniform Operating at Peak Performance
In this this sea of instability, there was one positive as solid as an iceberg: the Colorado Rockies hockey jersey.
The original primary logo was a blue mountain with the Colorado state “C” in the center in red and yellow, with a white horizontal stripe running through the “C’s” center — essentially the same design as the Colorado state flag, only in the shape of a mountain. Sharp. Bold. Inspiring to the hometown fans. Ownership made three design tweaks to the primary logo, but the team retained the overall look and design concept.
The original Rockies primary logo was named by the NHL as one of the greatest NHL logos of all time. It has also been honored by Bleacher Report as one of the top 10 logos of defunct NHL teams.
The rest of the Colorado Rockies NHL jersey had the same characteristics, with blue road uniforms and white at home. Gold and maroon striping decorated the sleeves and lower torso. A solid design all the way around, the bold red color and striping carried over in the New Jersey Devils jerseys after the move in 1982.
The Avalanche Say It’s High Time for a Rockies Return
Colorado’s present-day NHL team, the Colorado Avalanche, recently announced a new third jersey for 2018-19, with a logo and look reminiscent of the Rockies. Getting rave reviews from fans and hockey uniform aficionados, the new jersey was to be worn in 12 home games in its rollout season. This is a tribute to not only the memory of the Rockies, but also to the enduring strength of that team’s uniform.