Black and White Jerseys
by barbaragarn
Originally posted in the forums, but elevated to blog for further discussion; a captain recently sent me an e-mail about jersey colors:
Hey Barb,
This is not a huge issue but… over the past few weeks, a couple of guys mentioned to me independently that it sure would be nice if skaters wore easily identifiable white and dark jerseys. After asking each of them to elaborate, one said that “pure black and white ought to be mandatory” while the other said “just no yellow or light-colored ‘dark’ jerseys.”
My personal take on this is that I ALWAYS find a guy another jersey if he wears gray, gold, or yellow. Otherwise I get beat-up by the benches.
I would also prefer no light-colored “dark” jerseys, such as pastel blue with white shoulders and “dark” jerseys with large white shoulders and a colored logo or torso. I’ve switched guys out of these too. These jersey types have confused folks when I’ve been captain over the past year and I always make the skater switch to a more pure color.
And they always hate it because they have some kind of special or emotional attachment to the jersey and are … wait for it … surprised or slightly offended that I would ask for such a request.
Here are some sample responses:
- “Everyone knows gold is a dual color!” (yeah… right)
- “Gray has always been considered white.” (I don’t think so.)
- “This checkered, plaid, pastel design fading to white shoulders won the Urzekstan National Junior Championship in 2002. My ex-girlfriend’s cousin was ON that team!!” (Great, it’s a cool jersey, now put on this black one so people can tell which team you’re on.)
Anyway, this is just an awareness item, no big deal. It’s just out there. Nothing we can’t handle. It’s probably NOT in the best interest to initiate the Jersey Police just yet. But perhaps a gentle reminder or a poster board tag via the website might be appropriate at some point.
The original post in the forums got favorable responses. I agree–it’s a pain to play with people if you can’t tell what team they’re on. The JMS position is no yellow or grey. I’d like to ban pink and really light blue, and some people would like us to ban white shoulders with dark jerseys, but you just reach a point where you’re making a ton of rules for 100 percent of the community, because of the behavior of 1 percent.
What are your thoughts?
JMS Hockey Blog 
Would it be a possibility to simply suggest guidelines for jersey colors somewhere prominent on the web page? I agree, it’s not a huge problem, but one that could use a little attention. I’m guessing that most folks would happily comply if they had good suggestions to follow. Getting to a game hoping to wear the Urzekstanian colors and being told you can’t would be a little disheartening. If people were asked, up front, not to wear it beforehand, they would be a little less likely to assume they could. I should, however, be keeping my mouth shut… This will take away my number one exuse for having passed the puck to the wrong team…again.
I get it, but there’s a lot of information that people *should* know, and we don’t want that cluttering up the website. Like: don’t tell other people how to improve their game, breezers are required, etc.
So the jersey stuff is prominent in the FAQs, in both the on-ice rules and in the one about what to bring to your first skate.
Additionally, each new JMSer gets an auto-generated e-mail before his or her first game, and it’s in that message, too.
i personally will not pass to someone with a crossover jersey.
Why should i feel like an idiot or puck hog for not passing??
Or better yet have my goalie pissed because I passed the puck to the other team in front of the net?
I say that guys that blend their jerseys know what they are doing.
I sit at the point and yell for the puck to see if the other team will pass me the puck, same thing here.
I have said several times to the players that wear them, “I will not pass the puck to you in the yellow jersey with the white shoulders. Who’s team are u on?”
Higher levels not a big deal you know where your players are without looking.
Lower levels??? Should be very distinctive.
Pennies don’t work either, again the blended color.
For $6 total all players can have a true DARK and a True LIGHT.
You wanna wear your USA travel jersey?? awesome, just wear it to the rink knowing you will have to change to a Light or Dark Jersey.
UNSPOKEN RULE for any hockey event. NHL to Squirts Pond Hockey!!!!