Nike unveils new hockey jerseys for the 2018 Olympics

Nike unveiled the latest iteration of international hockey jerseys and recently went in depth with the different methods the company used to change the way we think about a jersey.

The goal of the jerseys was to find new ways to trim weight that a traditional hockey jersey normally would, and Nike has been hard at work figuring out how to shed any kind of weight possible, calling their press release “The Art of Reduction.”

These changes involved switching to a more lightweight material by adding more breathable mesh, as well as applying new laser-perforated numbers with heat as opposed to the traditional twill that is the current standard for hockey jerseys.

Nike included a graphic that outlines the most significant of the changes:

This makes the jerseys something much different both in build and visual design in comparison to what hockey fans are used to seeing, even with the introduction of Adidas as the primary jersey manufacturer of NHL jerseys and AHL jerseys still produced by CCM.

The new jerseys could be worn by some faces familiar to Hershey Bears fans. Former Bears on the preliminary Team Canada tournament rosters included Andrew Gordon, Sean Collins, and Jacob Micflikier. One week ago Team Canada announced their roster for the Karjala Cup on the week of November 8th in Finland and Switzerland, featuring former Bears goaltender Justin Peters, defenseman Chay Genoway, and forward Christian Thomas.

Former Bears forward Stan Galiev has played for the Russian national team in the Sochi Hockey Open in early August and is expected to represent his country in South Korea.

Although the final roster for the United States won’t be officially revealed until New Year’s Day 2018, the recent roster submitted for the Deutschland Cup featured former Bears Tom Gilbert, David Leggio, and Ryan Stoa.