Thoughts on the 2014 Olympic Jerseys (so far...)

Before I dive in, I will preface everything I say with I HATE THE SUBLIMATED LACES!!! I don't care what jersey you put them on, they are terrible. Also remember that in international hockey one jersey doesn't necessarily represent a home or away jersey. The home team gets first pick as to what jersey they would like to wear for that game.

Ok, lets move on.  



 
CANADA

My biggest point of contention here is the stripe only going across one arm. If it went all the way across these would be much easier to swallow. Hopefully Canada uses a traditional block style numbering, such as they did in 2010, instead of the Vancouver Canucks style numbers almost every other country uses. The black third is just all kinds of wrong. Black shouldn't ever be a primary colour on a Team Canada jersey. The design seems very much like this is intended only to fit in with the Hudson's Bay Olympic Canadian clothing line. (5/10)

CZECH REPUBLIC

The flag jersey might have worked as an alternate or a one-off. But only if the two primary jerseys were traditionally designed sweaters. Haha, not in Nike's world! The flag jersey does come off as a little goofy in this set. I like the "white" jersey, but it loses points because of all the white space. A lot of teams suffer the same fate. It makes the hockey jerseys look like pajama tops. (6/10)

FINLAND

Woah, Nike almost got something right. I said almost! In this instance I actually like the flag jersey. It's nicely done, now lets just hope it doesn't get ruined by the colours and placement of the numbers and NOB. The blue jersey was on its way to success as well, but the flag stripes are too bold. Interesting, because I find that they work for Russia, but not for the Finns. (6.5/10)

RUSSIA

These will sell like crazy. The craziness will get even crazier if the Russians win gold on home ice. Starting with the red jersey, this one looks okay. We've got some form of a hem stripe, classic shoulder yokes, no goofy gimmicks other than those stupid faux laces, and as I mentioned previously the flag as the arm stripes works well. Now the other jersey, which isn't anything close to being called a white jersey. Can anyone imagine Alex Ovechkin and company receiving their gold medals wearing these monstrosities? This looks like Nike's "junior designer" was given a chance. It didn't work. There's nothing about it that makes it look anything like a hockey jersey. (6/10)

SLOVAKIA

Here we could have had another small victory for Nike. However, if you move down the list you will see that another team is ALREADY WEARING THIS WHITE JERSEY!!! Who thought this was acceptable?!?!? It's like having two teams in the CFL both being named the Rough Riders! The only thing that prevents these jerseys from being ignored are the pinstripes made up of Slovakia's national anthem lyrics. (6.5/10)

SWEDEN

So we haven't seen anything official yet from Sweden. We've only seen some select photos of the yellow jersey. Apparently Swedish hockey officials butt heads with Nike designers who wanted to mess with tradition. Sweden sort of won, but the jersey still suffers from stripes only on the hem. It's sort of like the opposite of Reebok's stripes only on the arms (back in 2007). It's really a shame that all of Nike's bells and whistles have to ruin these jerseys. (7/10)






UNITED STATES

These were one of the first sets for the 2014 Olympics that Nike released. When I saw these, the potential of the new designs intrigued me. That's right, Nike did a very good job with these jerseys! I think the sublimated stars on the shoulders are great. The new generic, Olympic friendly logo is solid. Of course there's that white jersey that they share with Slovakia. Here's my idea for how they could have done something a little different at least; 

 

These are still the best of all the 2014 Olympic jerseys seen as of this date, November 10, 2013. (7.5/10)