Elliot Lake Red Wings unveil new jerseys

The new Elliot Red Wings Junior A hockey club released pictures of the new jerseys team players will wear in the upcoming Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL) season.

The pictures were released over the weekend following some criticism on social media about the team being renamed the Elliot Lake Red Wings from the Elliot Lake Wildcats. The changes came after a virtual press conference Friday about the name change, new coaching staff and reorganization of the club.

Board member William Elliott said team officials had considered bringing back the old Vikings name and colours from previous years.

“We actually did consider using ‘Vikings’ again with the green and gold, lots of us remember the glory days, but in the end, we felt there was just greater reach with the Red Wings,” Elliott said referring to the original six National Hockey League clubs which included the Detroit Red Wings.

“It’s funny that we live in a country where most towns are named after towns in other countries, we re-use popular team names all the time (we had two CFL teams named ‘Roughriders’) yet some people don’t get it... I suppose not everyone does change well,” he added.

The new jersey for home and away games will see white with red as “home” jerseys and red with white for away games.

“These are considered ‘throwback’ or ‘tribute’ jerseys. I know some people seem confused by the wheel in the logo, but that’s because it is a Detroit Red Wings tribute jersey and that is one version of their logo,” Elliott said.

Elliot Lake Mayor Dan Marchisella charactered the new logo as “nice”, while Councillor Ed Pearce who is council’s representative on the team board described the jerseys as a “great look.”

Team officials said at Friday’s virtual press conference that it is hoped the team can host training camps in June or July depending on pandemic restrictions.