Monarchs to Don Classic Kings Look
Manchester club plans L.A. Kings Night for January
The famous "Burger King" jersey. Your vote could put it on pro hockey ice once again.
The AHL's Manchester Monarchs are planning L.A. Kings Night in honor of their NHL affiliate. And fans get to decide which Los Angeles throwback the Monarchs will wear for the game.
You can vote here, but the winning jersey will be announced on Thursday. So vote now!
Any of these would be cool to see on the ice again, but I'm particularly excited by the possibility of the Kings' old third jersey from 1996. That was a classic. So I won't mince words. Vote B!
And the winner is...
The Monarchs announced today that the Kings' 1996 third jersey won the two-week poll and will be the basis of the club's Los Angeles Kings Night specialty sweater. And it wasn't even close. (The winning design picked up a whopping 75% of the vote.)
From the press release:
Fans of the Manchester Monarchs, the primary affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings, have spoken and with over 11,000 people voting, the Kings first-ever alternate jersey from the 1995-96 season will be the inspiration behind the team’s specialty jersey which will be worn during the second annual Los Angeles Kings Night in January 2014, Monarchs President Darren Abbott announced today.
Following the 1994-95 NHL Lockout and the purchase of the Kings by Philip Anschutz and Edward Roski, Jr., the organization joined an NHL-wide initiative to introduce third jerseys. The Kings jersey featured an arcing stripe from the right shoulder down the left hip that faded from black to gray. It included shoulder patches of the Kings primary logo at the time and a new King logo on the upper left front of the jersey that is the only human image ever featured on a Kings jersey.
The alternate jersey was introduced on January 27, 1996 when the Kings won, 5-4, against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim at the Great Western Forum.
While we eagerly await the the arrival of January, here's something to think about. When the Kings and Ducks meet for their Stadium Series game on Jan. 25, it'll be almost 18 years to the day when those two wacky third jerseys first hit the ice. They're all grown up.
Not that I think the NHL would be crazy enough to allow them to come back, of course.