UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – With a nod to its roots, the Penn State Men’s Ice Hockey team unveiled a new alternate jersey ahead of its weekend series against Big Ten foe Wisconsin in Hockey Valley.
The full ensemble pays homage to the program’s first varsity era of the early 1940’s, with additional respect shown to the storied club hockey days, dating back to the 1970’s.
Old Time Hockey! 😤#HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/chvGMCj1wN
— Penn State Men’s Hockey (@PennStateMHKY) November 13, 2024
THE HISTORY
Penn State played its first-ever varsity contest against Carnegie Tech on December 6, 1940, after the Athletic Association voted in ice hockey, along with skiing, as an official varsity sport back in the spring. Penn State won that opening game 3-1 and went on to finish the 1940-41 season with a 6-3-1 record.
After the first season, the university’s Athletic Advisory Board granted hockey full status with full financial support. However, just three seasons later, with the effects of World War II being felt throughout the university, the Athletic Association would suspend hockey along with cross country, swimming, gymnastics, tennis and golf, as part of a war-time economy measure.
Hockey returned to Happy Valley following the war for one final season in 1946, with a seven-game schedule that saw four contests eventually cancelled due to warm weather. Prior to the start of the next season the Athletic Association once again dropped hockey, citing limited facilities. It would be nearly 25 years before University Park saw hockey once again, this time returning as a club sport in 1971 after a petition to bring the sport back to campus was signed by more than 3,000 members of the community.
Penn State began club play as the Icers for the 1971-72 season, becoming a national power for 41 seasons prior to the start of the Division I era in 2012. The Icers compiled a 944-298-52 record, winning seven National Championships including four-straight from 2000-03.
At the start, in 1971, the hockey team’s practice jerseys were kindly provided by the football team as the fledgling program found its feet, but they needed their own unique game jerseys and set out to create a logo. As a pure “start-up” team, it seemed too gaudy for them to display the name Penn State on the first jerseys. Thus, a custom logo was designed as a unique moniker for the front of the jersey. A creative, stylized amalgamation of letters and hockey imagery, the logo features the initials of Penn State University with two hockey sticks surrounding a puck in the negative space between the letters. The artist responsible for the design, a Penn State student, has remained anonymous despite multiple efforts.
THE UNIFORM
Based off the 1940-41 varsity uniform, the predominately white sweaters feature a navy PS crest on the front with traditional collar laces and a unique addition of white captains’ letters represented inside a navy Keystone symbol on the left chest.
A traditional navy hockey namebar with white lettering, and throwback numbering, which mimics the number font used on the Generations of Greatness football jerseys, adorn the back. A navy shoulder yoke features the modern Nittany Lion head logo and the sleeves feature matching numbers with navy and white barber pole style stripes from the elbow to the cuff.
Barber pole striped socks match the sweater sleeves with brown, faux-leather gloves and pant shells completing the retro look. A navy helmet with matching numbering and a raised script Penn State on each side add a pop of present day to compliment the throwback style.
A classic ‘We Are’ on the cuff of each glove and ‘Dear Old State’ across the inside of the jersey collar add subtle touches to form a unique throwback kit.
The brown pant shells complete the history while paying tribute to the return of Penn State hockey in 1971 as a club sport and feature that first-ever PSU jersey logo, a recognition of the ‘Miracle of 71’ and those who worked so hard to bring hockey back to State College.
“Penn State’s ice hockey tradition began well before we ever had a Division I program and we owe a debt of gratitude to those previous eras for establishing the foundation of Hockey Valley,” Head Coach Guy Gadowsky expressed. “These throwback uniforms represent the different periods that helped build our program into what it is today and it’s our way of giving those teams a stick tap to the shins to express our appreciation to everyone that laid the foundation for the modern era of Penn State Hockey.”
The uniform will be worn for the first time this Friday, November 15 during our ‘Throwback Game’ against the Badgers and will then enter Penn State’s jersey lineup as a true alternate to be worn multiple times throughout the next few seasons.