First and foremost, I understand that griping about the look of sweaters is a minor inconvenience. In the grand scheme of things to be upset about, especially regarding the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the looks of Team Canada and Team USA are far down the list. But, that being said, Hockey Canada and USA Hockey have missed the mark, by a wide margin, on both of their new looks for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Released on Tuesday, Canada’s new look takes the iconic and simple maple leaf logo and turns it into the old school NBC peacock. Also, the red and black alternate look is a swing and a miss.
Presenting the official 2022 Team Canada Olympic jerseys! 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/EfoZWhjT3t
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) November 24, 2021
Think Team USA did any better? Think again.
Thoughts on the newly unveiled @usahockey Olympic hockey jerseys? 👀 #Beijing2022 pic.twitter.com/fXfNSv5fC7
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) November 24, 2021
Look, pretty much anything was going to be better than the current designs for Team USA, but this isn’t much of a step up. The horizontal prominent block striping should be left to rugby shirts from the Gap and soccer kits. The Florida Panthers use it, as do the Minnesota Wild, and neither tend to find themselves on any “best looks in the NHL” lists, do they?
Hey @usahockey all you have to do is make these the official sweaters across the board and *everyone* would be happy pic.twitter.com/D1x8qoV8zX
— Mario Tirabassi (@Mario_Tirabassi) November 24, 2021
For me, it’s straightforward, Team USA already has a great home and away look in-house. The Junior teams rock the best-looking Team USA sweaters, and they are a simple design. Simple, clean looks will always work and please many people aesthetically more than trying to be innovative or have a look that makes people use the 🔥 emoji on social media.
These teams are really taking ugly holiday sweaters too far…
— Meghan Chayka (@MeghanChayka) November 24, 2021
Meghan gets it.
Ralph Lauren rugby shirts > a turkey's butthole.
Never forget.
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) November 24, 2021
Yep, I can’t unsee it, and now you can’t unsee it either. Team Canada’s maple leaf design is kind of perfect timing for the American Thanksgiving holiday, isn’t it?
These suck, but at least those Gold Medals will look great against the Blue and White background of the Team USA sweaters.