The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, AHL affiliate to the cross-state Pittsburgh Penguins, unveiled their new alternate jersey for the 2012/13 season at an event for season ticket holders.
The new jersey takes on a very very old-fashioned look, patterning itself after the jersey worn by the 1939-1943 Pittsburgh Hornets, also of the American Hockey League (which was known as the International American Hockey League at the time these jerseys were worn).
Pittsburgh Hornets jersey, 1939-43
Its red jersey base with white stripes and a large calligraphic “P” right on the front are all directly from the original Hornets uniform; one can assume the “P” has changed in its meaning from “Pittsburgh” to “Penguins”.
Features unique to the WBS Penguins design of this jersey is the replacement of the “HORNETS” script with their own primary team logo above the “P”; the skating penguin logo (the primary logo without a circle) are also on either shoulder.
The logo that appears on the front of the sweater
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins pride themselves on their multiple jersey combinations and every season they have introduced a new alternate uniform since at least 2002/03… that’s 11 different alternate jerseys in 11 years! They also have several novelty jersey games each season, you can see a comprehensive rundown of their jersey history on our WBS Penguins logo and uniform page right here on SportsLogos.Net (scroll down to see the uniforms)
Photos of Penguins jersey and logo courtesy Twitter user @nafsnep, original Hornets uniform from pittsburghhockey.net. Special thanks to Twitter user @blackngoldman for the newstip!
Chris Creamer is the founder of SportsLogos.Net and has been maintaining it since June 1997. You can follow him on Twitter at @sportslogosnet or contact him via email at ccreamer@sportslogos.net
Aaron
Saturday, September 8, 2012 at 18:29The Pittsburgh Penguins should also pay hommage to the Hornets.
Jeff
Saturday, September 8, 2012 at 20:28If the Penguins wanted to pay homage to the Hornets, they might want to do it in a different fashion. That jersey looks an awful lot like the Red Wings jersey.
Aaron
Sunday, September 9, 2012 at 10:03Good point! This jersey would look great in black and gold.
Paul Kirker
Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 16:57The reason the uniforms are red, the original Hornets were a farm team of the Detroit Red Wings.
ingmar66
Sunday, September 9, 2012 at 16:25Nice gesture, but the white should be gold on this one.
Josh Warnock
Monday, January 7, 2013 at 09:58I understand paying homage to an old team, but go all the way. The Penguins wore these jerseys yesterday in Hartford, against the Whale, and they look cool, but why didn't they go all the way with them? They wore those jerseys with red socks, but the regular black and gold breezers. The gold looked so out of place with the "Hornets" jerseys. I don't know if it's different at home, but it just looks half done.