WHL’s Saskatoon Blades New Heritage Jersey Features Cooperall Effect on Pants, Socks

It’ll be Cooperalls for all when the Saskatoon Blades take the ice in the latest version of their heritage jerseys.

The Western Hockey League team unveiled the jerseys on their social media channels on Tuesday, December 2, and will wear them for their annual Heritage Night on Sunday, December 7, when they host the Regina Pats at the Sasktel Centre.

The base of the jersey is the Blades’ shade of royal blue that almost borders on purple, with the team’s logo from the 1970s and early 1980s on the front that featured the team’s full name and a streaking hockey puck. But the main attraction of the uniform set is the royal blue pants and socks, which both have a vertical white stripe bordered in gold running down the side, giving the effect of the infamous Cooperall hockey pants from the 1970s (but without the player safety concerns). The Blades were one of a handful of junior, minor and professional teams who wore Cooperalls at the time.

*Photos courtesy **Saskatoon Blades** / Facebook*

The jerseys themselves have broad white stripes flanked by gold running from the shoulders all the way down the sleeves. White and gold stripes run around the waist. Numbers on the sleeves are gold with blue outlines. Photos posted to the Blades’ social media accounts didn’t clearly show the names or numbers on the back of the jersey.

The Blades have held Heritage Nights for the past few years, each time wearing an iteration of a past jersey. The 2023 version featured their snarling bulldozer logo from the early 2000s, while they’ve also worn a white version of this new jersey in the past.

Cooperalls, the long hockey pants with nylon outer shells designed by Cooper Canada, were introduced in the early 1970s. They were touted as “a complete hockey uniform system” that was safer than traditional hockey gear because foam pads were placed in pockets inside the pants, staying in closer contact with the body parts they were meant to protect. With other Cooper padding introduced at the time, the company claimed their system weighed 40% less than a traditional hockey uniform and gave players greater freedom of movement.

Cooperalls quickly fell out of favour, though, due to complaints about them being too warm and making it difficult to see pucks against darker colours. The biggest drawback, though, was that Cooperalls produced less friction against the ice when players fell, causing them to hit the boards harder. Subsequently, the NHL banned them from the 1983-84 season onwards.

The last time proper Cooperalls were seen on the ice was February 2024, when the Carolina Hurricanes wore them with their Hartford Whalers throwback jerseys for pre-game warmups only before taking on the New Jersey Devils.