VINTAGE JERSEY
Team celebrates tradition at Comerica Park
The Spitfires unveiled a vintage jersey the team will wear for the first OHL outdoor game, at Comerica Park Dec. 29. “We talked a lot over the summer about what the fans would like,” coach Bob Boughner said.
The Windsor Spitfires looked back on the club’s history for a jersey to wear for a historic event this season.
The Spitfires unveiled a vintage design of the club jersey worn from 1976 to 1984 that the team will wear for the first OHL outdoor game at Comerica Park in Detroit Dec. 29.
The Spitfires will face the Saginaw Spirit in the first game of a doubleheader at 1:30 p.m., with the Plymouth Whalers facing the London Knights in the other game at 5 p.m.
The Spitfires will face the Whalers tonight at Compuware Arena in Plymouth, Mich. (7:05 p.m., no TV, live blog at windsorstar.com).
“It’s exciting,” Spitfires president and head coach Bob Boughner said Friday of the vintage jersey.
“It’s a good reminder for the city of the tradition and culture and celebrating our past.”
The games are less than eight weeks away and the clubs are starting to gear up for the event.
“We’re not planning (a different) jersey,” Whalers president and head coach Mike Vellucci said.
However, the event will be a home game for both the Whalers and Spirit and Vellucci said the club will have single-game tickets for sale at tonight’s game against the Spitfires in Plymouth.
“We’ll have a table set up and will be selling tickets at the game,” Vellucci said.
As a visiting team, the Spitfires have been given a consignment of tickets that are being offered to season-ticket holders ranging from $35 to $175.
Each package offers fans Spitfire gear and a pre-game party at Nemos in Detroit, which will include free parking and a shuttle to the game.
“There’s starting to be more talk about the game,” Boughner said. “There will be a lot of events and this is a big event.”
While not every team will wear a special jersey for the game, Boughner said a lot of discussion went into deciding on the jersey to commemorate the event.
“We talked a lot over the summer about what the fans would like,” Boughner said. “A lot grew up with the maple leaf.
“We wanted to create a jersey that had a classic look and feel. It’s a throwback, vintage design that we think fits well with the theme of the OHL’s first-ever outdoor games. We hope our fans feel the same and like it as much as we do.”
The new jersey will be the fifth one the club currently has in circulation. Along with its newlook home and away uniforms this season, the club also has a cream-coloured uniform linked to the club’s roots in the 1940s and 1950s as well as a commemorative jersey worn Feb. 18 each season in honour of former captain Mickey Renaud, who died of a rare heart condition.
“This jersey is going to be introduced to our new line go- ing forward as well,” Boughner said. “After we wear it Dec. 29th, it’s a jersey that’s going to be worn from time to time by our current team.”
After tonight’s game against the Whalers, the Spitfires return home to face the Knights Sunday at the WFCU Centre (2:05 p.m., cable 11, live blog at windsorstar.com).