St. John's IceCaps reveal new jerseys

The St. John's IceCaps have revealed new team jerseys that are nearly identical to the ones worn by its new parent team, the Montreal Canadiens.

The jerseys feature the traditional Habs style with the original IceCaps logo.

"Good strong Canadiens fans, they want to see the red, white and blue," said IceCaps president and CEO Danny Williams. "But we also wanted to keep St. John's and Newfoundland and Labrador in it, and that's why we kept the same logo with the iceberg on top."

Williams and head coach Sylvain Lefebvre unveiled the new design at Jack Byrne Arena in Torbay Wednesday morning.

The Montreal Canadiens' American Hockey League affiliate, the former Hamilton Bulldogs, will move to St. John's for next season. The former IceCaps team is moving to Winnipeg.

Williams admits that until recently he was a Detroit Red Wings fan, but he deeply respects the Canadiens as an organization.

"I've been a Habs fan for probably about five months. I've got to give you an honest answer," Williams said, laughing.

"This is a class organization ... just hope we can get three years out of them, but I'd be very very grateful for two."

Lefebvre said he's excited about the potential on this year's team.

"Some of the players that we had last year, some of those guys have a really good shot of making the big club," he said.

"We feel very good about the level of talent and the compete level that we're going to put forward here on the ice in St. John's."

Lefebvre said the team feels very welcome in Newfoundland and Labrador, and enjoyed its time at training camp in the province.

The big reveal took place following a hockey school practice with Montreal Canadiens alumni Richard Sévigny, Sergio Momesso, Gilbert Delorme and Gaston Gingras.

Pre-orders are available for the jerseys in home white — and red for road games — through the team's merchandise store and online.

The team also announced that season-ticket holders can view the new jerseys and select season seats at Mile One Centre on Saturday.