The art of the all-star jersey
NHL All-Star Weekend is upon us, and this year the league’s best players will be wearing an All-Star sweater designed by hardcore hockey fan, and Grammy Award winning recording artist Justin Bieber.
These jerseys have been divisive to say the least, but, to be honest, I don’t really mind them. All-Star jerseys are supposed to be fun, and these days they’re only really worn for one game. Why not let Biebs have at it?
It’s a trend I can see catching on, so this week I got our incredible design team to mock up some NHL All-Star jerseys as if they were designed by some other household names. Let’s look at the results.
Barbie and her stunning new Keener Threads!
1. Margot Robbie
She’s starred in critically acclaimed films like Wolf of Wall Street and I, Tonya, and after the wild success of the Barbie movie in 2023, I figure it’s about time that Margot Robbie had her own NHL All-Star jersey design. Here’s what we figure it would look like!
The jersey font is ripped right from Barbie’s original packaging, and, of course we used hot pink — Barbie’s colour of choice — for team colours. The arms and waist stripes, meanwhile, give a nod to Barbie and Ken’s iconic rollerblading outfits, and inside the collar we’ve included an inspirational quote from the 2023 summer blockbuster.
Barbie herself, Margot Robbie, talking to Jimmy Fallon about adopting the Rangers as her NHL team of choice.
2. The Tragically Hip
The Kingston, Ontario quintet, The Tragically Hip, are known hockey lovers– especially their front man; the late Gord Downie. Gord was a goaltender — which may explain his rather colourful and eclectic way of being — and he was a big Boston Bruins fan. In fact, Downie was the godson of longtime Bruins coach and executive, Harry Sinden.
Here’s what we figure a custom designed All-Star jersey from the Tragically Hip might look like!
The colour of the jersey mirrors the colours of the Hip’s 1991 album Road Apples — their first number 1 album in Canada. The album name itself has ties to hockey. A “road apple” is slang for a piece of horse dung, and many aspiring rural Canadian hockey players used frozen road apples as pucks during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The album has since been certified Diamond in Canada.
The numbers, letters, and stars on the jersey are placed on scrabble tiles, a la the Road Apples album cover, and the waist striping is emblazoned with lyrics from one of the band’s best known hockey anthems, Fireworks, which depicts a man finding a love that can go toe-to-toe with his love of hockey. Inside the collar, we’ve added “1984” — the year that the band was founded.
The legendary album, Road Apples, in jersey form.
TSN pays tribute to the late, great Gord Downie- a diehard Bruins fan who was never afraid to sing about hockey.
From the Post-It notes to Kevin spilling the chilli, this jersey has Dunder Mifflin written all over it.
3. STeve Carell
You probably know Steve Carell from his tenure as Michael Scott, the tone deaf branch manager from the hit cringe sitcom, The Office. Perhaps you know him as Andy Stitzer from the 40 Year Old Virgin, or Brick Tamland from Anchorman. But, only true hockey fans know Steve Carell as the goaltender for Granville, Ohio’s Denison University hockey team. He even has his own Elite Prospects page.
To the left, you’ll see the Keener Jereseys’ mock up of a Steve Carell All-Star concept jersey.
We used The Office title card as inspiration for the All-Star logo, and we’ve placed post-it notes with hand-drawn stars on the arms alternating with the Dunder Mifflin letterhead. The black and gold colour scheme is a soft nod to the fact that the Office was set in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where the Pittsburgh Penguins’ AHL farm team is based. The bottom hem line features Kevin from accounting spilling his famous chilli all over the floor.
Steve Carrell: Future Hall of Famer?
4. Mike Myers
He’s created some of the most beloved characters in comedy, and he’s a big time hockey fan. So, who better to design a jersey for the NHL All-Star Game than Canadian comedy icon, Mike Myers? And we think it would look a little something like this.
In the 1992 comedy, Wayne’s World, Wayne Campbell and his sidekick Garth are hosers of the highest order, donning the jerseys of their hometown Chicago Blackhawks. They even hang out at Stan Mikita’s, a donut shop named after the Black Hawks legend of the same name, and an obvious spoof of the popular Canadian donut chain, Tim Horton’s.
So, we started with black and red as our colours — a wink to the Wayne’s World/Blackhawks connection, but it’s predominantly black like Wayne’s tee-shirt. Then we used the Wayne’s World font from the popular SNL sketches and, of course, the feature film, and added in the delayed text effect to make it feel like the Wayne’s World intro title graphics.
Along the waist, we’ve included the fretboard of the guitar that Wayne riffs on at the beginning of each episode of Aurora, Illinois’ number one cable access television show.
This jersey is a blast from the Cinema past.
The legendary “GAME ON!” scene from the Mike Myers classic, Wayne’s World- something every Canadian kid can relate to.
Voila- the Snoop Jersey!
5. Snoop Dogg
Calvin Broadus — AKA Snoop Dogg — is a big time hockey fan, often showing up at hockey games in the Los Angeles area. Just check out this legendary interview with Snoop at an Anaheim Ducks game.
But, while Snoop may have his mind on his money, and his money on his mind, I’ve got jerseys on my mind. So, what would a jersey designed by the Dogg Father look like? Here’s our take!
To start, we used a green and white colour scheme as a tip of the hat to Snoop’s alma mater, the legendary Long Beach Poly. We then put that colour scheme in a striping pattern reminiscent of the 90s Pittsburgh Penguins jersey that Snoop wore in the music video for Gin and Juice. For the numbers and letters, we used the Death Row Records font — an homage to the record label co-founded by Dr. Dre that helped skyrocket Snoop’s career.
And to top it all off, we’ve included some motivational words on the inside collar — “Young Wild and Free” — the title to his Grammy-nominated 2011 collab with Wiz Khalifa and Bruno Mars.
It’s no secret Snoop is a hockey expert- listen to the Dogg Father himself explain the NHL’s offside rule!
Jerseys Help Us celebrate the game
Whatever you might think of this year’s All-Star jersey, I certainly hope you enjoy the festivities this All-Star Weekend. The All-Star Game is a time to celebrate and grow the game, and it’s a reminder of the rich culture that we’ve cultivated in the 140-plus years since the game was invented.
From road apples to video review, we’ve come a long way, and this weekend is as important to the game as Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
If you liked seeing our take on the celebrity inspired All-Star jerseys, then you’ll love the 4 Shots with Keener newsletter. Every week I give you my thoughts, ideas, and opinions on hockey jerseys and hockey culture, so subscribe below to get 4 Shots with Keener in your inbox.
