As this week is “Jersey Week” across SB Nation, we’re re-posting this jersey content from earlier this year, with a few tweaks. Pooh rules forever.
As one of the NHL’s Original 6 franchises, the Bruins are lucky to have a wealth of jerseys to reflect on. While some of the newer teams only have 40 or 50 years of history, the Bruins have nearly a century’s worth of threads to admire. Their jerseys have, with few exceptions, always featured some kind of “B”, or a bear. Perhaps because the team is so focused on its heritage, the B’s haven’t gone bold with their jerseys very often.
In the late 90’s, that changed, and the Pooh bear jersey was born.
It’s certainly a controversial jersey, to say the least. Either you love it or you hate it. In case you can’t tell from the title of this post, I love it.
Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images
The Bruins wore the Pooh Bear jersey as their alternate from 1996 through 2006. Sadly, the Pooh jerseys met their demise with the introduction of the RBK Edge jerseys after the lockout.
Just look at it. It’s truly beautiful!
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This jersey is much maligned around the hockey world, mainly by people who can’t truly understand what beauty is. For these people, there’s little you can do but shake your head and hope they get better some day. Godspeed.
What is it that makes this worst jersey actually great? Really, everything about it.
A yellow alternate! It’s what the people wantleafs jersey baby. It’s what the people need. This jersey wasn’t exactly a bright yellow, but it wasn’t really a tan-ish gold either. It’s part of what made it unique.
The bear on the front of the jersey doesn’t look threatening. He doesn’t look angry or intimidating. There’s no snarl, no claws, no lingering threat of violence. He looks approachable, and, dare I say it, snuggly.
The facial expression is the best part. Unlike the 80’s COCAINE BEAR shoulder patch, this bear looks smug. He’s almost bemused. He looks like you just asked him a really dumb question, and he’s about to embarrass you for it.
However, there’s an air of mystery in the bear. Does he know something you don’t knowattendance at winnipeg jets game tonight? What’s his secret? We may never know.
The jagged black edges with white piping just scream late-1990’s. EXTREME!!!!!!
Or really, the lack of shoulder patches. The shoulder patch is just the word BRUINS in all caps, and in block letters. No need for subtlety here!
While the socks aren’t technically part of the jersey, they ARE part of the set. In this case, the gold adds a great accent to Pooh itself.
All of these elements come together to make this jersey fantastic. It’s just a collision of 90’s influences with a bear face on the front. It’s a 1990’s fever dream.
That’s why there are two types of people on this Earth: #TeamPooh people with taste, and everyone else.
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