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University of Denver Hockey Unveils Incredible 75th Anniversary Throwbacks

The Denver Pioneers men’s ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program representing the University of Denver, and are a member of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC).

You may not be familiar with the Pioneers, but they’re pretty good. They have won the most all-time NCAA National Hockey Championships with ten (1958, 1960, 1961, 1968, 1969, 2004, 2005, 2017, 2022, 2024) as well as 15 regular season conference championships and 14 conference playoff championships.

On Saturday, the Pioneers officially unveiled the hockey program’s 75th Anniversary uniform that the team will wear numerous times during the 2024-25 season. They are spectacular!

Let’s take a closer look.

The red and yellow-gold stripes are clearly the standout feature here. There are six yellow stripes on the jersey sleeves, as well as on the socks.

According to the University, the uniform “is a throwback to the one that was originally worn by the squad when the program first began play in the 1949-50 season. The red sweater, breezer, socks, gloves and helmet are trimmed with yellow, the school’s original color palette. Six yellow strips are displayed on the jersey sleeves and socks.”

The rest of the jersey is fairly plain — but with those six yellow stripes, that’s for the best. The upper section of the jersey features an old-school interlocking “DU” logo, with a yellow uniform number in a block font in lieu of a crest.

There is a broad, yellow stripe near the base of the jersey, with a red stripe below that extending down to the hem.

The sweater back is similarly plain, featuring a much larger rear number than on the front.

Denver’s 75th Anniversary and NCHC patches are featured on the shoulders while the text “Always A Pioneer” is printed onto the inner collar.

Breezers are red, with yellow stripes down the sides, and a yellow hem. An interlocking “DU” logo is on the right pants leg.

Put it all together, and here’s the full uniform:

The Pioneers will wear the uniform for the first time on Saturday, November 9 during the program’s 75th Anniversary Weekend against Lindenwood. Alumni from each decade of Denver hockey will be in attendance to celebrate the program’s diamond jubilee. Denver is honoring 75 years of history throughout this season. The Pioneers’ first game was December 19, 1949 against Saskatchewan and their first victory was January 27, 1950 at Wyoming.

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The inevitable comparisons to Ronald McDonald not withstanding, I love this uniform. While stripes are certainly still common in hockey, we don’t see looks like the Pioneers’ on the ice very much anymore. I like that the team didn’t try to do much with the uniform besides those six yellow stripes, because that would probably be overkill. But a pretty plain uniform with sleeve/sock stripes hits just the right notes. Since it’s a throwback, I don’t mind the interlocking “DU” or the small front number, although if this were being introduced today I’d hope the number would be larger.

Your thoughts?

 
  
 
Comments (24)

    Why don’t you ever include pics of the original uniforms throwbacks are based on? I know I could go find them myself, but that’s what I come here for…

    THANK YOU Kary! I searched (or at least I thought I did) that site but I didn’t find that article. Great pull.

    These are not good at all. Ronald McDonald look for sure. They are one of the few teams that jerseys have gotten better over the years and don’t need to ruin it with these throwbacks.

    OK, sorta kinda Ronald-esque…
    But these Uni designs predate Ronald McDonald by a dozen years or so….
    But who doesn’t like some McDs every now and then…

    I’ll take these 10 out of 10 times over Oregon’s latest costume or Tennessee’s All Dark Mode.

    I’m a DU alumni and hockey season ticket holder. I know college hockey fan base is limited but DU isn’t just pretty good, they are the best college hockey program of all time. 75th year tribute looks great and love the throwback to year 1.

    Heh. Yeah. I know they’re really REALLY good. It’s probably not apparent by my tone, but when I say some one, team or thing is “pretty” good, usually that means it is REALLY good. Congrats on your success. Love this throwback!

    These objectively look like something an elementary school kid would design. I’m not sure why Uni-Watch always seems to favor things that look old and outdated, but I would disagree that these are “spectacular.” If anything, the stripes and color combination are jarring and distracting.

    This was a frequent criticism I had of Paul. It’s fine if you want to have a personal blog where you talk about what you like, but I think Uni-Watch should be bigger than that. Give us some analysis and critiques of the design. Why does it work? Why does it not work? That sort of thing.

    It may be difficult to remember after all these years, but Uni-Watch IS a personal blog in which the critiques of uniforms have always been subjective. Phil provided quite a bit of analysis and told you he loved them. You just don’t agree. That’s OK. But, please, don’t demand something else because you don’t like this outcome.

    I wish they would do these types of throwbacks without the gratuitous “maker’s mark.” Especially on the kneecap. Not very clean. Overall, these are pretty good, though. I think they’ll look good on the ice. They’d be great for an outdoor game.

    A problem for me is that they’ve committed to recreating a design with the unusual Big Number On Front, but it seems like they’re not making it quite as big as it was in the photograph linked in the comments above.

    I’d prefer these if they had either gone all-out and made the front number authentically oversized and the D/U monogram authentically smaller, *or* if they’d just gone with the D/U as the main center crest, relegating the front number to the more marginal position. As they are, these seem a bit trapped in-between.

    Those stripes are fantastic, though. You wouldn’t be able to do that with any pair of colors, but I think it works with red and yellow. I’d like to see a version of these with the same stripes on sleeves that contrast with the body panels, a la Red Wings whites and pre-robo Penguins.

    Maybe you can help me.
    I’m not really sure what company makes these fine throwbacks.
    It would really help me if they put the brand of the company that makes it center front on the sweater.
    I’d like it as well, if they made the logo for the company that makes the breezers just as prominent as the university logo.
    I’m also not really sure who makes the socks. Please make sure that each sock has the brand logo prominently displayed.
    On second thought really confused about the two “DU” logos. Not sure what they are even included. They just make everything look busy and confuse the most important thing. The makers brand marks.

    I like these a lot, great striping, but for the NB logos on the kneecaps. From the rest of the uniform it is obvious this is a NB uniform so no need for those two extra logos.

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