Minor Hockey launches new jerseys

Months after community voting on Facebook ended, the Kahnawake Minor Hockey Association (KMHA) has unveiled and equipped teams with brand new jerseys.

The home jerseys are black with white and yellow stripes, with the white and black reversed for the away jerseys.

They feature a new logo, designed by Shakohahiiostha McComber. The logo is a side profile of a Kanien’kehá:ka man wearing a three-feathered kastowa.

“I think choosing this logo with the Kanien’kehá:ka head honours the history of Kahnawake’s past jerseys which also used a head as the logo,” said KMHA board member Emily Stacey.

McComber said that when he submitted his design - one of over 20 received by the KMHA - he did not even consider the possibility his design would be the winner of the community vote.

“I just wanted to participate,” said McComber, who has a lot of graphic design software experience in his day job. “Kahnawake is full of really great artists. I was really surprised. I didn’t think it would go anywhere.”

Although the logo design won the online voting, the colours did not. In fact, purple was the winning colour on Facebook.

On November 12, KMHA offered a sneak preview of the new jerseys to the public with a Facebook post announcing the launch of merchandise with the team’s new colours and logo.

According to Stacey, while numbers have not been made available on total sales so far, they have received good feedback from community members who have purchased the apparel or equipment available online. The money raised will go towards upkeep costs for the KMHA.

But community reaction to the new colours was not universally positive. Some left comments on the post, questioning why the team did not go for the winner of the community vote.

“Ultimately, as a board we decided to honour the history of Kahnawake Minor Hockey again and stay with the black and yellow scheme,” said Stacey, echoing the comment left by the association’s Facebook page on that post.

Stacey said that the voting results - no longer publicly available - were “very close” between the two colour schemes.

Now that the jerseys are in the team’s hands, Stacey said they have received a lot of very positive feedback about them.

“We’ve even had other associations and teams commenting on our new jerseys with all positive messages about them,” said Stacey.

The KMHA’s Junior team officially introduced the jerseys in their November 29 game against the Vaudreuil-Dorion Mustangs 3.

“The crowd gave us a big cheer as we went out on the ice,” said Junior Mohawks goaltender Maxwell Goodleaf, who was the starter against the Mustangs.

Goodleaf and the Junior Mohawks are on a four-game winning streak – including winning the first three games they’ve played with the new designs.

“It felt good to win our first game in them,” said Goodleaf, who registered a shutout in the Mohawks’ 7-0 win against the Mustangs. “Fresh jerseys, good vibes, and good results, nobody’s stopping the train now.”

This Saturday will be “Kahnawake Day” at the Sports Complex, where the Mohawks will be showing off their new jerseys all day, with 15 home games on the schedule, starting at 8 a.m.

“We encourage the community to come support and cheer on our youth!” said Stacey.

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