Of hockey and fashion.

A while back, the NHL announced that they were partnering with actress Alyssa Milano to create the hockey version of her women's clothing line full of frilled up, rhinestone-studded, "trendy" shirts, formerly featuring the logos of various MLB teams. Don't get me wrong, they were hardly all absolutely awful - but they weren't all good, either. When the idea of an NHL-based line came up, there were a few prototypes through out into the mix - a handful of 3/4 sleeve shirts emblazoned with the All Star Game logo, a girly red something and a more ice-rink-inclined vest (thanks Tracy for making that post!) but not much more. Certainly not on the scale of the MLB designs. And then the project seemed to fade away.

Until yesterday when I stepped into a new store at Lakeside Mall called "The Hook Up", specializing in sports apparel, knick-knacks, etc. I was checking out the Wings Cup Champions merchandise when I saw these:

Both (excuse the poor quality cell phone pictures) feature a small (although at least centered, in one) Wings logo and proclaims them the "Stanley Cup Champions" - which must make the logo a heck of a lot harder to work into the intended "cute" designs. The one on the right, like the earlier vest, seems at least like decent rink-wear, for those ladies who don't get cold too easily.

Apparently the NHL "Touch" line isn't dead after all - and in fact wants you to know exactly who won the Stanley Cup this year. Personally I (like Tracy) would think that winning the Cup especially would result in wanting the logo to be as big, obnoxious, and proud as possible, but these are far from as bad as (upon further investigation) they could be. And oh can they be. It seems a little odd that the NHLNHL seems to be at such a distance from the whole business though - even the Wings' online store features only a couple of the "Touch" designs - and none of the Cup Champs ones.

Thoughts? Opinions? Pitchforks? Obligatory Milano is hot comments?