DEKEthoughts #031

CANADA 

1 - No lower stripe: symbolizing Canada’s complete lack of goaltending options.

2 - Two white stripes: symbolizing Canada’s love of double doubles.

3 - Gold on the cuff of the gloves: representing an open invitation to pan the jersey design.

4 - Rogers logo: symbolizing the times throughout games where players will black out, fail to deliver on expectations and lay off instead of finishing a body check.

5 - Black in the jersey: symbolizing the existential dread every Canadian fan will feel should Team Canada fail to win the tournament.

6 - CANADA text in maple leaf: each two letter grouping symbolizes the type of skaters that play in each of the three zones of a Canadian hockey rink.

USA

1 - Subtle black striping on chest: symbolizing the cage of emotion USA hockey will be locked in based on the teams lofty expectations in the tournament.

2 - Stars on each shoulder: these are actually asterisks’ and have been preemptively placed on the jerseys so that if Team USA “mysteriously” loses the tournament they can point to them as the reason why.

3 - Red and white stripes: a reminder of the team they have to beat to win the tournament.

4 - Silver throughout jersey: symbolizing their traditional finishing position in international tournaments.

5 - Deep blue of the jersey: chosen as a graphic design element to offset and balance the mass that is Auston Matthews' forehead.

6 - Three letters: symbolizing the style of play in the three zones of an American hockey rink.

SWEDEN

1 - Two stripes on each arm: symbolizing the two core tenets of Swedish hockey; power plays and shootouts.

2 - Black around the neck: symbolizing the ever increasing pressure to win an international tournament. This area of the jersey is known in Swedish as the ‘kväva’.

3 - Detailing inside of Crowns: the embroidered depiction of ‘The Forsberg’ shootout move.

4 - Deep blue on the jersey: represents the darkness in the heart of every Swedish player knowing that they are not Canada’s No.1 rival anymore.

5 - The NOT gold (or yellow) on the jersey: symbolizing how painfully close Sweden usually gets to almost winning most tournaments.

6 - Three Crowns: symbolizing the style of play in the three zones of a Swedish hockey rink.

FINLAND

1 - The flower detail on the sleeve stripes: if you add up all the points on each star on the sleeve and subtract the amount of players on the team and the head coach you get 76, which is the number of goals Teemu Selanne scored in his rookie year. Coincidentally that is also the TOTAL amount of goals the Finnish National men's team has scored in its international tournament history.

2 - The white on the jersey: symbolizes a clean sheet, which is how Finland prefers to win hockey games.

3 - The two blues on the jersey: symbolizes the amount of goals an opposition team MIGHT be able to score against them

4 - SUOMI: symbolizes the Finnish hockey mantra:

5 - The lion on the crest: symbolizes the great Finnish tradition of having all players lie on the ice to prevent goals.

6 - The 9 flowers on the crest: each grouping of three flowers symbolizes the type of players that play in each of the three zones of a Finnish hockey rink.