I won't predict any advance sales figures for the Rangers Centennial sweater – no, not jersey, sweater – but my gut feeling is that sales are going to go through the roof and sail on across the Hudson to Hackensack.

Even in so distant – if not remote – places like Santa Barbara, California, you can hear the raves over the sweater.

Even in what could pass as the most beautiful rink on the continent, Santa Barbara's Ice In Paradise, the Rangers' Centennial Sweater is receiving cartwheels of joy.

I know this for a fact because the Ice In Paradise hockey director Joltin' Joe Dionisio told me so.

"I love the Centennial sweater that Mark Messier modelled," Dionisio reports, "and especially that it's powder blue. Too many of previous Rangers 'special jerseys' utilize a very dark blue which TV executives ought to hate. In long camera shots, it just looks black."

But Joltin' Joe isn't finished. He's got another Centennial idea that makes historic sense. Dionisio points out that the NHL team which preceded the Rangers by a full year at old Madison Square Garden was the New York Americans.

Joltin' Joe: "The 100-year anniversary planners would be remiss if they didn't preparer a New York Americans/New York Rangers hybrid uniform on a night that honors the defunct Amerks.

Honoring A Rangers Uniform That Is Iconic The New York <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-rangers">Rangers</a> have kicked off their Centennial Season on the right foot.

"Whether or not the Garden brass admits it, they are the sole custodians of their cousin franchise that beat the Blueshirts to the punch as the first NHL tenant in the Big Apple. Furthermore, it also would be a classy move if MSG tracks down the children of skaters from the 

Amerks and have them drop the ceremonial puck for that theme night."

If this is news to you, the Original New York Americans became an NHL team in 1925, thanks to Big Bill Dwyer the club's first owner – and the biggest Prohibition bootlegger in the East.

"If Garden boss Jim Dolan truly wants to commemorate the spirit of the Americans," Dionisio wisely concludes, "for one evening MSG concession stands should make sure every beer they sell is labelled 'Bootleg'!"