St. John's IceCaps reveal new jerseys

The St. John's IceCapshave revealed new team jerseys that are nearly identical to the ones worn by its newparent team, the Montreal Canadiens.

The jerseys featurethe traditional Habsstyle with the original IceCapslogo.

"Good strongCanadiensfans, they want to see the red, white and blue," said IceCapspresident and CEO DannyWilliams."But we also wanted to keep St. John's and Newfoundland and Labrador in it, and that's why we kept the same logo with the iceberg on top."

Williams and head coach Sylvain Lefebvre unveiled the new design at Jack Byrne Arena in TorbayWednesday morning.

The Montreal Canadiens' American Hockey League affiliate,the former Hamilton Bulldogs, will move toSt. John's fornext season. TheformerIceCapsteam is moving to Winnipeg.

Williams admits that until recently he was a Detroit Red Wings fan, buthe deeply respects the Canadiens as an organization.

"I've been a Habs fan for probably about five months. I've got to give you an honest answer," Williams said, laughing.

"This is a class organization ...just hope we can get three years out of them, but I'd be very very grateful for two."

Lefebvre said he's excited about the potentialon this year's team.

"Some of the players that we had last year, some of those guys have a really good shot of making the big club," he said.

"We feel very good about the level of talent and the compete level that we're going to put forward here on the ice in St. John's."

Lefebvre said the team feels very welcome in Newfoundland and Labrador,and enjoyed itstime at training camp in the province.

The big reveal took place following a hockey school practice with Montreal Canadiens alumni Richard Svigny, Sergio Momesso, Gilbert Delorme and Gaston Gingras.

Pre-orders are available for the jerseys in home white and red for road games through the team's merchandise store and online.

The team also announced thatseason-ticket holders can view the new jerseys and select season seats atMile One Centre on Saturday.