It was nice to jump on the seabus and get out of the office for a bit. Of course they picked seemingly the hottest day of the summer so far to do it. There were a lot of people lined up to for free hot dogs and a chance to hang out with FIN the Canuck’s mascot before the big event.

I was able to hook up with Rebecca and Dave from The Crazy Canucks who helped me skip most of the big lineup and get to a good spot with JJ in the shade – he was thinking ahead and got there early.

They managed to record a podcast despite the huge crowds and noise. I even make a brief guest spot on the podcast too.

Once we got inside, we got pretty decent seats, albeit on the opposite side of the proceedings. To my surprise, the event started right on time at 12:30pm and they introduced a number of key members of the Canucks organization.

But we weren’t there for speeches, we were there to see the new uniforms and logo.

Pretty much as expected, they revealed the logo design that I had spotted in a Gastown store a few weeks ago. I was hoping for something a little different or a retro design so I’m basically indifferent to the new look. I do like the addition of “Vancouver” across the front but as Rebecca said, it does make it look a little busy.

Considering they had well over 8000 people come out on a sunny day during the summer, you still couldn’t even buy a new jersey onsite. They were only selling t-shirts and taking preorders on the jerseys. Talk about a lost opportunity to sell a ton to some of the most passionate fans….although it’s not like those people won’t still buy it all up like Rebecca did:

More pictures from the event in my photo section. Rebecca and John already have more in depth coverage on their sites. My friend Dave (who wasn’t able to attend) has posted his thoughts on the new look as well.

UPDATE: The Crazy Canucks podcast that was recorded during this event is now online! You can listen to it right on the site or download the mp3 for your favorite playback device. I start mumbling around the 3:20 mark.

Spotted this Vancouver Canucks hat in the window of a Gastown shop on the way to BarCamp – have the bootlegger’s already started making new logo merchandise before it’s official? I couldn’t see any official branding from the NHL or tags on it.

Some friends have the scoop on the new logo but nobody knows why this store was selling them…of course this hat could just be a stylized one. The store was closed so I couldn’t inspect it closer.

UPDATE: Looks like this isn’t such a scoop after all…Brett commented over on the Crazy Canucks post about the new logo and the fact that this is just a stylized version of the hat that has been available for years.