NEW TEAM, CLASSIC CREST

A familiar logo joins the American Hockey League this fall. It was officially announced in May that the Abbotsford Heat are moving to New York to become the Adirondack Flames.

As you can see, the Calgary affiliate has adopted an updated version of their parent club's logo from long ago.

The Atlanta Flames were founded in 1972 — where they introduced the flaming "A" — but relocated to Alberta in 1980. In recent years, the flaming "A" has been used on Calgary jerseys to designate assistant captains.

Now it will go on to be a full-fledged team logo once again — but not without a few color changes.

JERSEYS STILL TO COME

The A-Flames — as we shall now call them — have yet to introduce their jerseys, however. At the press conference in Glens Falls on May 16, a Calgary jersey was on display with "Adirondack" across the nameplate.

That said, give how we've seen the Flames continue to align their AHL club's branding with their own, don't be surprised if it's the same jersey template with the A-Flames crest.

HOW THIS HAPPENED

It all started when the Flames decided not to renew the Abbotsford Heat's arena lease. Part of the problem was geography.

The Heat were so far removed from the rest of the mostly northeast-based AHL. So the travel was ridiculous, both tiring for the players and expensive to the organization.

Naturally, the perfect opportunity arose this season with the Adirondack Phantoms departing upstate New York for a new arena back home in Pennsylvania.

The Philadelphia Phantoms were formed in 1996 but displaced in 2009 when their arena, the famed Spectrum, was closed and demolished. The plan was to spend five years in the vacant Glens Falls Civic Center while a new arena was built in Allentown, Penn. That time has now come.

With the Glens Falls building being freed up again, the Flames saw an opportunity to move the Heat.

BRINGING BACK A CLASSIC

Perhaps the best part of this relocation is seeing a classic NHL logo come back. In the Flames' press release, GM Brad Treliving said this:

“The history and tradition of the Flames franchise goes back to the team’s birth as the Atlanta Flames and we are proud to also pay tribute to our history with the introduction of a new version of the flaming “A” here in Adirondack. We look forward to building on Glens Falls’ rich hockey history.”

Icethetics readers may recall that concept artist Thomas Hopkins actually proposed using the old Atlanta Flames logo in Abbotsford last December. But we'll take it in Adirondack just the same.