The Vancouver Canucks’ new American Hockey League affiliate will be called the Abbotsford Canucks.
The club announced the team’s name on Instagram Wednesday with a short video showcasing its “Johnny Canuck” logo and team branding.
The image features a bearded lumberjack wearing skates and carrying a hockey stick while also utilizing the Vancouver Canucks’ green and blue colour scheme.
“We’re thrilled to unveil Abbotsford’s new AHL brand,” said Francesco Aquilini, Chairman, Canucks Sports & Entertainment. “The Abbotsford Canucks will be an extension of our history, and a new identity for fans in the Fraser Valley to embrace. Today marks an important milestone. It brings us a big step closer to puck drop in the fall and an exciting inaugural season.”
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The official colours for the new AHL franchise are called Field Green, Pacific Blue, Fraser Blue, Valley Fog Grey and Mountain White and the team says they were labelled this way in order to represent the area that the Abbotsford Canucks will play, which is in the Fraser Valley on the mainland.
The Abbotsford Canucks’ dark jersey will be primarily field green and its light jersey will be mountain white, with the sleeve stripes forming the letter A to represent Abbotsford.
“The Abbotsford Canucks’ brand reflects the long history, local connection and new opportunities that this team brings to our community,” said City of Abbotsford Mayor, Henry Braun. “I am looking forward to joining all of the fans in cheering on our new hometown team.”
The new AHL team becomes the seventh club in the league to share the names and similar brands with their NHL counterpart.
The Canucks announced in May that they were relocating their AHL team from Utica, N.Y., to Abbotsford, located about 70 kilometres southeast of downtown Vancouver.
Abbotsford was previously home to the Abbotsford Heat, the Calgary Flames’ AHL affiliate from 2009 to 2014.
With files to the Canadian Press.
Graham Cox
