Sunday, July 6, 2025

Sea Dogs welcome "Next Wave"

SAINT JOHN - While the Saint John Sea Dogs unveiled their new logo, wordmark and jerseys on Saturday night, the team also went into detail about what the "Next Wave" means.

The "Next Wave" slogan has been appearing of Sea Dogs creative for a bit now. At Saturday's event, team president Trevor Georgie explained why this specific term is being used.

"It's not the new wave, because that would imply what happened before wasn't good," Georgie explained to the crowd in attendance. "The word 'next' is absolutely integral to this, because next means you're up next. To do something again, to repeat, to continue, some continuity. Waves don't just go and have new ones come through. It's always the next one coming in and coming in."

Georgie referenced the Bay of Fundy's famous tides, comparing them to the cyclical nature of junior hockey.

"Very much like the junior hockey cycle, very much like our cycle. Slow, precise, patient and powerful. And at the end of the day, the water line is here. Then it starts, and it comes right back up. 

"2005, the Sea Dogs were born. Young franchise bred into the league. Six years later, championship. The seventh season, championship. The tide came down, the tide came up, 2017 championship. The tide came down, the tide came up, 2022 championship."

A number of players from last year's Sea Dogs team were in attendance along with many newcomers who were in town for development camp. Georgie spoke to them directly in his speech.

"It is not our hope that you young men in this room continue on that tradition as the next wave. It is our expectation," said Georgie. "Hope is not a strategy. It is our expectation. It is not our hope that you leave a lasting impact on this community. It is our expectation."

Sea Dogs head coach and general manager Travis Crickard also spoke briefly, welcoming players and family into town.

"As we move into this part of our phase where we compete, contend and become champions, there are many of you in this room and your families who will be key members of them," said Crickard. "So I'm really happy to have all of you here this weekend for this development camp so we can start this next wave off together on a nice July weekend in Saint John."

A few other news and notes from Saturday night...
  • The team's new look was designed by Brian Gundell, the lead graphic designer for Fanatics' contract with the NHL. Sportslogos.net notes that Gundell's previous work includes logos for the "WHL’s Portland Winterhawks, the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds, the ECHL’s Iowa Heartlanders, the NHL’s Seattle Kraken and MLB’s San Diego Padres."
  • "We did not want to have a revolution here. This is an evolution," Gundell said of the Saint John's new logo. The logo is much more "aggressive" than the previous, featuring an open mouth rather than what looked like a smile. "We wanted to have the same pose, the same kind of look and feel. But again, just grown up, give it a little bit more aggressive, stylized, slick feel. But it should have kind of the same familiarity to everybody. It's about maintaining and growing the brand rather than kind of throwing everything out. We wanted to make sure that we honoured the tradition of the team and we really brought it forward for year 21 and beyond."
  • The font for the new wordmark, lettering and numbers was custom designed for the Sea Dogs. "This is something that only the Sea Dogs will have. Nobody else in hockey or in sport will have this type face, it's all for you guys."
  • The team's five championship icons are included on the inside of the collar. Gundell also said the five stripes the jersey was intentional, representing the team's five championships (with space to add more in the future).
  • It took roughly two years for this project to be completed. 
  • Interesting that the colour red, which is in the Sea Dogs' eye, was prominently mentioned and officially part of the team's colours. Certainly opens the door for a red jersey or something down the road.
  • The team will not have a third jersey for the 2025-26 season. One could return for 2026-27.
  • Will be interesting to see the blue uniform in action. That is a lot of blue, especially with blue pants and helmets. I'm not sure about the black numbering on the blue jersey, but we'll see what it looks like in real life soon.
  • It's been a long time since the Sea Dogs wore blue helmets regularly. Did they wear them beyond the 2005-06 season?
  • I had wondered if we might see a shoulder patch with some kind of alternate logo, similar to what the Halifax Mooseheads added with the clock tower a few years ago. But it doesn't appear that will be the case.
  • The actual jerseys aren't ready yet, so there wasn't one in attendance. A very limited amount of merchandise was available for purchase. More merchandise isn't expected until the start of the season.
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