NORTH BAY, Ont. — The North Bay Battalion has added an armoured brigade to its arsenal.
The Ontario Hockey League club debuted black-based sweaters emblazoned with a crest consisting of a stylized Centurion tank for its game Thursday night against the visiting Mississauga Steelheads. They constitute the first third-sweater design in franchise history.
Trimmed in gold and white and accompanied by gold-based socks, the sweaters are adorned with shoulder patches in the style of formation signs for Canadian armoured brigades in the Second World War and the letters ‘NB’ for North Bay.
The formation signs consisted of three bars in various colours and a gold maple leaf. The bars on the Battalion’s patches are in black and white.
“While the military green sweaters are iconic, I had a discussion with the league even before we started play in 1998 about a secondary design that included a tank sweater,” said Battalion owner Scott Abbott.
“We’re pleased to introduce them in this, our 25th, season. We hope fans like the look and want to see more of it.”
The Battalion also has white-based sweaters in the same style. OHL clubs wear white at home through Dec. 31, with Mississauga having agreed to switch base colours to permit the blacks, including helmets in that colour, to appear first.
The Centurion was a British-designed main battle tank used by the Canadian Army from 1952 to 1979. The tank originated in the closing days of the Second World War but never saw combat in it.
While Canada had planned to adopt American tanks, production problems with the M-48 Patton at the time of the Korean War, as well as the outstanding combat performance of the Centurion, led to the purchase of 274 of the British tanks.
The Centurions, which underwent numerous upgrades, ultimately were used by several Canadian regiments, especially as they rotated through duty in Germany. By 1971, Canada fielded 322 main battle tanks. A year later, the Centurion was replaced by the Leopard 1, which was assigned only to service in Germany and to one training squad in Canada.
The first third-sweater design in franchise history. pic.twitter.com/0Plcih8n7D
— North Bay Battalion (@OHLBattalion) December 16, 2022
