Kingston Frontenacs to Honour The Tragically Hip with Special Jersey

Published on: 2017/01/05 - in Featured News

The Kingston Frontenacs, in honour of The Tragically Hip’s roots in the community, will be wearing special Hip jerseys at their home game on Saturday, January 28th when they play the Mississauga Steelheads.

After the game, the Hip jerseys will be auctioned off and proceeds donated to the Gord Downie Fund for Brain Cancer Research through Sunnybrook Hospital.


UPDATE: The auction has ended!


“Gord’s diagnosis touched our entire organization and everyone we spoke with, from hockey fans to music fans, across Kingston, and Canada,” said Justin Chenier, Executive Director of Business Operations with the Kingston Frontenacs. “As a team, we’ve talked about honouring The Tragically Hip and when the reality of Gord’s diagnosis set in, we knew we could to do something special to honour the band and help raise funds to help with the research for brain cancer.”

The jersey was designed by the Kingston Frontenacs and Ontario-based jersey manufacturer Catstitch, who specialize in theme jerseys for hockey teams.

“We started with the base of the 1964 Boston Bruins home jersey, to reflect the year Gord Downie was born and his favourite team,” said Chenier.

“We added The Tragically Hip’s logo-wordmark from their 2011 concert at Bobcaygeon as the main logo on the front of the jersey, and their signature-wordmark on the back. In the background of the jersey is the name of every album and song recorded and released by the band, from their self-titled 1987 debut to 2016’s Man Machine Poem. We wanted to include the lyrics of every song they’ve recorded, but typed in 11-point Arial, the 30,333 words, or 128,380 characters was 45 pages long.”

The jerseys will be auctioned online with details about the bidding to be announced a week before to the game.

The Rogers K-Rock Centre is also the site of the band’s final concert of the Man Machine Poem Tour that was watched by millions of Canadians across the country and around the world.

Tickets for A Game Honouring The Tragically Hip can be purchased online at this Ticketmaster page or in person at the Rogers K-Rock Centre Box Office during regular business hours.

UPDATE: Members of the Tragically Hip will be at the game!


Jersey images: Kingston Frontenacs | K-Rock Centre: Wikimedia Commons