With Toronto being in the American League and the only team from Canada in Major League Baseball, players on National League squads rarely get an opportunity to travel north of the border during the regular season. This weekend, the Mets are visiting the Blue Jays. Terry Collins and company wanted to make the most of traveling to hockey country, so the team decided to wear NHL jerseys of their choice.
“We like to have some fun in New York and for me the Stanley Cup Playoffs are the ultimate of the hockey season,” Collins explained. “We’ve got a lot of hockey fans on our club and in spring training we talked about taking theme trips. One of the guys said ‘Hey let’s take a hockey trip when we go to Canada.’ I told all the players to pick a team and we went to the NHL store and got the jerseys. You’ll see a variety of jerseys when they get off that bus.”
The team indeed brought a variety, including a Whalers jersey from Jason Bay. Bay, who is from Canada, said he grew up a Canucks fan but wanted to do something throwback. Somebody had to be that guy. The Mets have a long way to go if they want to catch up to the Rays and their crazy jackets or classy sweaters, but the hockey theme is a nice place to start.
H/T Eye on Hockey
