Athletic Knit (AK) H550BA-CAL894B Adult 2021 Calgary Flames Reverse Retro Black Hockey Jersey

A Solid Product From Athletic Knit?

For years now, I've always casually disregarded Athletic Knit products for being a bit, shall we say, "bargain basement". Their jerseys in particular always seemed to be a step behind other companies, most notably CCM and Reebok, both of whom have had the jersey manufacturing rights for the NHL for most of the last two decades. More recently though, Adidas has stepped into the picture and brought us the Adizero uniform, and with it, Athletic Knit has brought about their own version for retail. Does it transcend their products of the past? Well mostly... yes. Having few options to wear a Calgary Flames reverse retro set up for pick-up hockey, I decided to take a gamble on the Athletic Knit set here to see if possibly, or at all, Athletic Knit has stepped up their game. One of the first things I notice after opening the package was that AK has foregone more modern, softer, more elastic materials in favor of the tried and true air knit material. Depending on what side of the camp you're on, this could either be a good or bad thing. Disappointingly, however, the collar is also made from the same material as well. It's not something you really notice on the ice, but a slight upgrade in materials here would've been a nice touch. One thing I wasn't expecting was the presence of both double-elbows and double-shoulders, which are higher contact areas, especially if you play contact. It's not much use to me, as my bones disintegrate like wafers if I so much as run into a stiff breeze, but I liked seeing them add a bit more longevity to the jersey. Despite the jersey being modeled after the more aerodynamic Adizero product, I don't know if I'd say this is a particularly slim cut. Perhaps it's because I'm on the lower end on an XL with a short upper body, but the jersey feels plenty roomy for shoulder and elbow pads. There's no armpit gusset, but then I don't really feel there is a need for one. The bottom hem is also rounded as jerseys have been since the advent of the Reebok Edge uniform. One other thing I was pleased with was the attention to detail to the stripes. Having seen AK jerseys in the past with poor dimensions compared to their real life counterparts, I was very pleased to see that the placement of the stripes, as well as the larger red stripe compared to the thinner gold stripe, is spot on. Sadly, the socks didn't get the same attention to detail, but that's another matter entirely. Overall though, I really like this jersey a lot. Switching to more modern materials (at least in the collar) is really the only thing keeping me from awarding this five stars. Also hey, how about a white version just for fun?