Kansas City Blades Apparel
Shop our collection of unique Kansas City Blades apparel, a throw back to the 1990s IHL and old time hockey. Check out our selection of Kansas City Blades jerseys, t-shirts, and other items and read the history of the team below. We are an American small business dedicated to bringing back the history and designs of fondly remembered and long-lost hockey teams from throughout hockey history.
Philadelphia Firebirds Jerseys
Our Seattle Ironmen jerseys are a custom design that is an homage to the sweaters of the original Ironmen, but is also unique in its own right. They have embroidered elements and fully cut and sewn seams for that old school jersey feel.
These jerseys feature embroidered "ironmen" logos sewn onto the chest of the jersey. The Ironmen usually only wore an "S" or the words "Seattle Ironmen" one their chest, so this is a customized chest logo.
The Ironmen did wear a white and dark color scheme with a mid-chest color split that we've captured here, along with a set of five stripes on both the arms and lower chest. All of these features are embroidered at the seams for that old school look and feel; nothing sublimated about it.
Further, we mimicked the two stars on each shoulder that the Ironmen wore to the best of out ability using modern production methods. Two stars are embroidered onto the jersey over each shoulder, including one red star for a pop of color.
Finally, the names and numbers. We do offer a blank option at a lower price point without names and numbers. If you'd like yours customized, we are keeping true to the Ironmen's original design with no numbers on the arms. On the back, we have an option for a stitched name bar with heatpress lettering and large heatpressed numbers across the back. Both the name and back numbers are red, to further add color to the Ironmen and bring what we believe to be their red, white and blue color scheme to the modern age.
How our jersey pre-orders work.
We're a small mom and pop shop and due to lack of well, everything, we are not able to customize our retro hockey jerseys on the fly. Instead, we need to send them out to get made in batches. To be able to offer customization, we open up individual jerseys for pre-orders when we debut them and again later on depending on demand for that particular jersey. So if you are interested in customization or an unusual size such as youth or goalie cuts, pre-order time is the time to buy! You never know when (or if) these jerseys might be available again.
All that said, we do plan to keep stock available continuously for blank jerseys in sizes small through 3XL for most teams. Please note that pre-order jerseys are expected to ship 2-3 months from the date the pre-order period ends and payment in full is required at the time of purchase. In stock blanks will ship on our normal timeframes and usually leave the warehouse within a couple of days. You can read our pre-order policy here.
Kansas City Blades History
presented by Vintage Ice Hockey
Who were the Kansas City Blades?
The Kansas City Blades first took the KC ice in 1990 in the International Hockey League (IHL), but the franchise began as the “Toledo Goaldiggers” back in 1974 in Toledo, Ohio. The Goaldiggers were part of the hockey scene in Ohio for 12 years before closing up shop in 1986. After a four year hiatus, the team rebooted in a new city with a new name. They settled in at Kemper Arena and had a pretty uneventful first season.
Playoff Successes
A pro affiliation with the San Jose Sharks allowed the Blades to really take off in their second season, 1991-92. Under the leadership of Head Coach Kevin Constantine, their first year affiliated with the Sharks was the most successful season for the franchise. Out of all 10 teams in the IHL, the Blades had the best record (56-22-4), scored 116 points, and won the Turner Cup by sweeping the Muskegon Lumberjacks in four games. This was the best record in all of pro hockey that season and the largest single season turn around (they only scored 54 points their first season). Teaming up with the San Jose Sharks literally turned the Blades into a powerhouse.
During the five years that the Blades served as a “farm team” for the Sharks, they packed Kemper Arena with an average of 7000 fans per night. They were also a home to many future NHL all stars including famous head coach Claude Julien and players Arturs Irbe, Steve Kariya, Victor Kozlov, Mike Rathje, and Ray Whitney. In the 11 seasons of the Blades’ existence, they made it to the playoffs seven times.
Their 1994-1995 season, under the guidance of Head Coach Jim Wiley, was also noteable. Though the Blades couldn’t boast much about a record of 35-40-6 and scoring only 76 points for the season, they did return to the playoffs. Because a rule changed that allowed more teams to compete in the playoffs, the Blades squeaked in as the last team to get into the in the IHL’s playoffs (and 16 of the 17 IHL teams made it in). Despite finishing in last place in the Central Division, their saving grace was that they scored only four more points than the last place Indianapolis Ice.
However, the Blades really made the most of their playoff opportunity and pulled off an unbelievable run. They pulled of three of the biggest upsets in all of IHL history to make it to the Finals. In the first round, the Blades (76 regular season points) knocked out the Detroit Vipers, who had notched 102 points. In the second round, they are credited with he biggest upset in league history as they stunned the 113-point Peoria Rivermen in five games. Not to give up just yet, the knocked out the 100-point K-Wings in the third round. Despite all of the record breaking upsets, when the Blades moved to the finals the Denver Grizzlies gave them a taste of their own medicine by beating them out of the Turner Cup in a four game sweep. The Grizzlies had 120 points, the most in the regular season that year and featuerd a host of future NHLers such as Ziggy Palffy, Kip Miller, Niklas Andersson, and Tommy Salo.
The End of an Era
Despite all of this success, the downfall of the Blades began in the late ‘90s as the IHL began expanding into major markets (Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, etc). The NHL may have not taken kindly to this move and whether purposeful or not moved many of their affiliations to the IHL’s rival AHL, which caused the IHL to lose many of their top prospects. The Blades essentially became collateral damage amidst the reshuffling. The Sharks pulled out of Kansas City in 1996, and decided to pair up with the AHL’s Thoroughblades out of Lexington, Kentucky instead. With that, the Blades owner sold the team and things unfortunately didn’t change for the better.
1996 proved to be the beginning of the end for the Blades as they reclaimed their status as an independent team and the new ownership came in and changed the team’s logo and raised ticket prices. Fans were not impressed by all the new changes happening with the Blades, and attendance dropped a whopping 24% throughout the 1996-1997 season. The loss of talent from the Sharks hurt as well, as the Blades weren’t bad but they weren’t able to rekindle the magic of 1991-92 and 1994-95.
The franchise never really recovered from all the changes that 1996 brought about but they did still play through the 2000-01 season for a total of 11 IHL seasons. However, by 1999, the new ownership was already considering selling the team. Despite open negotiations with Oklahoma City, no plans ever actually solidified. In 2001, the IHL’s expansion plan fell apart and wasn’t able to financially survive. With the league folding, six teams were admitted to the AHL. However, as the Blades’ ownership already owned the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins, they were not allowed to own a second AHL and so the Blades folded in 2001 along with the rest of the IHL that wasn’t absorbed into the AHL.
Free Shipping
All of our products ship free within the USA!
Note: Pre-order products ship in 2-3 months
Returns & Exchanges
We make it easy to return non-customized items for any reason at all. Read our policy here.
Tons of Happy Customers
Check out our 500+ reviews from happy customers and please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
