Canadian Heritage Leaf

35 point red maple leaf design popularized in Canada since 2002 as the "vintage" or "retro" leaf shape used in many areas, officially and unoffically. Officially it has been used used on the uniforms of Canada's national hockey team (men's and women's) since 2002 and has been highly visible since the double gold medal victories at the 2002 Olympics. It is found within the Heritage Logo from Hockey Canada and will be featured again on the uniforms of Canada for its official winter sport at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.[] It is also found throughout the nation on countless pieces of clothing apparel, pennants, flags, posters and many other places to promote the notion of Canada with a retro feel denoting the nation's heritage. Canadian golfer Mike Weir has often used this maple leaf design in his clothing apparel on the PGA tour, as it has come to be popularly known and recognized as the Canadian Heritage Leaf.

The design itself is based upon the maple leaves used in Canada prior to the introduction of the 11 point Maple Leaf Flag in 1965. Many of the maple leaves used prior to this were of designs with more than 30 points and a short stem. The Canadian Coat of Arms first developed officially for Canada in 1921 (and subsequent Red Ensign National Flag) used a 35 point leaf, and maple leaves of over 30 points and similar to this shape are found representing Canada throughout its history.[] The official maple leaf used on the various Canadian uniforms of the summer and winter Olympics in 1924 (the 1st after the Coat of Arms was developed) used a 35 point leaf. Hockey Canada developed its Heritage Logo to commemorate Canada's Ice Hockey gold medal from the first official Winter Olympics of that year. The Toronto Maple Leafs similarly use a 35 point maple leaf on their retro uniforms in addition to their 11 point regular leaf on their primary jerseys. []
 
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