As I sat down this afternoon in the office of Peter McLoughlin, the CEO of Blues Enterprises, it almost felt like we were going to sneak a peek at John Davidson’s diary.

McLoughlin shut the door, closed the mini-blinds and almost tip-toed back to the table in the center of his now secretive quarters. There sat myself and Jim Woodcock, a former Blues exec who’s now a heavy-hitter at Fleishman-Hillard, the international communications giant based in St. Louis. (FH does a lot of good work behind the scenes with the Cardinals, Rams and Blues).

Staring at the three of us, on the table, was a small cardboard box, and in it was the biggest secret in the recent history of the Blues, more rare than a Bill Laurie “How-to” book on dismantling a franchise.

Lacking a drumroll, but with all three of us thinking one was necessary, the top of the box opened and Woodcock pulled out the Blues’ new 3rd jersey . . . an article of clothing that may not mean much to everyone, but will be so hot to others they’ll make the line for Hanna Montana tickets look like nothing when they’re available.

In my Blues’ chat Thursday on STLtoday.com, I had so many questions about the 3rd jersey that I called the club and asked them for an advanced preview. After some arm-twisting, they finally obliged. I don’t have a picture (that I couldn’t convince them) but I can tell you what it looks like.

The jersey is Navy blue with a circular logo on front. In the logo is a silver-stitched Arch with the Blue Note positioned inside the legs of the famous St. Louis monument. Above the circle, it reads “ST. LOUIS” and below it “BLUES.”

“What do you think?” McLoughlin and Woodcock said in unison.

“I like it,” I told them.

Upon further exploration, I noticed that the Blues’ new jersey (which will be worn at least 15 times this season) has the old-school draw-strings near the neck with white numbers, trimmed in Navy blue and gold. There is also a Blue Note crest on the shoulder of the jersey.

It’s hard to please everyone, but the team’s hard work appears to have paid off.

“There have been third jerseys out there over the years . . . the Ranger one with the Statue of Liberty and the Bruins one with the bear,” McLoughlin said. “I think it was important for us to create a new look that the team can wear from time to time . . . to incorporate the Arch and keep the Blue Note on the chest. We got creative with Woody’s help on a lot of different designs . . . ownership was involved . . . JD was involved . . . and this is the design that we settled on. I just think it’s really sharp.”

McLoughlin said that Blues owner Dave Checketts was insistent on the Arch being on the jersey.

“Of course, the Arch is the icon of the community and it’s really a fantastic piece of architecture,” McLoughlin said. ”To my knowledge, that’s never been incorporated into a sports team’s uniform here. But we wanted to maintain the integrity of the Blue Note first and foremost. The combination of it, I think, is good.”

The Blues toyed with the idea of powder blue (which the team wore earlier in the franchise’s history), but the “powers that be” decided they want to move forward. Davidson was a strong proponent of the Navy blue.

“It was just a great team effort,” Davidson said. “I think when you get into something as personal as the Blue Note, you don’t just drum something up, throw it out there and hope it works. We did a lot of work with a lot of different people. It was a real team effort . . . the colors, how you incorporate the Arch. Anybody that looks at it, it’s St. Louis. There’s been great uniforms in the past, which were a part of history, but we’re hoping this one will be adopted by the fans. We’re truly proud of it.”

Fans will be introduced to the jersey this Sunday at FANfest, where five of the Blues players (Brad Boyes, Lee Stempniak, David Backes, Eric Brewer and Paul Kariya) will be showing them off on the ice. They will be available to order on Sunday but won’t be delivered until mid-November.

The Blues will debut them on November 21st, and the plan is to wear them for 10 home games and five on the road.

I was told that ownership, McLoughlin, Davidson, Woodcock, the NHL and a few folks at Reebok are the only ones to have seen the design. I felt privileged Thursday to be among the few.

Before I knew it, though, the jersey was back in the box and the lid was closed. The blinds were turned, letting light in, and McLoughlin cracked open his door to let me leave.

“You didn’t see anything, right?” McLoughlin said.

“See what?” I replied.

Please don’t tell anybody I told you.

JR