Tuesday: There Is No Off-season

     In my mind, there is no off-season in any sport that I love! Hey guys, Dylan W here again on this fine Tuesday. This last week I think was the first week in a long time where I didn't send in a concept to HJC. I'm slowly working on other projects right now, but that's not stopping me from checking in daily and seeing what's posted!

      I'm really excited to see what our concept artists have in store for us in the HJC Open! As much as I would've liked to entered I will really enjoy just voting as much as I can. Good luck to all!

Voting Reminders:

COTY-June vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

COTW July 1-7 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

     Not much for me to say this week. Can't really talk about my hometown team and the moves they made, because they didn't make any. Unless y0u count TALLINDER returning to the B-LO. No one here has anything good at all to say about the Sabres management right now, but that's always the case. Anyways let's get started!

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Kitchener Rangers (OHL) Concept - (Alan H.)

Alan makes Kitchener their own team! I mean jerseys of course. Right off the bat I can say it's better than what they wear. Yes the Rangers kit is a great jersey, but when it's just a rip off of another team, well, you have to go in a different direction. I actually like the choice of logos. Maybe some people might not, but it gives them a whole different identity. The striping is really nice. The whole thing looks like the lady liberty jersey, but in my opinion it's better.  Nothing to truly complain about here. Solid jersey, and solid execution. Great job Alan! 

Concept rating: [8.5/10]

Chicago vs. Pittsburgh Stadium Series Concept - (Darren H.)

DARREN! The first concept I've seen in a long time by Darren! Always been a fan of Darren's work. Execution is always perfect. Let's start out with Chicago's jersey. Overall right away I like it. It's different than the usual jerseys people make that mimic the old Blackhawk jerseys with the crazy amount of stripes. It keeps it simple, but yet I still get that feeling like it would be a Blackhawk throwback. I'm very iffy on having the 'C' log on their twice. I think if you really want it in between the stripes, take it off of the shoulder. But then the shoulder would look empty in a way. Now for Pittsburgh, Darren in a way took two different jerseys and put them together. I've never thought Pittsburgh would look good with a word mark. I honestly think just going with the skating Penguin would look nice for the crest. I don't know if that's just me though. And maybe add the same striping to the pants as they wore with their first jerseys. Overall, I like these a lot! Concept rating [8.5/10]

Boston Bruins Concept - (Shaun F.)

Shaun brings us a very different feel to a Boston jersey than they've ever worn I think. Let's start off with the white jersey. Overall with this one I think it is awesome! Every color has it's moment, and you can clearly see everything on the jersey. I think for the numbers and name, the double outline is kind of an overhaul. Maybe just one outline. But the white jersey, very good! The dark one is the one that looks a little off. At the same time though. I tried to fix it in my head and I couldn't do it. I think the biggest thing I could come up with to fixing it would be to switch the gold and black. I think the gold is a little to much and it seems like it's fighting the white for attention. But I like how you keep the traditional Bruin shoulder yoke design. Great job Shaun! On a side note I think the white jersey would be an amazing outdoor game jersey. 

Concept rating [8/10]

United States National Team Concept - (Peter H.)

Right away everything looks really nice on this. I like the lighter blue than the navy that they use. The striping I think is perfect for a US jersey. And the whole arm striping with the stars is a nice touch. One side of me really likes the stars, but another side thinks that there should be less stars. Maybe taking out the stars above the sleeve numbers? I think that could work. It would let the jersey breathe a little bit more but yet still show the stars below the numbers. Overall, great jersey. Maybe just one or two changes could make this perfect! Concept rating [8.5/10]

Calgary Cowboys (WHA) Concept - (Jeff C.)

Just a thing to start off with. If the jersey is black. Hold off on the black background. The jersey sort of gets lost. Anyways, I can just say off the bat this isn't to my liking. I think the logo is very weird. It's kind of staring me down in a creepy way, but hey, shouldn't a sports logo do that to teams? Haha. the arm/cuff striping I like, but I think you should transfer that somehow into the hem. The whole jersey seems really empty in the middle. From the yoke all the way to the hem. I also don't think the font fits. I get the you're trying to go western, but that font gives me a clown type feel. And if you go with a different font like that, I think the player name should just be a regular font instead of the design inside so it's easier to read. This has some potential, but I would take it back to work on. Concept rating: [6/10]

Rytiri Kladno (CzechExtraliga) Concept - (Jake88)

I have no clue how to pronounce this team name, so I'll just move on. When I see this logo, I really like it, not sure why. Not only that but I love this color scheme, and Jake uses it well. The striping is something that you rarely see, and it really fits. I love how the gold is just a trim for the whole striping pattern, but yet not so much that it takes over. I just think there is something missing from this for me to nominate it. Maybe something with the yoke. Maybe like a sharp light blue and gold trim to the yoke for the darker jersey, and a dark blue and gold trim to the white jersey. Not sure how that would look though. Overall great jersey! Concept rating [9/10]

 Bili Tygri Liberec (CzechExtraliga) Concept - (Jake88)

......I'm calling this team the Tigers. That's it. Right to the concept. The striping pattern is a pattern  I will always like to see on a jersey. Especially when the jersey is has only two colors on it. Very simple and clean. Just some things I would touch up on. I think the numbers shouldn't have an outline. Just leave it as one color. And I think I had something similar to this last week. Since there is a space from the stripe and the back numbers, the same in my opinion should happen with the front crest. Give it a little space. Just a side note I actually love phantom yokes, it seems like phantom yokes are usually negatively viewed though. Concept rating [8/10]

Phoenix Coyotes Saturday Night Classic Concept - (WinnipegJets96)

Phoenix Coyotes...or should I say Arizona? I'll leave it as Phoenix. I think this is a really neat design. It's different than the Coyotes have ever worn, but I like it. One thing I think could really add to the jersey would be to add more green. And in my opinion, taking the hem design and moving that to the arm would look good I think. Maybe another thing would be a different font. Something more close to what the font was with their first jersey. Overall I just think green would make this a better jersey if you added that in. Overall, It looks nice though. Concept rating: [7.5/10]

Gwinnett Gladiators ECHL Concept - (WinnipegJets96)

Last concept of the day Jets swiftifies the Gwinnett Gladiators. This one I'm really iffy on. I like the word mark where the hem would be, and I like the striping, but the whole jersey looks really bland.  I would definitely say continue the chest striping to the back, but even so I think the jersey would be missing something. Maybe increasing the logo size to might help on the front. Decent jersey. Just missing a few things in my opinion. Concept rating [7/10]

Another week in the books! And more and more to come! Still getting used to rating jerseys. It's easy to do in my head, but trying to write out critiques is tough. Some people might take my wording a different way than I explained. Hopefully it will become easier as I progress. Anyways, have a great rest of Tuesday, and have a terrific Wednesday. And to all of you HJC Open artists! Don't disappoint, make it tough for me to vote!