Friday: Perhaps the most important post of the year.

Happy Friday HJC Faithful!

Welcome to today's post. You came on a very important day for HJC. By midnight Eastern time, all the votes will be in to determine the 2013 COTY winner. That means you only have THIS MUCH time left to get your votes in!

It is super important that we get all your votes in to determine the COTY Champ, you have the chance to influence HJC history. So who's it gonna be? Is Justin C. going to become the first back to back HJC COTY champion, or will the DBro come out on top? The power is in your hands to determine the fate of the world.

also, don't forget to send in your regular COTW vote, or your flames redesign entries!

2013 COTY Final vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

COTW Jan 20-26 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

CGY ReDesign entries (due Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

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Here is my weekly plug for the HJC meet-up which I am hoping will still take place on the Heritage classic weekend in Vancouver. As of right now, I have only heard from one person who is interested. If you are interested, please get in touch with me (either through the HJC facebook page, or via email... just email Ryan, and he will pass it on to me). Since it is basically 30 days until the classic the response I get in the next week or so will determine what sort of meet-up this will be. If it is just me and one other, cool, we'll meet up and chat, take a picture in our jerseys then head to the game, but if suddenly a flood of 15 other people decide they want to join (and express interest to me soon) bigger plans will have to be made. Since getting a space for a lot of people to hang out on Heritage Classic weekend could be a challenge, please express interest as soon as possible.

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Today's Flames redesign entries:

Alan H.

Avi S.

Bastian S.

Cole 98

Andrew S.

Justin S.

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On to Today's Concepts!

New Jersey Devils - Matt Mc.

As much as I love the red and green Devils throwbacks that New Jersey sported for their stadium series game last week, I really think the Devils should have used a new jersey (hehe). Of the 3 teams that played at Yankee Stadium I feel like New Jersey's logo lends itself best to a modernized jersey. Matt does a really good job of creating that modern jersey while preserving the retro elements from the throwback uniforms, and the best thing is that it doesn't look mashed up, but instead looks polished and cohesive. Seriously, some brilliant work here from Matt. 9/10 and a COTW nom.

Washington Capitals - Tyler G.

Some great, clean, simple uniforms here from Tyler. I think the three stars above the Weagle logo do really add some balance. I do like that the three star motif is continued throughout the jersey, but think it could be pushed a tad further by adding three stars to each shoulder. Also, for the home sweater, the blue gets a bit lost for me, perhaps mismatch the jerseys and put the blue stripe between two white stripes on the red sweater to add some pop. 8/10.

Team USSR - Stephen T.

A good looking set of jerseys here from Stephen. I really like the striping pattern, and having the CCCP on the back instead of a player's name, that seems like something the soviets would love! I would like to see the creativity pushed a little bit more. One place where I would start is the stars on the shoulders, could something be done to get the TV number inside them for an old-school/All-Star vibe? Also, I know you are emulating the USSR flag, but it seems like a good idea to get that hammer and sickle emblem over the player's heart. 7.5/10.

Pittsburgh Penguins - Felix T.

The striping design on this sweater is actually pretty cool. It reminds me of the classic four stripe pattern that the Pens used most recently on their Winter Classic jerseys, but it is modernized a bit. One thing I would suggest is making the stripes a bit bolder, right now they are a bit too thin. Also adding some white into the striping could make the jersey pop a bit more. Also, the logo seems too big and is positioned too low on the sweater, easy fix. 7/10.

Carolina Hurricanes - Justin S.

HUGE creativity props to you Justin! Everyone is complaining about how the Canes screwed up their redesign by dropping the Hurricane (...errr tropical storm) striping pattern, and Justin literally puts the players in that flag (on the home jersey at least). The best part of this concept is the from of the home jersey, from that I understand what is trying to be done. This concept doesn't really work on a white sweater, you lose the flag motif, but if polished it would be awesome as an alternate or fan jersey. Here are a few suggestions: perhaps go black on black for the logo on the front, if the logo is more subtle, the flag pattern will pop. Maybe consider a wordmark logo, because as is it feels weird having so many curved lines inside a box. Make the boxes on the front and back the same size, re-size the numbers to fit, and put the NOB outside the box. Cool idea, it takes major cojones to put something this creative out there. Overall needs a bit of polish, but for such creativity, 7/10.

Boston Bruins - Felix T.

First off, Felix, you really should identify yourself on these concepts. Take some credit! I like the overall look here. I think the white/black striping on the arm should be bolder, and that there should also be a thick black hem. Not a fan of the chest numbers here. The bruins could do with a decent gold alternate, and this seems like a good place to start. 7/10.

Pittsburgh Penguins - Ian V.

I was just looking at the Pens sweaters, and marvelling at how "modern" they are currently and thinking to myself that they should do themselves a favour and truly modernize by stepping up to the Stadium series template. Ian gives us this. The sweaters don't feel a lot different than their current look, but they make a whole lot more logical sense. Continuous stripes, n random patches of colour, and they fit well with the logo and have some unique shoulder striping. I am a fan. Not so sold on the alternate, probably better to dig up a gold throwback to complete this set, That is what Pens fans want. 7.5/10.

Atlanta Thrashers - Dallas K.

When the Thashers were still a thing, I thought that they should have downplayed the blue in their colour scheme and focussed on maroon and gold. Dallas does a good job of that here. I really dig the maroon sweater, and like the striping how the striping pattern plays out on the white sweater, but to me the white sweater seems empty. The maroon sweater is good without hem stripes, but the white sweater could benefit from them I think. 8/10.

2017 Heritage Classic - Toronto vs Montreal - Tristan M.

Dear Hockey gods, I pray that this happens. Amen. Habs vs Leafs outdoors, celebrating the Leafs centennial, the only person who could possibly screw that up/think that was a bad idea is Gary Bettman. As for the sweaters, I like the Leafs one, good use of stripes, they aren't overdone here, and the logo choice is good. As for the Habs, I would like to see them in red, so this game could be colour vs colour. Whenever I think Leafs, I think blue, whenever I think Habs, I think red. As is the Habs have too much blue on their sweaters. Overall, I do like these sweaters, but I like the idea of a centennial Leafs vs Habs heritage classic even more! 7.5/10. 

Well that's it for Friday, make sure to get your votes in, and check back here on the weekend to see who will take home the HJC crown this year!