Wednesday: Day Hockey

Happy Wednesday everyone! I don't know how your day's been going but I just got home from a rare Wednesday matinee in Rockford. My Rockford Icehogs had an 11 Am game against the Abbotsford Heat that many schools from the Rockford School District attended as a field trip. I gotta say, quite a different experience than a normal game as there were thousands of middle schoolers in attendance and most of the normal ticket holders not attending due to work or whatever.

Most of the kids had to leave midway through the third period for some dumb reason so the last few minutes, including the OT period were watched by maybe 100 or so people, which, after 15 years of watching Icehogs hockey, I've never seen the building so empty for any part of a game. Sadly, they lost but it was still fun to start my day with hockey. How do you guys feel about early day games for the pros? Big fan or too big of a hastle to be able to watch?

Like I said yesterday guys, please please please don't forget to vote! The next few weeks are the biggest of the year and we would like a great turnout! Even if you've just started following the blog, or been following from the beginning, take a second and email in your votes!

4th Quarter Vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

COTW Jan 6-12 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

AHL Stadium Series Entries (Due Friday, January 17, 2014 @ 11:59pm Eastern)

Speaking of the AHL Stadium Series..... more entries today!

Stephen T.

Scott M.

Matt Mc.

Wings98

And as always your daily concepts

Philadelphia Third Jersey Concept - Brian B.

Here we go, here's something we haven't seen yet, and I'm quite surprised we haven't. Now before I go on, I'm told this was intentionally meant to look like this. So I'm assuming Brian is just showing off that it's just a bad jersey design. I'm not 100% sure, but yep, still looks bad. However, I feel that maybe the white "cape" fits Philadelphia's branding. It kind of resembles their current jerseys' arm yokes in a way. I'm not condoning it, I'm just saying. I think a black "cape" would look better and wouldn't be mixing "dark" with "light"

Rating: 6/10 - bad looking, BUT..... interesting

Calgary Flames Third Jersey Concept - David P. 

Here's an interesting concept. I think that it may have been done on the site before, just maybe not exactly like this. The way this is now, I'm not a fan. Too busy, plus the flames come up way too high for my liking. I'd get rid of all the hem striping and side panels and just have the flames coming up to about normal hem stripe height. No shoulder patches might be a plus on this specific jersey though. Numbers would be nice too.

Rating: 6/10

New York Stadium Series Concept - Ricky M.

Ricky offers us his versions of the New York Stadium Series. This has many of the same problems I saw with his Stadium Series concept yesterday. I'm not big on the under arms, except I don't mind them on the Islanders jersey to be honest. Not a huge fan of a green devil's jersey. I'd swap the green and red. And I still don't like the helmets. Red vs. Orange would be a mess, so the Rangers or Islanders need light jersey instead. I do like how all the jerseys have a different striping pattern though

Rating: 6.5/10

2016 Heritage Classic Concept - Justin S.

Justin has an idea for the 2016 Heritage Classic. I'm ok with the Canucks using this era for a one off, I don't prefer it but, meh. As for the Jets, there's nothing "Classic" here except the striping pattern. I'm sure they could get permission to use the old Jets logo if it was a one off so I'd rather see that, or some sort of fauxback that resembles it.

Rating: 7/10

Los Angeles Kings Third Jersey Concept - Avi S.

Avi takes the Kings' Stadium Series jersey and applies it to a more traditional jersey cut. I honestly think this would be the best option for a Kings third jersey that doesn't bring purple back. The only thing I would change is replacing the shoulder patches here with the new "LA" monogram logo that's on their Stadium Series jerseys.

Rating: 7/10 - Not much of a concept, more or less their Stadium jersey, just less "Stadium Series-y" but it's just so clean and nice looking.

Charlottetown Islanders Concept - Robb C.

Rob offers up an IceBorn'd version of the Charlottetown Islanders of the QMJHL. Well, actually he has the jerseys branded as Reebok (incorrectly as I might add as Reebok doesn't put the vector logo on the jerseys, but instead their workmark) So this looks like the Stadium Series cut jerseys with the angled hems. Personally, I like the jersey design itself, I think it's a decent fit with the logo. Something about the color balance seems off on the light jersey. Maybe more black around the gold. 

Rating: 7/10

Buffalo Sabres Third Jersey Concept - Avi S.

Avi gives us his rendition of a yellow Sabres' alternate that I, as I'm sure everyone else will, like this jersey a lot better than the actual product. It's really not too "out there" and that's what I like about it. It's got 2 elements that could be considered "out there", the shoulder captains patch, and the silver...things... on the shoulders, which I kind of like.

Rating: 8/10

Winnipeg Jets 1920's Concept - Dylan W.

Another interesting concept today. Dylan takes a stab at what the Jets would have looked like 90 years ago. I feel like it's an accurate representation as to what this team would have looked like. He explains that the jerseys are meant to give the retro feel using the current logo, but I want to see this concept go all out. Granted, I'm pretty sure the first "jet" was made in maybe the 30's, or 40's, (Does anyone know for sure?) I would have liked to see a total retro logo. I want to see the pants and socks as well!

The one potential problem here for me is that the jerseys seem to both be dark and light, so maybe make that stand  out on each jersey a little more. Still a good concept.

Rating: 8/10 - Color balance and the lack of equipment hurt this concept to me. 8's still good though even without that stuff.

Begin Opinion

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As for the Reebok branded IceBorn template, I don't want to make a big deal out of anything here, but I'd leave it branded as Iceborn if I was going to include a brand on the jersey. I know it's not an "accurate" concept since IceBorn isn't a "real" manufacturer or whatever and we tend to push a certain level of accuracy on the concepts we critique here, but I'm sure it wasn't made to have Reebok, or Bauer, or whoever's brand slapped on it. 

IceBorn has shown itself to be a pretty unique and versatile template that opens itself to several design possibilities, plus it's really easy to manipulate and create your own jersey cuts and stitching patterns. I like to think I'm becoming good buddies with Matt McElroy, and I don't know HIS stance on seeing his template rebranded, but If I spent a lot of time making my own template to share with everyone that was unique and my own thing, I'd want to see that name and that name only on it. 

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End Opinion

So guys, what's your take on today's post? You like any concepts? Any COTW-worthy? Talk it out!