Monday: To the Land Down Under.

Okay, I think it's time for a break from the top 3 lists.

Welcome to the HJC Monday Post!

Here are your Cleveland Barons Redesign entries for today:

Christian L.

This week, voting is at an all time importance. This week, we have a playoff vote, a rare occurince on HJC, but one you should take advantage of. As Billy Mays said, but if you vote right now, within the next 5 days because you know we can't do this all week, we'll include free shipping for your Buffalo Sabres 2014 Stanley Cup Champions t-shirt.

*Unfortunately due to an "unintentional warehouse fire" this shirt is only available in XXXXXS

I said last week I'd give my thoughts on the playoffs, so here it goes.

BOS vs. DET: I picked Detroit, and thought maybe their late season charge would give the Wings energy to beat the big bad Bruins....guess not.

MTL Vs. TB: No shock (no pun intended) that Tampa lost without Ben Bishop, but the only sweep of the first round was not the series anyone thought it would be

PIT Vs. CLB: Entertaining, but neither team has really dominated the other so far...Fleury.....

PHI Vs. NYR: Another close series, but look out for Steve Mason or King Henrik to be the difference maker, I'm rooting for the fellow Oakvillian Mason (he went to my rival high school)

ANA Vs. DAL: Too bad the Stars BLEW IT!

LA Vs. SJ: The Kings weren't going down without a fight

COL Vs. MIN: Matt Cooke is a COTTONHEADED NINNY MUGGIN'! Also, this has been a battle of goalies, a Vezina contender and a future Vezina winner (take your pick on who's who)

STL Vs. CHI: The Blues were too banged up to take this one without some serious luck (Though I will root for Alex Steen, since his father is a Winnipeg legend)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last week, I forgot to mention the HJC Meet Up! Big Mistake! Not only is it the premier event of the summer in Toronto, but there are some awesome raffle prizes that are being raffled off. A White Lady Liberty jersey, one of the rarest alternates in NHL history, a replica Tampa Bay Lightning Stanley Cup Ring, and other prizes yet to be reviled!

Submit your ticket form to get your tickets and if you plan on ever traveling to Toronto, now is as good a time as ever. If you can't make it but want in on the prizes, raffle tickets will be available soon via Pay Pal.

On to the Concepts

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peoria Rivermen Concept (By: Mike S.)

First up, a HUGE congratulations to Mike for completing his SPHL alternate series. Mike's concepts were sent in as they were done, which is why the series lasted longer, but completing a series is always tough work, and each concept in this series was full of creativity, no two concept looked the same. 

I have the AHL Rivermen home jersey, and anything is better than that. Aside from the new logo and beautiful yellow numbers, the best thing about this alternate is the rivets/portholes in the striping. It may be a little close to the arms and hem, but the rivets add that minor league character typical of semi-pro hockey. Aside from the proximity to the edge of the jersey, The execution is solid. (8.5/10)

Mississippi River Kings Concepts (By: Caz W.)

From the images I could find, the River Kings have worn jerseys with giant cartoon crowns for striping, a pattern similar to the New York Rangers Winter Classic jerseys, and the Avs template, so a variety of good, not so good, and BLAH.Using black and darkening the gold match the green very well, and the striping pattern is simple enough, but not boring. The shoulder patch, I don't know what it is about it but it looks more like a map logo, maybe using the crown would be more fitting. Also, the number, which are the Stars numbers, could use an outline. (8/10)

Team Netherlands 2014 World Cup Concepts (By: Stephen T.)

One things that's awesome about the Netherlands is that they usually wear orange and black, a great colour combination. First off, this striping pattern should familiar, from Stephen's Germany set from a couple of weeks ago. That's a serious down vote, not even adding a hem stripe, only changing the name on the back, logo and nothing else. Before sending concepts in, try to be original, it's always great to improve on old concepts, but, improve on it, don't just change the colours and call it new. The design is okay, but the blue blends into the orange, the jersey looks okay, but would be way better. (4/10)

Team Australia Concept (By: Stephen T.)

From the land down under, no not New Zealand, Australia! Using a flag as a striping pattern works for simple countries like Germany, Austria and Canada, but Australia.....It kind of works. The stars on the arm are decent enough, but there's a a very empty bottom of the jersey, which needs to be fixed. Some sort of striping patter will do wonders. A side note, Australia wears green and yellow in international contest, so maybe seeing that would make this jersey seem less....bland. (5.5/10)

Team Germany 2014 World Cup Concepts (By: Stephen T.)

So Stephen really likes to make Germany international concepts, and seeing how they are a soccer powerhouse, it's fitting. The away jersey is a recoloured version of Stephen's Team America World Cup concept, with the numbers moved. Again, design something new, if you want to have a chest stripe, that's fine, but do something different. The away jersey, despite using colours as the German team would do, the lack of yellow or white makes the red and black look too dark. (5/10)

Helsinki Sailors Concepts (By: S2dio)

                                                                                                                                                                    Ah the NHL Europe division, the day that comes about, I'll be happy, after Quebec City, Hartford, Kansas City, Las Vegas and Hamilton get a team, it's likely. The logo reminds me of a certain hotel chain's S, but it's different enough that jokes wouldn't be made. I'm impressed in how good baby blue, black and gold look together, it really works, just wish the away jersey had some baby blue one it. Not that it looks bad, far from it, and it is typical of European teams to do this, but none the less, well executed and very creative, I look forward to more entries in this series (8.5/10)

Oslo Bears Concepts (By: S2dio)

Oslo is beautiful city, and what with Norway emerging as a hockey power, the NHL in the Red and Blue wouldn't be too far out there. The logo is from Morgan State, which is one of the best bear logos in all of sports, but maybe some minor editing would make it more unique to the team. The striping pattern screams Euro, like mix of the Jets and Blues. The white jersey needs a little more blue, maybe making the arm band blue  rather than red. (8.25/10)

Calgary Flames Concept (By: Steven G.)

The "medal" design is not used often, but its one way to save a jersey with a circular logo from being boring, and of all the circle logos ever, this is the one worth saving. The striping looks awesome, and I can see that when the arms are bent or at the side, the arms well link with the angled chest stripe, which is a cool effect. The hem is a little bland, maybe adding a little yellow and white will fix that, same with the numbers. (9/10)

Peterborough Petes Concepts (By:  Kaner88)

The new Petes jerseys look amazing, and it was smart of the team to keep their classic jersey as an alternate, but Kaner88, who's execution has gotten much better over the last little while, removes all black from the set. The striping is a great blend of the past and what the Ps introduced, but there are a couple of execution notes that drag this concept down. The bottom of the white jersey should be maroon on both sides, not just the front, and the stitching (gray) should stop at the hem striping. Also, if the yoke ends on the back in the middle, then the interior of the collar should be the same colour as that. Great ideas, but require some fine tuning . (7.5/10)

Team Sweden Concepts (By: Alan H.)

Just like Alan's Team USA set, I'll review these as one set and critique the differences. Both jerseys remain relatively faithful to the Sweden jerseys of the past decade, adding white on the olympic jersey certainly works well ont eh yellow jersey, but maybe blends in too much with the yellow on the blue jersey. The logo is awesome, and I love the flags on the crown and where the crummy fake laces would be on the olympic jersey. The only problemI have with the set is the helmets, which would look better if they matched the colour of the jersey but to save money, teams use one colour, and blue would work best. OLY (8.75/10) WC (9/10)

That's the post, everybody! Enjoy the rest of the first round of the playoffs, as next week, we'll be talking about my thoughts on the 2nd round! Also, next week, we'll return to the countdowns, top 3 minor league names (AHL/ECHL/SPHL/CeHL) from the world of semi pro hockey. Remember to vote, get your Barons entries in by Friday and SIGN UP FOR THE MEET UP! I'm Jets96, Go Jackets Go, see you  next Monday (maybe).