Sunday: The Ivy League of Hockey Jersey Concept Blogs

Hello everyone! Today we have concepts for the CWHL, ECAC, WHL, and more; lots of variety today! 

If you missed the post late last night, take a listen to HJC's latest podcast! This podcast features Ryan, Dylan A, Sean (Jets96), and myself. Rural Missouri internet didn't prevent me from participating this time around. In the podcast we discuss our jersey collections, some of the best and worst jerseys in NHL history, making fun of the hapless Oilers, and more!

*** Edit by Ryan***

Check out yesterday's HJC Podcast!

****************************

We also have a new competition to design this year's Concept of the Year Logo! Click the banner above for details!

Back a few months ago, we did a vote on HJC to determine which team is the most loved/hated amongst the jersey design community. I thought I would take a look at sine if the reasons to love or hate each team in the league. Let's start with the Central division. (please keep in mind this is not meant to be taken seriously)

Chicago Blackhawks

Reasons to love them: They are well-coached, have talent locked up long-term, and their fanbase makes you feel like you don't really have an alcohol problem.

Reasons to hate them: You've got a stain on your jersey from where a Chicago fan passed out next to you at a game during the first period and drooled on your shoulder.

Colorado Avalanche

Reasons to love them: Patrick Roy is a an entertaining coach, and they have some of good, young talent. You pointed out (like everyone else) that their possession stats showed regression was in order, and now you're a corsi/fenwick stat genius (like everyone else).

Reasons to hate them: Their uniforms are the worst combination of amateurish and boring. You live n Quebec City. This is the team that's going to ruin Nathan MacKinnon.

Dallas Stars

Reasons to love them: That shade of green is beautiful. Seguin/Benn/Spezza are exciting to watch. The best defense is a good offense right? RIGHT?!

Reasons to hate them: You're a Sabres fan, and 1999 is still too soon. Tyler Seguin can't even clean up after himself.

Minnesota Wild

Reasons to love them: You're a big fan of players who are family men. Let's forget all that money, ok? That logo is a beauty.

Reasons to hate them: They took your best players away by paying them ungodly amounts of cash. 

Nashville Predators

Reasons to love them: You love perpetual underdogs, and bright colors. You're a Star Wars fan, and love to see David Poile use his Jedi mind tricks. 

Reasons to hate them: Webering. Instead of "Keeping the Red Out" the fanbase is more than happy to price gauge the incoming Chicago fans and stay home. You thought Nashville would be an easy win, but forgot that at the center of Rinne's glove is a black hole.

St. Louis Blues

Reasons to love them: You love really old players making comebacks. This picture of Ken Hitchcock. International cooperation.

Reasons to hate them: You're from St. Louis/Missouri, and this team doesn't play baseball. Why don't they play baseball?! (Seriously, I live in Missouri, and few of my coworkers are aware of this team's existence)

Winnipeg Jets

Reasons to love them: You think that all southern American teams should be moved back to Canada. Teemu Selanne played for them. Everyone loves Teemu. Now that Trotz has left Nashville, they filled your need for low-scoring defensive games...if you need that...

Reasons to hate them: They traded Teemu Selanne. You were one of the ten people who regularly watched Thrashers games. 

Don't forget to vote this week! We have a very important COTY vote for November as well!

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

COTW Nov 30-Dec 6 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

Here are today's entries into the COTY Logo Competition:

Dylan G.

Jared L.

Taylor R.

Moving on to today's concepts:

Cornell University "Ivy League Classic" Concept - Kevin H.

Positives: This concept is definitely fitting for Cornell; conservative, highly-traditional, and very red. Sleeve numbers are executed very well. 

Negatives: The logo and numbers are too large. The chest stripe is negated by the large logo and numbers. Size those down, and just go with a vintage-white hem, similar to a Red Wings home jersey. Kevin goes with a faux-leather look with the pants and gloves, but if you do that, you need to do the helmet in the same style.

Overall: Some slight modifications would make this a traditional jersey befitting of Cornell. (6.75/10)

Harvard University "Ivy League Classic" Concept - Kevin H.

Positives: The striping pattern is very reminiscent of the Bruins, but that's not a bad thing, especially considering Harvard's location. The look itself is very classic. Number and logo proportions are better with this concept than the previous one.

Negatives: This jersey would need a light helmet, because in this particular example you have Cornell wearing a dark helmet. You don't usually go dark helmet against dark helmet.

Overall: Not really innovative, but a pretty solid look. (7.5/10)

Spokane Chiefs Concept - Coby S.

Positives: Spokane basically just wears Montreal jerseys with Spokane logos. I like the striping on the white jersey, especially. The Spokane logo actually looks better without chest striping, in my opinion. The logo is fairly busy as is. Only fairly simple logos look great against chest striping. I'm digging the white collar on the home jersey. Execution is good.

Negatives: I like to see helmet logos. It just shows a careful attention to authentic detail.

Overall: It's a safe, but solid set. (8/10)

San Jose Sharks "Freak 3rd" Concept - Patrik G.

Positives: Huge bonus points for creativity here. This is a very unusual jersey (hence the "Freak 3rd" label Patrik applied to it) but the overall idea behind the design is executed very well. I'm impressed. This could be the Sharks less cartoon-ish "Wild Wing" jersey. I love seeing odd stuff sometimes.

Negatives: Sleeve numbers are too small. 

Overall: This is one of those divisive jerseys. You'll either love the creativity or hate the avant-garde styling. (8.25/10)

Mario Ardais Hockey Card Concept - SUC Designs

Positives: Is there anyone that didn't dream of having a card made of them as a kid. I know I always dreamed of having my picture on a card with a Heisman pose as running back for the Tennessee Volunteers. I'll try to limit my critique to the jersey design itself. I like white yoke. Striping is very traditional, but not bad by any means.

Negatives: The jersey and socks are two different shades of blue. There are a lot of odd-colored pixels on the outer areas of this jersey. I see lots of red, bright green, and some vintage white, which seems to indicate that the jersey may have been recolored. (*side note* So in 2010-11 Mario scores 198 goals/288 points in 30 games? That's an average of over 6.6 goals/9.6 points per game...moving on...)

Overall: Interesting concept. (6.5/10)

Montreal Stars Concept - Christian L.

Positives: I love the logo. It reminds me very much of the Washington Winter Classic jersey unveiled recently, but that's not a negative. Color balance with the striping is very good. The white jersey is especially nice. With many hockey sets these days, the light jersey seems like an afterthought, but not here. I think it's the stronger of the two. Execution and presentation is flawless.

Negatives: The overall design says "America" to me more than Montreal.

Overall: This was my favorite design from the CWHL competition. I would nominate it for COTW, but it's already up for voting this week because of it's well-deserved competition win. (9/10)


That's all for today! Be sure to nominate concepts you like, and feel free to leave your own feedback for today's artwork. Don't forget to send in your COTY logo entries! See you all back here tomorrow for Dylan's Monday post.