Monday: Back To The Grind

Good day folks! Hope you had a fun All Star weekend. Regardless of how you feel about the game.

I personally was happy to get to enjoy our first NHL All Star Weekend in a couple years after we missed two due to a lockout and the Olympics. I've always enjoyed the All Star games and the events that come with them, especially the Skills Competition. The last few All Star games have included a fantasy draft and even those are entertaining. It's a chance to see a bunch of players interact and have fun with other players they don't usually get to do that with.

This years draft was entertaining as Alex Ovechkin lobbied so hard all night to get picked last so he could win a free car, that he DID end up getting after the All Star game anyway. Turns out he wanted the car so badly because there was a charity in D.C. that he wanted to donate it too. Great guy! There was also the first trade in All Star Fantasy Draft history as Phil Kessel was traded from Team Toews to Foligno for Tyler Seguin. Everyone had a good laugh about that and the night was great.

The Skills competition was hit and miss this year. Normally the breakaway challenge is a highlight, but this year it was actually kind of boring. There were a couple pretty funny attempts but overall, nothing too great. Johnny Hockey apparently wanted to set his stick on fire for an attempt but was told it was a fire hazard and he wasn't allowed.

And finally, the game itself. The All Star Games can get kind of boring, and that's where they lose people's interest. They're a lot more high scoring nowadays, with yesterday's game setting a record for goals scored. Players don't try as hard in All Star games as they used to but the players are worth more to their teams now than they used to be and no one wants to see anyone get hurt in a game that doesn't matter.

Some people have suggested making the game worth something, like home ice in the finals similar to the MLB's All Star Game. People act like the game needs to be important or more action packed for them, but personally, I'm fine with what it is. It's like people forget that the All Star Game is a fun scrimmage for the best in the game. The players get to take a break from serious games and their hard grind of a season for a weekend.

But now that fun is over and the players head back to their respective teams and are ready to make that playoff push.... Also the AHL had their skills last night and their All Star Game is tonight in Utica so if you like the AHL go check them out.

Ok now the important stuff. We have two votes and a deadline this week.

The regular COTW vote and a COTY semi-final vote that I may or may not be involved in. So do me and your country a favor (If you're American) and vote.

Also one more week to get your World Cup jerseys in.

COTY Semi-Final votes (end Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

COTW Jan 18-24 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

World Cup entries (due February 6 @ 11:59pm Eastern)

Speaking of World Cup entries....

Emin Z.

David P.

Ok and now on to the regular concepts for the day!

World Cup of Hockey Logo - Zac S.

Zac mixes up Blue Jays, Maple Leafs, and Torino Olympic logos and it just doesn't work. There's no individual identity here, it just relies on the mixing up of three others, none of which work together. There's no consistent theme or part of these logos. The leaf is different through all of them. The Blue Jays font is the only consistent part I guess, since it doesn't show up in only one logo, but more people know that as a Blue Jays and baseball font. I'd head back to the drawing board and come up with something more unique, and more of an icon than letters on a leaf.

Rating: 4/10


Team USA Concept (IIHF) - Ben B.

Ben wants to see a lot of red for the Americans. I have no problem with more red in a USA uniform, but I feel like the sleeves, pants, and helmet is a bit much. The sock striping seems high. The white rectangle on the back where the Reebok is sticks out like a sore thumb, make that blue. There's also an NHL patch in the collar insert that shouldn't be there. Other than that stuff, the classic striping always looks good on USA jerseys.The logo is also pretty neat.

Rating: 6/10


Acadia Axemen (CIS) Concept - Eric T.

Here's an example of what the Axemen currently wear....and another. This set here could work if the striping on the arms was thicker. The white jersey is my favorite of the two, I like the blue hem and cuffs. On the sleeves, I'd add the little white stripe between the blue and red. I think the red jersey needs the blue on the sleeves/hem, I also think the yoke would look better either red or blue. The logo and the name/numbers shouldn't be red. They should either be white with blue outlines or blue with white outlines. They blend in with the red of the jersey and are hard to see. Also, the Reebok logo on the back should be changed to the Reebok wordmark. Good potential here.

Rating: 6.5/10


Chicago Blackhawks Concept - Taylor R.

Taylor is dressing up the NHL in Under Armour and here is his attempt with the Blackhawks. Love the Teravainen nod here, he's great. The striping seems to be a nod to the Blackhawks stripe heavy jerseys of the past. The black jersey looks nice, especially with the red hem, but I don't think that it works as well on the white, maybe it's because of the black part of the sleeves. I'd rather see the "C" logos on the shoulders here. There's a lot going on in the striping and in that logo. I think the reason the elbow C worked so well on the Winter classic jerseys was how simple it was, there was no extra color in the C logo and only three stripes. Here we've got a lot of color and a lot of stripes, too busy. I don't like the red pants and the fact the red jerseys are gone. I say good attempt Taylor, this is a hard team to get right, but you're not too far off.

Rating; 7.5/10


2015 NHL All Star Jerseys Concept - Tristan M.

Tristan wants to keep the green in the All Star jerseys. Here it doesn't look like neon green, it looks like Nickelodeon slime green. There's definitely a mix between classic design and modern design. The chest stripe is a classic hockey design and looks super nice here. The sleeves however look like they would go well with a Buffaslug jersey, definitely something modern. I think the sleeves have way too much green on them and I don't care for a modern/classic mix here. I'd either go all out with the swoopy modern design, or the check stripy classic design. The font fits with the modern design very well. The Captain's C seems very small. The grayed out logos on the white jerseys shoulders look nice, but you can't see them at all on the black jersey. It'd be nice to see a set of jerseys each utilizing only the classic or modern design.

Rating: 8/10


There you have it everyone! Another Monday's worth of concepts!