Sunday: The Post of Posts

Hey gang, welcome to another Sunday post!

First off, I want to say a huge congratulations to Colin for winning the 2015 HJC Open. It's the most challenging competition in HJC, and this year's version was the longest running and toughest. Surviving 5 rounds of concepts is never easy, but you've succeeded, and deserve to be called a Champion!

And another congratulations goes out to Christian, who had a very impressive run.

Finally, congratulations to everyone else for participating, voting, and being a part of something really special here on the blog.  I'm already looking forward to next year's competition.

We're starting a new competition right away, this time with a WWE/wrestling themed competition.  The rules are very open, just as long as it's wrestling themed (including WCW/TNA/ROH/etc) and it follows our normal competition guidelines. With the recent deaths of Roddy Piper and Dusty Rhodes, I'd love to see some concepts dedicated to them. 

Also up this week is our weekly COTW vote.  As few of concepts we've been getting lately, we've had some really top notch ones to pick from, so now it's your turn to vote and decide who gets the title of COTW.

I guess it's my turn to chime in on the new "leaks", courtesy of NHL16.  I'm sure you've all seen the pictures by now (if not, google is your friend), so I'll just give a quick review.

San Diego Gulls: As fantastic as the logos are, the jerseys are "OK" at best.  The striping pattern is alright, and its nice to see them use blue to differentiate from their parent club, but the side panel looks funky and the yoke seems out of place.  Not bad, but not great either. 6.7/10

Grand Rapids Griffins Logo: It sounds like the logo from their alternate jersey may become their primary. Their current primary, although a little aged, is still a fantastic logo. Their alternate logo is in no way a bad logo, but seems more cartoonish than it needs to be.  The city skyline in the logo is a great addition though.  7.6/10

Mississauga Steelheads Logo: I don't get this. Their current logo isn't exciting, but very sharp and identifiable. It's also not that old. The leaked logo is basically an excuse to have a roundel.  I love roundels, but even I think this is necessary.  The fish in the new logo looks less detailed and more "derpy" as well.  Totally pointless. 3/10

And on that note, let's get to the concepts!

COTW July 26-Aug 1 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

WWE Comp entries (due Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

New Jersey Devils - Ben B.

If a New Jersey concept doesn't involve a black alternate, is it really a New Jersey concept?  It's a well-tried and often-failed idea, but can Ben change that?

Logo is nicely recoloured.
Stripe pattern is simple, which fits with Devils' design choices.
Arm and hem matches.
Good outlining on text.

Not a fan of the square yoke.
Hem goes way too high on the jersey.
TV numbers are a tad small.

Overall: Not a bad concept, but not good enough to shine out of the Devils-alternate graveyard of designs.  7.4/10



Peterborough Petes -  Ben S.

Peterborough went through a redesign last year, but Ben tries to clean up their jersey set with this concept.

As much as I dislike the Petes using black as more than a highlight or outline colour, the logo looks surprisingly sharp in black.
Simplifying the stripes even more is a good move. The more old-school this team looks, the better.
Colours are well balanced.

The dark jersey should have gaps between the white and black stripes, to match the white jersey.
The logo could be moved down a little bit.
The white outline on the white jersey's TV numbers make the numbers hard to look at.

Overall: I didn't like the Petes' new set, especially with the black primary jersey. This is a redesign I can live with.  8/10



Tampa Bay Lightning - Mike S.

Mike continues his "Simple Series" with a stop in Tampa Bay.  The Lightning are experts at simplifying their jerseys as seen in 2011.

Very unique striping pattern.
Despite the funky stripes, the set definitely fits in the "simple" theme.
I could see the Lightning doing something like this, and it would be awesome for their jerseys to have some identity again.

I don't like how the lightning bolt on the pants looks squished.
The lightning bolt pattern can be a little more bold and defined, instead of just little ripples.
Black is really unnecessary here. It doesn't add anything to the design, and removing it would make the concept look more "simple".

 Overall: Its not simple enough, and yet not bold enough. Irregardless, its a pretty cool design.  8.1/10



Milwaukee Admirals - Ryan C.

Oh how I love the redesign by Milwaukee. It gives me faith that some AHL designers actually can be original and brilliant. Easily my favourite new design from anything new this offseason. But what we're missing is an alternate, and Ryan has a solution.

Swapping light blue and dark blue helps the logo pop out.
I like the skull only logo, but the full logo is so well detailed and design that it needs some jersey love.
The main round theme of the jersey stays the same, but the stripes and sides are enough to make this look like a good alternate.
Equipment is well designed.
Colour balance and execution are perfect.

I'm not sure, but having the name on the back as blue instead of white might help its readability.

Overall: Shut up and take my money.  9.6/10



The clear winner of my COTW nomination today is Ryan C's Milwaukee Admirals concept.

Don't forget to vote and send in your Wrestling Competition entries. Sadly, I doubt I'll get a chance to enter this time, because of moving.  But I expect some awesome and original designs from you guys.

Well, my mental break is over.  Time to get back to moving.  Today's task: find a location for my jerseys and giant hockey card collection so my girlfriend doesn't flip out...that may be difficult.

As always thanks for reading, and see you next week!