Wednesday: Swamp Fever

Hey there! Happy Wednesday to all and it should be an especially happy one as we have two surprise unveilings today! So let's jump right into that!

First off, the Utica Comets showed off their new alternate jersey, and it's something we've been wanting from their parent club for a long time... A green jersey!!!

First impressions... I love it. I especially love that they created a new logo for the jersey. Perhaps in a couple years this could take over as their primary dark jersey. You can head over to their Facebook or Twitter profiles, where they've been sharing photos of the jersey all day, but only these studio shots...

Photo: Utica Comets

If you want to see action shots, well the team had the NHL 16 crew put some screenshots together so we can imagine it in action.

Image: Utica Comets - EA Sports

While everyone was rejoicing in the news of the new green jersey, the ECHL's Greenville Road Warriors held an event to announce that they were rebranding... and their new name would be...

Image - Greenville Swamp Rabbits

The Swamp Rabbits!? The name and logo definitely give off a minor league baseball type of feel, but that's not a bad thing. I actually think it's a good thing. The name is odd, but I love the rabbit in the logo. I'm not a big fan of the lettering in the logo though. Just doesn't seem to fit.

I've seen a mostly positive reaction from the internet so far regarding the name and logo. I've seen some great praise for the hockey stick carrot.

One concern that I kind of have, is the name can be seen as a downgrade. They're going from Warriors to Rabbits. But on the plus side of that, they're going from a somewhat generic name to a very unique name. And perhaps the name change was to get some buzz going about their team. To get some new fans and a new wave attention towards themselves. If that was the case, I think that may be accomplished.

Shortly after the name and logo was announced the team tweeted this picture...

Photo - Greenville Swamp Rabbits

The jersey is nothing special. They basically just stitched their new logos on a Road Warriors jersey, which hopefully is just a placeholder until they unveil new jerseys. The secondary logo is neat though, a pair of carrots in a splash of muddy swamp water. The jersey however, is uninspired. Another pair of logos appear on their website...

Image - Greenville Swamp Rabbits

The rabbit on its own is great and I think would look better on the front of a jersey as opposed to the primary with the name included.

Image - Greenville Swamp Rabbits

A web graphic advertising opening night shows a full bodied rabbit and perhaps a sneak peek at a new mascot. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

You know what you don't have to wait for? Voting. You can do it right now. Actually, it's encouraged. Go vote for the COTW and Avalanche competition!

Colorado Avalanche ReDesign Voting (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

COTW Aug 16-22 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

Speaking of the Avs competition, here's the last entries that came in last night.

Brian C.

Jared L.

Snow Monster

And now the daily concepts!

Hartford Whalers Concept - Chase C.

Chase would like to see the Hurricanes move back to Hartford and readopt the Whalers name. Would probably be a bit hard with the identity (kind of) living on as the Connecticut Whale, again, but this time as a member of the NWHL. These are essentially modern versions of the jerseys the Whalers wore in their last 5 seasons as a team, which, if we're being honest are the inferior to the team's green and white jerseys from 1979 to 92. Pucky on the shoulders is a nice touch but other than that this isn't anything we haven't seen before.

Rating: 6/10


NHL Fauxback Series - Blue Jackets vs. Predators - Phil B.

Phil wants to see newer teams play against each other wearing jerseys that make them look old. Not a terrible idea, but I'm not a huge fan of it. Individually, both of these jerseys look nice. The Blue Jackets jersey could fit in with their current brand, but the Preds one is pretty bland compared to their current identity. My one issue is overall, the jersey designs are very similar to eachother. They're not exactly the same, but there's a lot of similarities. The Stadium Series gets away with that because they use templates that have never been used before but for fauxbacks, there's so many different looks from hockey's history to borrow or build from.

Rating: 7/10


Atlanta Hawks NBA Concept - Taylor R.

Oh boy... Taylor tackles the worst rebrand I can think of in recent history. I'm assuming not a lot of people here follow the NBA so you may not have seen this, but let me fill you in. The Atlanta Hawks were headed in the right direction with a potential rebrand by bringing back a modernized version of their "Pac Man" Hawk logo. Then they brought neon green into the color scheme and put some triangle pattern ALL OVER the jersey. I think if used sparingly the green and the pattern could have been cool but they went overboard.

I wish Taylor would have used the green and triangle sparingly but I can see he's trying to make it a realistic crossover and unfortunately it is. I like the way he used the pattern on the pants, I wish it was that way on the jersey. The name on the white jersey should be red and not green, that way you can read it... That's the ONE area the actual Hawks made a smart design decision. Execution is great as always and the idea is good. The design is bad and that's not Taylor's fault.

Rating: 7/10

Minnesota Wild Concept - Jack H.

Jack ditches the idea of a green jersey for the Wild...but not green socks. Really don't like that mismatching socks nonsense, just because Boston does it doesn't make it right! The jersey designs themselves are nice. They fit the old timey hockey feel that the Wild always try to brand themselves with. I do miss green though.

Rating: 7.5/10

There you have it. It was a long post today due to some cool news but hopefully it was worth the read!