Thursday: CWHL & Red Out

Hello again all, and welcome back for more HJCing n' stuff.

So recently I noticed that the CWHL has had a major redesign (hence the title), revamping 60% of the teams logo wise and 80% jersey wise. The only team that remained completely untouched was the Boston Blades, who still need improvement for sure. The only other team that was somewhat untouched was the Calgary Inferno, who left their logo the same, and a good decision as they already have a solid logo. Each team copies the NHL team's jersey design from their city, aside from Brampton as they're without an NHL team, and that hasn't changed. Ignoring that, let's go over the changes: (All photos from the respective teams)(Old designs on left, new on right)

Toronto Furies

As will be the theme here this is a great improvement. The old logo was too simple and vague, but also had a terrible gradient inside it. The new logo isn't anything amazing, but it combines the T and F from their name to create a still simple, but this time less vague and meaningless logo. They also add a leaf for good measure to reference the Maple Leafs of course.

As will also be the common theme here, the jerseys are a vast improvement, even if it's only in one area. Prior to this year every CWHL jersey was just their city's NHL team copy (except Brampton) with a script and number as the crest, and as of this year they actually have their logos as the crest. That will 95% of the time improve the jersey, and it does here in this league for sure.

Brampton Thunder

Well in this case here the logo is an improvement, it would be pretty easy to make a logo better than their old ones, but this new logo is still nothing great. It's very cluttered and still looks amateurish, and for the most part it doesn't even match with the jersey, which I'll get to now:

So their jerseys went from Sens copies with a script to Kings copies with their logo, which is probably the best improvement overall since they actually changed more on their jerseys than just the logo, which if you know me or most other jersey nerds, is a great thing since the Sens template is known as terrible, and for good reason. The Kings template isn't the best and again doesn't match the logo too well but it's still a great improvement.

Montreal Stars Canadiennes

The previous logo, at least in my opinion, made no sense aside from the star (if anyone knows what the two triangles/peaks mean then please enlighten me), but now I think they have the best logo, if not a tie for the best. The logo reminds me of the Habs, which is what they were going for, but it isn't too much of a copy and it has it's own flavor to it. It's simple and sweet, great design.

As for the uniforms, they're, again, copies from the Habs. Ignoring that, these are some classy looking uniforms and look much better with the new logo.

Calgary Inferno

Now the only change the Inferno have gotten to their look is that the logo is now front and center on the uniform, just how it should be. It looks so much better than the script across the chest, and it's a great logo too. Just like Montreal, they add some flavor from their local NHL, with the flames from the Flames logo being the hair for the Inferno. This logo is much more modern, but depending on your preferences (modern vs. classic) I would personally think either them or the Canadiennes have the best logo in the league.

Overall the league had a pretty major logo revamp and along with that the jerseys changed at least slightly, and I think that brought them to looking mediocre ,if not worse, to a professional level now, all that really really needs fixed (logo wise at least) now is Boston.

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So this week we go back to the future past to design the uniforms for the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, but with today's technology available. We also have the never changing and vital COTW vote, which is quite simple to do, so go leave your votes.

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

REWRITE HISTORY- Entry Phase (ends Wednesday Nov. 4th @ 9:59pm EST

We have one contest entry for today, from Matt G.

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And the moment you've all been waiting for...the concepts!

Dylan T. - YouTube

+Simple design which is what I'd imagine happening if the Social Media Hockey League was a thing
+Good emphasis on red and white, which is what I'd consider YouTube's main colors
-There is not enough black to match their colors however, and they also do not have a second red color, so that doesn't fit in the concept
-The font, even if it's YouTube's main font, doesn't fit on a hockey jersey. If it is their main font it's at least justified though, just like the Twitter concept from a few days ago

Overall: Not terrible, not great, but a few touch ups would really help (6/10)


Ryan C. - Carolina Hurricanes

+Keeps it simple with the design, which can rarely result in a bad look
+The colors are balanced well
+Really like the font you chose for this
+This is only a small detail, but good job adding the TV numbers underneath the top jersey. Some people wouldn't have done that and it just shows attention to detail
-The NHL logo should technically be on the collar insert, but maybe your concept has Adidas removing it. I dunno
-The shoulders on the jerseys are empty, add a shoulder patch
-Of course this isn't a requirement, but it would be nice to see the warning flag pattern

Overall: I'd say it improves on what they have now (8/10)


Jan S. - Carolina Hurricanes

+Just like last concept, it's pretty simple...at least for the most part

+The logo choice is good, especially for what I'm assuming is an alternate

+Also, good job utilizing the third color for the alternate

+Good job trying to bring back the warning flag pattern (I think that's what you're doing) buttttt...

-It's more of a checkerboard, so it gives off more of a checkerboard feel

-The numbers should be white to stand out more

-Not sure what's going on with the pants but the outlines are very bright and pixelated

-The sock stripes are way too high and the helmet should have numbers on the front of it with that template

Overall: Execution needs work, but it's a good start (7/10)

Taylor R. - HK Dukla Trencin

+Not sure if this was your decision or if they already used it, but the color scheme looks great

+Another simple design, but this one also has some extra flair and uniqueness to it

+The yellow yoke looks beautiful

+Good execution, as usual from Taylor

-The logo could use improvement, but I won't retract from your score because of it

-Sometimes it works but in this case it doesn't - the yellow on the white jersey blends in too much and can begin to hurt your eyes. Either darkening the yellow or surrounding it in red would help.

Overall: Great, classy set (9/10) and my COTW nomination

This post is already late so keeping this short. I hope you guys enjoyed the post, thanks for reading, and I'll see you all again next week.