Festive Wednesday

Hey there Wednesday fans! Hope you're all enjoying your week so far.

It's that time of year again, the snow has started falling and calendars have flipped over to December... Expect the ugly Holiday jerseys. Love it or hate it, every minor league team wears specialty jerseys. A lot of times they're auctioned off for charities so in the end, it's all a good thing. This past week, I'm pretty sure I attended the first Ugly Sweater Night of the season and boy howdy was it great.

The Rockford IceHogs wore some ugly sweaters on Black Friday and WOW were they GREAT!

Rockford IceHogs Twitter

I mean come on... look at those! I discussed it with my buddies at the game, The IceHogs have always done the specialty jersey night correct. They don't just settle with overused templated jerseys with their logo slapped on. Thinking back on almost 16 years of IceHogs hockey, EVERY specialty jersey they've worn has a custom Hammy logo on it, which not a lot of other teams do. And the jerseys are never the same specialty jersey someone else wore. Who else could even use this jersey? There's little piggies with antlers on it! They even wore ugly socks!

Rockford IceHogs Twitter

Normally their Blackhawks/Icehogs equipment looks weird when paired with their specialty jerseys but since the jersey is has a lot of red and some black on the logo, it doesn't look that bad, but as a whole, the night was a success. A few jerseys auctioned off that night, a few more on ebay now, the rest to be auctioned/raffled off as the year goes on, over 100 penalty minutes, like 5 fights, and a win over the hated Chicago Wolves. It wasn't even December but you could feel the holiday spirit all over! So now we get to look forward to a month full of ugly sweaters and Star Wars jerseys!

So what's your favorite specialty jersey? Do you guys know any other teams that get way way into it like the Hogs?

While you're talking it out in the comment sections don't forget to vote for the COTW, AND to get your Colts entries in!

And while you're voting, why don't you vote about voting? It would mean a lot.

COTW Nov 22-28 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

Barrie Colts entries (due Friday @ 10:59pm Eastern)

Speaking of Colts, here's today's entries...

Brooks F.

Bradley D.

Hayden D.

Jared L.

Zeke G.

And because you've behaved so well, here's your regular concepts.


Hamburg Freezers Christmas Jersey 2014 - Niklas O.

Holy hell, they wore these?! Perfect day for them to be featured as I talked about the IceHogs jerseys earlier. I would say at this point this isn't a concept anymore, but congratulations on the team wearing your jersey Niklas! Since it's clearly a specialty jersey it's ok to look a little gaudy. I actually really like the chevron pattern going down the sleeves, if that's not currently being used by them full time, it better be soon.... and a trip to their site makes it look as if they do... Neat! Very festive Nik, and congrats again!

Rating: Christmas/10


Columbus Blue Jackets Alternate Jersey Concept - Zeke G.

Zeke tries to give the Blue Jackets' fauxback third jersey a modern feel to it. First thing I noticed was the addition of white, and there either needs to be more, or none at all. I usually don't care for beige/cream/vintage white and actual white on the same jersey, but if they're not touching I don't mind. I actually really like the hem design. So keep it, but add more white to the sleeves, yoke, and logo for sure. The yoke design... hmm... I get what you're going for, but it seems very minor league-y or gimmick-y. I think you'd be much better off going with some stripes like on the sleeves. Some execution notes as well, the logo looks pixely and the stripes on the sleeves appear to be crooked or uneven. Honestly, can someone tell me if they are? I feel like the image is tricking me because either I'm going crazy or the stripes are ever so slightly off... Also the helmet logo is HUUUUUGE

Rating: 6.5/10


NHL Color Rush - Dallas Stars Vs. Detroit Red Wings - Dylan T.

The NFL's Color Rush games have been hit or miss, and it's an interesting concept, but a lot of hockey fans I know would love to see more color vs. color games in the NHL. Artist "TheArtfulJB" thought so and started making Color Rush concept hats on his blog "OrdinarieO" a while back and Dylan T got inspired to created the jerseys.

Quick note to Dylan, and everyone else really... It's great you got inspired by someone else's work but make sure they're credited when necessary. Now, the idea of the Color Rush isn't ArtfulJB's, so you really could have just done the series without crediting him or using his signature tag. Also, by using his signature tag, it appears as if he had something to do with the concepts. I think you're better off signing your name your own way and putting "Logos, Idea, etc. from TheArtfulJB/OrdinarieO"

Anyways, about the jerseys. This concept takes the NFL's Color Rush and takes it to the next level. Now EVERYTHING is either green or red or a shade of the color. The NFL at least has other colors on the jerseys to keep the look somewhat cohesive with the rest of the team's identity. The merchandise they sell, however, follows this monotone path though, which is what was featured on OrdinarieO...Merchandise, not jerseys. Which is where I think this concept misses the mark. The Detroit jersey fits with their identity as the jersey is their home jersey sans white and with a new logo, but the Dallas jersey is something new.

The logos are tough to see too. Dallas' is alright as it's brighter, but the Detroit D would be tough to see.

I think you need to add some white into the jerseys where it belongs and maybe only keep the team's shade of green/red.

Rating: 7/10


Washington Capitals Concept - Jimmy T.

Jimmy gives us a pretty simple set here. It looks like it's heavily inspired by the team's original jerseys but with simpler striping and no stars. I'm sure some would like it, and some would say it's too boring for a team that's had a decent history of jerseys. I'm sure if you added some stars somewhere, like the shoulders, those people would be happy.

Rating: 7/10


Fort Wayne Komets Concept - Ryan C.

Good ol Komets. I remember them from the UHL days in Rockford. Their current jerseys are a lot more boring than I had anticipated, so this set would be nice to see. I really dig the sleeve striping, and I'm not usually a fan of side panels or side striping, but I think it works here. Good job Ryan...Sucks the astronaut logo isn't featured somewhere...could be on the pants...or helmets....if they were shown here.....or gloves I guess........doesn't matter they're not there............ Still good though.

Rating: 8/10


Kalamazoo Wings Concept - Ryan C.

Ah Kalamazoo, I remember them from the good ol UHL days in Rockford as well. I also looked up their current jerseys, and you should too.... so here..... Not bad, could be better. Ryan looks to improve them by just scrapping what they've got and going simple. I actually like the look. It fits. The team's been around for so long, so it just works. Nothing flashy, just straight up hockey jerseys.

Rating: 8/10


Detroit Red Wings Alternate Jersey - Josiah B.

Oh the Red Wings... How I hate you... Will you ever adopt a full time alternate? Probably not, but that won't stop people like Josiah from designing them. The script/logo combo looks pretty good, although I'm sure they'd have to listen to the Buffalo "We did it first" chirps. The striping is pretty solid too, it's stripey, like the hockey jerseys of old, but not too stripey. The socks could use an extra thin white stripe to match the jersey, either that or do just two stripes like on the hem. I think it's a winner either way.

Rating: 9/10 and it hurts to say, but this Detroit jersey gets my COTW nom.


There it is! Best day of the week! Hump Daaaaaaay!
Dead...it's over. Go to bed now and come back tomorrow for the post....

Ok goodbye from me my friends!