Friday: Happy St. Patrick's Day

Yesterday the Toronto Maple Leafs announced some plans for their Centennial Season, including unveiling an anniversary logo, and confirming they'll wear a new jersey for the Centennial Classic.  But most importantly they announced that the St. Pats are coming back for one game against Chicago Blackhawks on March 18.  Woohoo!

I'm extremely excited about the return of the St. Pats, I've been saying for years that the Leafs need to bring the Pats back once a year for St. Patrick's day.  Unfortunately, it sounds like this will only be a one time event instead of annual occurrence.

Images from NHLUniforms.com

However, the question remains which St. Pats jersey should they wear for that one game?  The Toronto St. Pats wore five different jerseys during their short history (the Leafs previously brought back the 1926-27 jersey for one game in 2002).  Personally I'd like to see them bring back either the 1919-20/1921-22 jersey, or the 1922-25 jersey.  Vote for you favourite jersey with a comment in the comment section.

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The voting for the HJC Open's Round of 16 ended today at noon, and I have the final results right here.  The eight people moving on are...

Congratulations to Matt, Brendan, J3, Austin, Taylor, Andrew, Brooks, and Lucas.  Those eight people now have until Tuesday at noon Eastern to submit their Quarter Final entries.  Here's a look at the updated bracket...

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Two new polls were posted earlier today, the regular Concept of the Week poll and very important Concept of the June poll.  Go place your votes!

HJC Open entries (due Tuesday @ noon Eastern)

COTY-June vote (ends Friday, July 15 @ noon Eastern)

COTW July 1-7 vote (ends Friday, July 15 @ noon Eastern)

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Las Vegas Black Knights, by Justin B:

We shall begin today with Justin's take on the NHL's newest franchise.  He went with the suspected Black Knights moniker, and paired that name with a very nice logo.  The striping pattern looks alright, it's fairly safe until you get to the ends of the yoke.  I like that yoke design on the white jersey, but I'm not a fan of it on the black jersey.  The execution isn't too bad, but there is some room for improvement.  The name and back numbers are undersized, and the back numbers appear to be off-center.  Also the vertical stitching should stop at the hem stripes.
Rating: 7/10

Team Belarus, by Jay S:

I've stated my love for unique patterns several times before (for example the Coyotes Kachina pattern), but I think I like this pattern more as a friend.  The pattern (which is from the Belarus flag) is a bit busy for my tastes, but I do like the uniqueness of the design and it's strong connection to the country of Belarus.  I also like Jay's choice for the number font, however the number doesn't need a box around it and the outline of the nameplate should be the same colour as the jersey stitching.
Rating: 8/10

Saginaw Gears, by Jordan R:

We have three IHL Resurrection concepts from Jordan today, starting with the Saginaw Gears.  Both logos look great, good job on those.  The striping pattern is actually identical on the three main jerseys, which is "a thing (Jordan) loves using to tie a look together", and it's a thing I love seeing on a concept.  I don't think the striping needs any changes at all, but I'm curious what the jerseys would look like with the orange and white stripes swapped.  Including throwback jerseys on these concepts is a nice touch.
Rating: 8/10

Salt Lake Golden Eagles, by Jordan R:

That 1969-70 throwback jersey is amazing!!!  I remember seeing it featured in The Hockey News a while back, it's such a unique design with the vertical stripes running down the jersey, pants, and even the socks.  The other jerseys are good too, and it was probably the right choice to use traditional sock stripes with them.  I really like the primary logo, especially the gradient-esque design of the wings.  But I don't think that logo fits well in a roundel, so the secondary logo isn't my favourite.  Also the numbers shouldn't be touching, there should be a gap between the four and the six.
Rating: 8/10

Quebec Rafales, by Jordan R:

Jordan's final concept is for the old Quebec Rafales.  The logo is exceptionally well done, all the pieces fit together nicely, and I like the subtle nod to the Remparts on the top of the shield.  The jerseys look great as well, the sash is a very underused and underrated design element.  The number font is also top-notch.  Lastly, I love the perfectly recreated throwback jersey, Jordan even included their crazy number font.  I have no complaints about this concept at all!
Rating: 10/10 and my COTW nomination!

Chicago Wolves, by Ryan C:

The Chicago Wolves currently have classic jerseys, but an ugly logo.  The logo Ryan used (a recoloured Minnesota Wilderness logo) is a huge improvement, and it even keeps the character of their current logo by using black and grey.  The Wolves' current jerseys are hard to beat but this concept might just do that, the striping pattern is very nice.  I'm also a fan of the simple, single colour numbers.  My only complaint is very minor, I don't like the contrasting area under the collar with this style of collar.
Rating: 9/10

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See you next week!