Friday: Blue and Orange or Red

Hello folks!  We have a short post today with only four concepts, and the intro will be short as well because I don't have any topics to discuss at length today.  But there are a few things I want to briefly mention...

Image from @PR_NHL on Twitter

On Wednesday the NHL announced that SAP will be the official jersey sponsor for the World Cup of Hockey.  As you can see, there will be an SAP logo on the shoulders of all the team's jerseys.  I think we can all agree this isn't good news, but to be honest I'm not too upset.  I just don't care that much about the World Cup jerseys, probably because they'll only be around for a short tournament.  What I'm afraid of is that this will pave the way for ads on NHL team jerseys, but I'm optimistic that won't happen for the foreseeable future.

In other news, the HJC Writer Applications were due today at noon Eastern.  Hopefully you got your application in if you wanted write for us.  Ryan will probably now take a few days to choose the new writer.  I can't wait to see who he picks.

Also Ryan announced on Twitter and Facebook today that his laptop won't start-up, which means some things like posting the polls for the latest competition and the COTW will be on hold until he can get it fixed.

--------------------------------------------------

Here are the final International Outdoor Classic contest entries...

by Andrew W:

by Chase C:

by Danny R:

by Lucas D:

by Matt G:

by William B:

--------------------------------------------------

Now it's time for the regular concepts, which are all either blue and orange or blue and red.

Edmonton Oilers, by Tyler M:

To start us off, Tyler removed the yokes from the Oilers jerseys, along with the orange sleeve-ends and orange numbers on the home jersey, and the pant stripes (which almost makes this their 1997-2007 uniforms but with orange).  I happen to be a fan of all the elements that were removed, so I'm not a big fan of this concept.  That's just my own preferences though, there's nothing wrong with this design.  Execution wise the logo is a tad low, but other than that it looks good.
Rating: 7/10

Team USA, by Chase C:

Chase is up next with a concept that I like all the individual elements of, but I don't think all of those elements work perfectly together.  My favourite features include the stars on the shoulders, the 1980's style blue nameplate, and the idea of a custom collar insert.  I don't like how their are three different logos from different eras though, I'd replace the helmet and collar logos with the shield, and then remove the shield from the chest.  I almost think there's too much uniformity on the blue jersey, instead of having everything red outlined in white I'd prefer if the numbers (and possibly even the logo) were white outlined in red.  Lastly, I think the red pants are great, they should be the only pair in my opinion.
Rating: 7/10

Amarillo Crunch (Fictional Team), by Spencer R:

Our third concept is from Spencer, and it's for a fictional women's team called the Amarillo Crunch.  The logos aren't bad, especially when comparing them to CWHL and NWHL team logos instead of NHL logos.  I do love the jerseys, those curvy arm stripes are awesome!  The problem is that the curvy stripes clash with the straight and jagged lines in the logo, they don't look like they belong together.  I also think the hem trim should be beefed up, and the player's name is a bit too small.
Rating: 8/10

Columbus Blue Jackets, by Lucas D:

Regular contributor Lucas brings us our last concept of the day, a unique redesign of the Blue Jackets uniforms.  I love the angled chest stripe, and how it leads into the arm stripes.  That chest stripe also works great with the roundel logo.  However the sleeve numbers aren't a great fit on the sleeves stripes in my opinion, they'd be easier to read on the shoulders.  Also the execution isn't perfect, the logo is facing directly at the viewer when it should be facing the same direction as the jersey.
Rating: 8/10 and my COTW nomination.

--------------------------------------------------

That's all folks!