Monday: Down the Rio Grande

Welcome to another Monday post on HJC!

Guess the latest jerseys added to my collection: hint, it was on an NHL game cover

Speaking of those games: Hope those of you playing the NHL 17 Beta are enjoying it and trying out the newly introduced ECHL. I might wait until NHL 18 so as to get Las Vegas but who knows, they might introduce the team in NHL 17 through an update.

Congrats to J3 on the 2016 HJC Open title! Winning the HJC Open is a sign of greatness and your name will forever be on the HJC Cup with the other champions. Congrats also the finalist Brooks F. Both of these artists submit constantly great work and have a long list of COTW wins, Monthly COTY wins and contest wins.

Speaking of contests, want to join the list of past contest winners off to your right? Now is your chance with the 365 Club. Check out the page by clicking the glittery banner above, read ALL the rules and get creative.

Here are some entires that have come in so far:

Jared L.

Spencer R.

Lucas D.

Great stuff! Entries are due August 5th @12:00pm EST

COTW July 22-28 vote (ends Friday @ noon Eastern)

365 Club entries (due Friday @ noon Eastern)

On to the day's 7 concepts!

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Hamilton Bulldogs OHL Concepts (By: Tyler K.)

+ A nice original striping pattern while keeping the "Steel Town" colour scheme 

+ Home and road have good colour balance, and using the same pattern on the yoke on the lower arms is a neat idea

+ Fauxback is exactly what it is, a faux old jersey for a team that never had one. I can't pinpoint and era on it, but general vintage is the vibe I get 

+ Good execution 

- Don't forget the CCM tag on the from of the jersey

- I think I'd like the fauxback more is the white and black were swapped, something worth trying 

- Also wish you kept the shoulder patch the Bulldogs use on their actual jerseys 

Rating: 8.5/10

Winnipeg Jets Concept (By: Zeke G.)

+ I maintain the Jets 1990-1996 jerseys are some of the best in NHL history, so not changing much is a good thing 

+ Angled arm stripes are not a bad idea, and while it's not the same as the originals, the striping as a whole works 

+ Good execution 

- Since the original jerseys came out in 1990, I don't get the need for a tie down collar, the original bold red collar looked great 

- Another thing that would improve this jersey would be a single colour font, since the red and white don't really go well together 

-TV umbers are too large and close to the yoke

- This would be a perfect way to introduce a restyled Goals for Kids patch 

Rating: 7.5/10

Minnesota Wild Concept (By: Nolan B.)

+ For those not a fan of the lack of red on Minnesota's current alternate I'd think this is a healthy medium, I'd actually be willing say in someways it's an improvement 

+ It's hard to work with red & green to avoid the Christmas colour scheme, but I think this works

+ Good execution

- Don't forget helmet logos

- While I don't hate the collar used, the ribbed design on the alternate's collar is pretty sweet and I'd hate to see it go

- Same problem as Zeke's Jets concept with red & wheat on the numbers, single colour would look better

Rating: 8.25/10

El Clásico Concept (By: Andrew W.)

+ One thing about Soccer jerseys is that they are the least like hockey jerseys since the logos are very small and and many jerseys are solid colours with an and coloured collar/cuffs on the arms. There are lots of exceptions, like Barcelona, where Andrew does an excellent crossover of Barça's 2015-16 kits

+ Good job crossing over the fonts, adidas stripes, sublimated patterns and crests, it all looks as it shoulder, a soccer jersey stretched on a hockey jersey 

+ Real Madrid looks great as well, not based on any specific kit (I'm thinking 2010-11/2014-15 with blue) but it looks good and is a nice mix of the Wild's red jersey their kits

+ Great execution

= Would love to see Barça's clash kits and Real's dark kits against each other (idea for another concept perhaps). Make more! 

Rating: 10/10 COTW nom from me

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros NCAA Concepts (By: Ryan C.)

+ UTRGV doesn't have a hockey team to my knowledge (the school in its current form has only existed since 2015 with the merger of Texas Pan-American and University of Texas at Brownsville) but I like the idea with what Ryan makes in this post for a team without much history in anything
+ Striping pattern looks good
+ Decentexecution, but with some improvements to be made

- The white inside the lasso and under the arm of the Vaquero on the green jersey should be green
- Looking at the logos, there isn't much white or really much green, I get Ryan wanted to use green, but I wonder how the jersey would look with minimal white
- Yoke on the white jersey should be green
- Numbers don't really look great in white, maybe going for an angled orange font
- Same thing as Caz said about the collars yesterday

Rating: 6.75/10

Utah Grizzlies Concepts (By: DT Concepts)

+ Utah's current jerseys are similar striping wise, but I think these are an improvement in a few ways
+ Bear claw marks on the pants look good
+ Making the main colour white on the arm stripes and simplifying the striping gives the jersey a much cleaner look, brightens it up and helps the log stand out
+ Good execution

- Would be nice to see the Utah state claw outline on the shoulders
- Not a fan of the 3 tone collars

Rating: 9/10