Monday: Scandinavian Time Machine

Welcome to another Monday post here on HJC!

It's the summer slow season for concepts, it happens every year and it's something after 4 years I've gotten used to. That being said that's no excuse for a writer who isn't starting school until September 6th when I return to Dalhousie to study and drink excessive about of beer like a good Canadian. I like this period as I can take advantage of it to make article-like intros to help fill the gap that'd be made up with 4-5 more concepts.

Jersey News:

In the KHL, HC Dynamo Moscow are celebrating their 70th anniversary with throwbacks their inaugural year and it's something to take note of if you're looking for concept inspiration. I don't particularly love them, they look like modern trainer equipment....but I do like them for a different reason...

Photo from @dynamo_ru

It's really neat seeing a team try to throwback with this style of collar. I mean it is ugly by today's standards sure, but this is the first time I've seen a hockey team try this style of jersey. We haven't seen any style like this in North America in 100 years professionally at least. Bardown (TSN's attempt at a clickbait site) called it one of the all -time ugliest. This is not only objectively wrong (Start with Anaheim's 2003-06 Alternate) but unfair. It'd be easy enough to call any team throwing back to a jersey that looked the way it did because it was 70 years ago, however here's the thing....they're not designing these to look good, they're wearing these to pay homage to a team from their history. On top of that, Dynamo wore these "gems" 8 years ago that had and only had a thin cursive writing as their logo!  Overall I hope to see some concepts used wth this style of collar as a throwback (Edmonton Eskimos, Calgary Tigers, Montréal Shamrocks, Toronto Tecumsehss etc.)

Rating: 7.5/10

As Ryan mentioned in the weekend update, the World Cup of Hockey jerseys are available for $150 for a blank jersey. When I started collecting jerseys in 2009, a blank Reebok Edge Premier jersey cost between $109 and $119 depending where you got it. Reasonable I guess, and only a $10-$20 difference from the CCM jerseys. However that price slowly crept up, even when the Canadian dollar was good and even surpassing the USD (those were the days). A blank Edge jersey runs for a whopping $171.95 on Shop.NHL.com (a site I'd never recommend unless you like your numbers cheaply printed) costing nearly $300 for a customized jersey when you account for taxes and shipping...a blank World Cup of Hockey jersey costs...get this...$197.95. I don't know about you, but the casual fan who might wanna get a jersey for the 1-2 games they go to a year for (insert local team here) isn't gonna wanna drop that kind of money for something with screen printed shoulder patches that will smudge or fade, heat pressed logos that come apart and cheaply glued on reebok logos on the back of the collar on that fall off (happened to my blue Jets jersey).

I will say that Shop.NHL.com is NOT the place to look for a deal on jerseys, especially if you're in Canada as they'll use the bad dollar to raise prices more than just inflation. Ryan mentioned sportsk.com as a great site to use (once again this isn't an ad for them or anything but when people do good work and run things well it's worth acknowledging). However, their main stock is CCM Vintage and Outdoor game jerseys as well as ASG/WC/SS/Retirement/Anniversary patches. So if you're looking for that, highly recommend. However if you want current jerseys, these are some other sites who charge fair amounts for their jerseys, do high quality tackle/twill layered numbering and most of all  you'll be able to afford a jersey to add to your collection without breaking the bank.

coolhockey.com

sportsjerseyscanada.com

icejerseys.com 

I have personally ordered from or know people personally who have ordered from these sites and have all been happy without any complaints. I don't normally get upset but people getting ripped off because they're afraid of branching off for fear of buying a fake jersey is infuriating. It's also hurting the hobby as the most common thing people say when you mention you collect hockey jerseys is "how can you afford to spend $150 bucks per jersey?". Be like me and respond "I don't". 

If you want to join the elite team of writers we have here at HJC, a spot has opened for Tuesdays. Click the tab above to read the requirements. It's always nice to get different perspectives and opinions on the blog. Each new writer brings their own style and opinions. It's also your chance to see how things work behind the scenes on the blog and get in on the occasional podcast. 

Let's look at some of the IIHF Outdoor Game Contest entires that have come in since yesterday. Remember if you want to enter this competition read all the rules found by clicking the tab above the post and have your entry sent to the Contest Email by this Friday @Noon EST.

Jared L.

Ryan HJC.

Brooks F.

Great Stuff, you've got just under four days to get your entires ready if you're still working on yours, and I'm sure given the openness of the competition we'll see a lot more late entries. 

Also don't forget that COTW has reset for the week, so vote in the ballot on the right of the post.

COTW Aug 5-11 vote (ends Friday @ noon Eastern)

International Outdoor Competition (ends Friday @ noon Eastern)

HJC Writer applications (due Friday @ noon Eastern)

On with today's 4 concepts, all from Avi S. as part of his continuing World Cup of Hockey fix series. Thus because of this, I'll be comparing these designs to not only what we got from Adidas, but the last several jerseys we've got from Sweden & Finland in Olympics/World Championships. 

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

Team Sweden WCH Concepts (By: Avi S.)

What we got from Sweden in the actual WCH is very similar to what Sweden has worn in almost every international hockey tournament, and this isn't an exception. Sweden stays true to "if it ain't broke, don't fix it, hinga dinga durgen".  Avi really hasn't changed much what will be worn in September but what he did change looks better. The large cuffs and solid colour collages add some much needed colour to those areas. The hem stripe is a also a nice addition and doesn't clash much with the 3 stripes on the sides. White on the numbers and crown makes since and helps them stand out, but adding that very thin strip of white to the the striping would look great. Also using the Viking ship roundel logo on the pants would help add something to an otherwise plain and boring pair. One error or at least I think it is is you have the WCH logo inside that 80s target looking thing which I assume is where you give us a larger version of the shoulder patch...but it's not on the jersey. If that isn't the case fair enough but I would think the event logo would be on the jersey. 

Is it better than?

2014 Olympics- Yes, the addition of cuffs pushes this design past the bare arms of Sochi 

2010/2006/2002 Olympics/IIHF play- I'd say they're about the same, however I do prefer the striping pattern from these jerseys. That being said I doubt that would work with the adidas side stripes. Using the viking roundel would put this concept in front, however the rules on IIHF logo usage would prevent this from happening.

1994 World Juniors-  While the 90s charm and piping design is unique, it doesn't compare to a design that works for decades rather than one decade. 

1992 World Juniors- The better of the two 90s designs, knowing this was a templated design hurts it, but the big blue stripes and yoke make my decision tough. The diamonds on the yoke and Rangers numbers however, date this design too much. Avi's design comes out ahead 

1979 World Juniors- It's obvious Avi's design is better...it uses the Tre Kronor for one

Rating: 9.25/10

Team Finland Concepts (By: Avi S.) 

Finland'a WCH jerseys are mostly shrugged off as decent but with very basic and boring arm striping. While Avi doesn't streak out that much from the design, once again its the simpler additions that make these concepts better. The white jersey takes inspiration from the Sochi jerseys, however removing the Suomi from the arms was a good move. The blue jersey again is an improvement over what we from Adidas, even though that jersey was by far the better of the two. I like the flag stripes on the left arm and the overall simplicity of the colour scheme. Same thing goes for this as the Sweden concept regarding the WCH logo but again clarification would help. Ditto for the plain blue pants.

Rating 9.5/10 COTW nom from me!

Is it better than?

2014 Olympics- Yes, while the white jersey is a simplified version of that same jersey, the blue jersey Avi has made is leaps and bounds ahead of what we saw in Sochi as Avi opted to forgo the red script and double blue that rarely works
2010 Olympics- Obvious yes as the dated Nike Swift striping on the white jersey and red script on both jerseys are inferior to this by far
2006-2010 World Championships- Without the red these jerseys are better, however I prefer Avi's colour scheme to double blue
2006 Olympics- While these were really nice jerseys, they worked in their time but have since grown dated and stale
2002 Olympics- It would have been interesting for Avi to experiment with powder blue over navy blue, but as is, I prefer Avi's concept
1996 WCH- I'd say that Avi's jerseys and these jersey share the same design, just 20 years apart.
1993 World Juniors- Pinstripes don't belong on hockey jerseys, even if they are unintentional, this is also another case of "you should add colours to your numbers or else they suck"
1991 World Championship- Unlike Sweden's polar bear logo from the very early 80s, I like this clearly aged old school logo, but the striping isn't as good
1981 Canada Cup- A very basic jersey from the 80s that forks today, even with the script on the arms, it's close but I slightly prefer the old try and true '81 over 2K16

Well that's the post! Hopefully you saw some cool jerseys from two of the best countries in hockey...maybe you learned something if you weren't careful. I don't know?