Wednesday: Red, White and Ew

The United States of America need help. John Tortorella is embarrassing himself. Dean Lombardi made horrible roster selection choices. USA Hockey needs to look at themselves in the mirror and smack themselves in the face. Losing 3-0 to Europe is an abomination, and to rival Canada is unacceptable, but inevitable with a team that looks like this. Speaking of looks like this.....

We have 3 concepts today that are as American as bald eagles. We have 2 NHL concepts that use red white and blue and are based in America. We have 1 concept that throws everything off. Thanks Ryan.

We also have votes abound, as usual here at HJC. Two this week, the normal COTW and the World Cup Champions Gear Competition.

We only had three entrants into this competition: Burkus Circus, William B and Andrew W(K?), so that begs the question: why? For me, life has been getting in the way so I haven't been able to create concepts as regularly as I used to, let alone enter them into competitions. But there are a few other excuses listed as poll options. We just want to improve HJC as much as humanly possible. Sometimes we do things that make the blog better, sometimes we make mistakes as if it were the Islanders first year at Barclays Center. Send us your feedback!

NEWS:

After the unveiling of the 2017 All-Star Game logo, LA was permitted to finally unveil a new jersey since that logo is on the shoulder of this new 50th Anniversary Alternate. Here's the infographic:

(via kings.nhl.com)

Not the best infographic setup but I'll take it. LA birngs us a grey jersey that's almost as good as the original Stadium Series jersey. I love the gold trim on the logo name and numbers, but I wish it were somewhere in the striping. It would make the jersey look more complete. I like the little tributes all over the jersey but I think there's still work to be done here.

Rating: 76%


Reminders:

COTW Voting September 9-15th ends Friday @ noon

WCH Championship Competition voting ends Friday @ noon

ON TO THE CONCEPTS!

Jon G: Team USA Concept I

Interesting concept that merges eras. We have the 2010 Olympic script, the 2010 stars on the sleeves and off-color number area on the white jersey, the vertical striping from 2006 and the 2014 shield logo on the shoulders and pants, and the federation logo on the helmet. It's a nice merge of eras. However, I was never a fan of vertical striping (thank goodness it's not on the socks, that idea was the WORST). Execution notes: No white stripes on the back of the blue jersey? Socks look awkward without a third stripe as compared to the jerseys. Also one of the biggest problems in USA hockey's design department is the use of one white helmet for both sets of uniforms. It looks dopey and needs to stop. Navy helmets are wanted here. Lastly, with the legal threat from that irrelevant team nobody cares about that hates free advertising, we need you to ID your concepts, because that threat may be a veiled disguise to steal concepts. While I don't think USA Hockey will be looking to take this or any of these concepts, you should still ID them, since other concepts have been lifted by other artists and re-colored and re-used on this site.

Rating: 65%


Jon G: Team USA Concept II

A better looking concept here. And one I think USA Hockey should adapt full-time. Simple, yet good looking. White shoulder yokes (or in this case, full sleeve yokes) are a VERY underrated look, which is why I love Washington's current alternate jersey. One thing I could've added is a star on both shoulders, Same execution notes as your previous concept, the ID and blue helmet, except for the striping, which is done well here, and the Adidas branding on the front of the white jersey, which requires blue letters on a white background.

Rating: 76% (Murica)


Jon G: Team USA Concept III

This one I can see you were inspired by the 2015 Stadium Series in Santa Clara, California. Similar design, different template, better look. One of my biggest complaints about USA Hockey's look, besides the white helmet with dark jerseys, is a distinct lack of red. I think a majority of that has to do with the competition with the Soviets during the Cold War, and creating a distinct identity away from them, the rest of course with the Canadian rivalry. Yet, US Soccer, US Track & Field and other American sport organizations have no problem with it. We need more red. This does it. However it's hard to make a matching away sweater with that. So we have this. And it's not a bad look either, but that logo doesn't have to fit entirely within that chest stripe. Make it bigger. Also I feel it could use more red if it's to be paired with the home jersey. Again with the ID and white helmet problems.

Rating: 72%


Lucas D: Columbus Blue Jackets Concept

I've never been a fan of numbers on the shoulder yokes, but with this awesome striping, there's nowhere else for them to go, and with the long yokes of the CCM template, there's no noticeable difference on the dark jersey. The light jersey needs that yoke to be blue, so I'll give the numbers a pass. Edgy design, and in no way is that a joke on the lack of an Edge-template. Although it can be if you'd like. I'm not sure how much better this would look without the white stripes on the outside of the dark jersey's striping, because that pattern would parallel the logo better (and the state flag of Ohio, for that matter). Good font choice, best set that the Jackets have.

Rating: 84%


Lucas D: New York Rangers Concept

A while ago I challenged you guys to design a jersey that looks good with the primary logo on the front (wait till you see my monstrosity). And a solid choice to mirror the Lady Liberty pattern and create a better looking road white to pair it with, merging the traditional look of the iconic yoke with that amazing alternate and none of that dopey navy. Execution note: You'll notice that on the Rangers' jerseys before the Edge system had a small squared off yoke. These yokes are massive, and as such, it squishes the name and number on the back of the white jersey while leaving a massive space between the top of the jersey and the nameplate. Also oftentimes, teams that used a big yoke template like that had the nameplate overlap the template lines such as the New York Islanders. That is the only thing preventing me from wanting the Rangers to adapt this full-time.

Rating: 85%


Taylor R: Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL) Concept

Again, Ryan, thanks for throwing off the USA vibe... or maybe I'll blame Taylor.

The Wheat Kings had a solid look from 2004-2009 that used grains of wheat as part of the striping, before that lazy Edge set we have today. The away set looks amazing with one exception: the phantom yoke. I'm all for ditching the white, because it works as we see here. But the yoke needs to go on that dark jersey. Thee yellow is distinct enough to differentiate it from the white from a distance, so YOW  (yellow-on-white) syndrome is dealt with. Maybe a gold number with black wheat patter to parallel the front?

Rating: 87%


The winner of my Concept of the Week Nomination is:

 TAYLOR R. 

 BRANDON WHEAT KINGS CONCEPT 

Another Wednesday has gone by, which means another Wednesday closer to real hockey and not this manufactured World Cup. In fact the NHL season starts on a Wednesday, so 3 more weeks until my opening day post! However some teams, like my Islanders, don't start until that Thursday. So we have to wait another day. But you only have to wait 1 day until the next HJC post! Enjoy BPoe96 tomorrow and I'll see you next week!