Friday: November 11th

On this day 98 years ago, the fighting of World War One ended when an armistice was signed between the Allies and Germany.  Many nations now mark the occasion with an annual holiday to pay tribute to the people who have served, or continue to serve, their country, including Remembrance Day in Canada and Veterans Day in America.

The hockey world observes these memorial days in several ways, including many military appreciation games by junior and minor-pro teams.  Before the Chilliwack Bruins relocated, my dad and I had a tradition of attending their Remembrance Day game, where they would honour local veterans and also wear special commemorative jerseys (although I can't seem to find any photos of the jerseys online).  That tradition ended for us when the Bruins moved to Victoria, but you may be able to continue the tradition with your own local team.

Image from SooGreyhounds.com

If you live in Sault Ste. Marie for example, you could catch the Greyhounds game tonight and see them wearing these beautiful jerseys.  I love that the greyhounds kept these commemorative jerseys nice and simple, with just a subtle camouflage pattern added to the stripes and logo and a poppy above the heart.

Image from NiagaraIceDogs.net

The Niagara IceDogs are also wearing camouflage on Remembrance Day, but there design isn't nearly as subtle.  To be honest, I do like these jerseys as well.  The way I see it is you have two options with camouflage, you can either keep it subtle like the Greyhounds or you can go all out with a completely camouflaged jersey in true camouflage colours.  In fact, I'd like to see this jersey paired with camouflage pants and socks as well.

Image from @IceBears on Twitter

Veterans Day is also getting some love in the commemorative jersey department, courtesy of the Knoxville Ice Bears of the SPHL.  Instead of relying on camouflage, the Ice Bears went with a totally custom design which features fighter jets, a helicopter, saluting soldiers, and an aircraft carrier (I think), all in front of a wavy American flag background.  The logo is also customized, with the bear now saluting while donning a military helmet.  It's a busy design, but of these three jerseys it's the one I'd most want to own, it's just so unique.

Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images

Meanwhile in the NHL, you won't see any commemorative jerseys worn during a game, but some teams are wearing camouflage jerseys for warm-up as part of their military appreciation nights.  Also, all the American franchises have been wearing American flag helmet decals this November leading up to Veterans Day.

Photo by Jonathan Kozub/NHLI via Getty Images

The Canadian NHL teams have a decal of their own, they're all wearing poppies on the back of their helmets.  I really like how it looks on the Jets helmet, it fits in with the military theme of their logos.

Now I'm sure there are many other teams celebrating Remembrance Day and/or Veterans Day today, these were just the few examples I had either come across already or could find with a quick Google search.

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Last week's COTW vote ended today at noon Eastern.  This upcoming week we'll have another COTW vote, as well as the COTY-October vote, and a new contest will be announced later tonight.

COTY-October vote (ends next Friday @ noon Eastern)

COTW Nov 4-10 vote (ends next Friday @ noon Eastern)

To Be Announced contest entries (due next Friday @ noon Eastern?)

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2017 Winter Classic, by Jared L:

We'll start off today with a Winter Classic concept from Jared, and I'll start off this review by talking about execution.  All the logos and numbers are well executed, they're placed and sized correctly, however the stripes could be executed better.  They're not bad for being drawn free-style, but they still a bit wobbly, drawing lines with the line tool would be better (I also think the drawn lines would look better if they were thicker).  The designs of both jerseys are nice, the Blackhawks jersey appears to be a standard Hawks jersey but with curved instead of straight hem stripes, and the Blues sweater looks like a mix of their original and 1984-85 blue jerseys.
Rating: 6/10

Florida Panthers, by Glen W:

We also have a couple of Panthers concepts today, including this white jersey from Glen.  I'm curious, is this a third or a road jersey?  I'm going to assume a third jersey since there's not a matching dark version.  The design is okay, but to me this striping pattern lacks character compared to their current set, and personally I'd also prefer if red was emphasized over blue.  A few other issues, the primary logo is too small, the Florida badge is too big, and the panther/flag logo would make more sense if the panther was facing forward.
Rating: 7/10

Florida Panthers, by Ryan C:

Ryan brings us our second Panthers concept of the day, a new set of jerseys which promotes the leaping-panther and uses blue as the main colour.  Personally I prefer red for the Panthers, but I do think the leaping-panther looks great on the front.  I also like that Ryan kept the chest stripe, however the chest stripe makes the back numbers very hard to read.  I think red numbers with a thick white outline would be the best option for both jerseys.  Lastly, I quite like the red pants (Ryan is good at impressing me with red pants).
Rating: 8/10

Kamloops Blazers, by Brooks F:

Our fourth and final concept is a complete set of Kamloops Blazers jerseys from Brooks.  I like the large shoulder design of the home and road jerseys, it's a good looking striping pattern that's also a nice update of some of their past jerseys.  My only suggestion would be to smooth out the hard angle of the piping on the back.  Overall I like the orange jersey, the double blue stripes are nice and the script looks good on an orange background, but I also think the orange and grey get somewhat muddled next to each other.
Rating: 8/10 and my COTW nomination!

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That's all for today!