Friday: Double Eve

Hello folks, happy Christmas Eve Eve!  I wanted to do something holiday related for the intro today, so I decided to look back and find all the Christmas themed concepts to appear on HJC.  By my count there have been six such concepts (let me know if I missed any, I'll add them to the post), which I've arranged in chronological order below.

Concept from December 26, 2011 (not eligible for COTW).

Back in 2011, Stéphane created a hypothetical outdoor game called the Christmas Classic between the North Pole Reindeers and the Santa's Dwarfs.  The jerseys he designed were Christmas-y but not too crazy, and he paired them with a couple of great wordmark logos (I especially like the antlers on the Reindeers wordmark).

Concept from December 12, 2012 (not eligible for COTW).

A year later we got a trio of Christmas jerseys from Bren.  He created his own logos, a Santa hat and a wrapped present, which he used on three colourful jerseys.

Concept from December 20, 2012 (not eligible for COTW).

Also from 2012 is Joey's concept based off of Santa's red suit.  The belt stripe and back numbers are great additions, but what really topped this off was the inclusion of Santa's big white beard.

Concept from December 25, 2014 (not eligible for COTW).

We know jump ahead a couple years for David's Los Angeles Kings Christmas sweater.  I could easily see the Kings wearing this if they were a minor league team, the knitted sweater effect is perfect, and I love the snow on the numbers and the Santa hat on the burger king logo.

Concept from December 2, 2015 (not eligble for COTW).

Last year we got a look at this design that Niklas created for the Hamburg Freezers, which the Freezers actually wore for Christmas in 2014.  I love the winter-y scene on this jersey, it makes perfect sense for a team called the "Freezers".

Concept from January 6, 2016 (not eligible for COTW).

Our final holiday concept is Jay's Augsburger Panther Christmas jersey from last January.  My favourite features of this concept are the Christmas tree side panels and the bow in the arm and sock stripes. they're both very unique ideas.

Now since these are old concepts they're not eligible to be nominated for COTW, but you can still let us know which of them is your favourite.

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We have an easy week voting wise over the holidays, there's just the standard COTW vote.  The poll should be up before tomorrow.

COTW Dec 16-22 vote (ends next Friday @ noon Eastern)

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Edmonton Oilers, by Brian B:

Brian starts us off with an update of the Oilers 2001-07 third jersey, using their old copper and red colour scheme.  To my surprise, these logos actually look quite good in this colour scheme, I thought they might only work in navy and silver.  The hem stripe was also changed to hem trim, which I wouldn't mind except I'd prefer it in copper rather than white.  Execution is mostly good, but only half of the shoulder logos and sleeve numbers should be visible on each sleeve.
Rating: 7/10

Calgary Flames, by Phil B:

Next up we have a very unique concept from Phil (aka, HJC's Wednesday writer).  The gradient striping is undoubtedly bold, and it fits the team's name, but I just don't think it looks good.  In my opinion, the gradient would be better in a complimentary role, instead of as the main feature.  Moving past that, I love the white gloves and how they match the end of the sleeves, but I think a single outline on the logo, name, and numbers would be better.  Also, the sleeve numbers are wrong on the white jersey.
Rating: 7/10

Portland Winterhawks, by Brooks F:

The Winterhawks current look is nearly an exact copy of the Chicago Blackhawks, so Brooks decided to give them a set of jerseys they could call their own.  I really like the idea of the four colours in the striping, and I think it looks great up close, but from a distance those stripes get a bit muddled looking.  Increasing the size of the stripes may solve that problem.  The third jersey, which is based off of an old Portland Rosebuds jersey, is perfect as is.  I especially love the use of feathers instead of hockey sticks above the sash stripe.
Rating: 8/10

Buffalo Sabres, by Lucas D:

For our last concept of the day, Lucas has designed some new jerseys for the Sabres.  The home jersey is very similar to their original blue jersey, except it uses single colour numbers and their current shade of navy blue.  Of those changes, I like the simpler numbers and I'm ambivalent towards the navy blue.  The road jersey is more of a new design, with a yoke that extends until the sleeve stripes.  I'm still unsure about this style yoke, I sort of think it looks a bit unnatural or contrived, but I also find it somewhat intriguing.
Rating: 8/10 and my COTW nomination.

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That's all folks!  Have a Happy Hanukkah tomorrow, a Merry Christmas the day after that, or just a nice weekend if you don't celebrate either of those holidays!