Monday: Pro-Semi-Pros

Welcome to the Monday Post!

New Design Roundup

The FHL seems to generate some different designs, particularly in that they don't have actual 3rd jerseys. Sometimes teams use jerseys for just one period or sometimes it'll be the only thing they'll wear for a month (such as what the Danbury Titans did). Like most hockey teams, the St. Clair Shores Fighting Saints (say that 5 times fast, also their logo clearly shows a Roman soldier or Spartan or Trojan) wore special jerseys on February 25th for their #Strenghinunity game with Kings jerseys in a colour we don't see on jerseys...ever...

Photo from SCS Fighting Saints Official Twitter (@SaintsFHL)

Interestingly enough, I cannot figure out what the exact cause of this is, the jerseys read Miles for Mila and I'm going to assume it's to raise funds/awareness for an ill member of one of the players or staff's families or the community in general, which is always a nice gesture, so A+ on that front. Th3e jerseys themselves are pretty plain, but I like the way the navy gear works into the piping and striping. On top of that, this shade of sand/tan the Fighting Saints use is unique to them, and it's rare we see a team use their 4th colour as a primary on a jersey.

Rating: 7/10 

Latin American heritage nights are a common theme night in the MLB and NBA, where there are a lot players from those nationalities. That being said, the Orlando Solar Bears hosted what I think is one of the first Noche Latina in hockey (ones that come to mind are Rockford's), wearing jerseys adorn with flags on the hem.

Photo from Orlando Solar Bears Official Twitter (@Orlando Hockey)

Thankfully for the Solar Bears, their colour scheme is already so colourful that adding a complex and colourful Latina design like this actually seems to go with the logo. The pattern is actually made up of the Solar Bears colour scheme. The hem is kind of cluttered with the flags, but I don't hate it, it's a neat idea. One thing that I can't stand (and it's the NBA that usually does this too) is just sticking Los or Las or La to the end of a teams name. Now this may be accurate in the contemporary, and Spanish speakers tell me if you call these teams by their English names, but I always like the effort that (mostly MLB teams) do for __________Heritage Nights, by spelling their names in that language (which would be Osos Solares) but I understand patch cost makes it hard to do for minor league teams.

Rating: 8.25/10 

Finally, and this is inside the NHL, next season will celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Stanley Cup being a thing. We're almost all familiar with the 1992-93 100th anniversary patch worn most famously. Now in 2017/18 we get a new patch which I guess will replace the 100th anniversary patch (or so help the guys who chose where patches go).

Photo from Sportslogos.net

One of the biggest complaints about the NHL 100 patch, aside from location is the fact that silver (unlike black or blue or even orange), it doesn't really go with much. Now this does kind of cary over with this patch, but there's much more black in it, and the Stanley Cup is in fact silver. It's much more fitting and the colour layout reminds me more of a Finals patch. So long as the placement isn't stuck in the striping and on the chest, it'll be fondly remembered.

Rating: 9.25/10

COTW resets for the week, check out the side of the blog for the poll and vote away. Votes are due as they have been for a while, Friday @ noon.

COTW Feb 27 - Mar 2 vote (ends Friday @ noon Eastern)

Here is today's pairs competition presentation! You can check out the design blog every day of this week from a different team.

On with today's 5 concepts!

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Team Spain Concepts (By: Mike F.)

+ Going with a yellow home and red day is an excellent decision

+ Striping is really simple, but it works

+ Good logo choices all around

+ Love the black alternate 

+ Good execution

- Sock stripes are up too high 

- White alternate needs some black on the cuffs to help balance the colours

- One problem with the black I find is that Spain doesn't really have a history of wearing black to my knowledge. I think this is more a preference thingy but Spain to my knowledge from soccer and basketball use navy or gold or baby blue, not black (aside from the 2014 away). 

Rating: 8.25/10 

Florida Panthers/Springfield Thunderbirds AHL Concepts (By: Lucas D.)

+ The mashup logo looks fantastic! It really shows how well the two logos go together as military styled logos

+ The recoloured Thunderbirds jerseys look good with the tan instead of baby blue

+ I like the compromises made in the striping, such as the side panels working with the design rather than the reebok template 

+ Good execution

- Blank pants

- Lack of a shoulder patch, that's one thing I would have kept from the Florida loog

- Ditto for the Florida font over the block font

Rating: 8.5/10 COTW Nom from me!

Québec City Nordiques Concepts (By: Anothony C.)

+ Love the custom logo here, even if I can't really tell what it exactly is
+ Lots of Fleur De Lis  on all 3 jerseys, but not overwhelming
+ There's a lot of good ideas here, and with some execution work it'll be a great concept
+ The alternate I think is the best of the 3

- Sock stripes are much too high
- Remember to stop the vertical stitching at the hem
- The yoke striping should curve with the yoke to make them look less awkward
- Numbers on the yoke are a good idea, but here they'd read 1919, one number on each side, with the 9 coming in a little bit on the side with the one
- Scrap the bottom white hem unless you curve the hem stripe to go with it
- I'd swap the two logos on the home and road so the Q stood out better

Rating: 5.5/10 with a lot of upside

Montréal Canadiens/ Rocket du Laval AHL Concepts (By: Lucas D.)

+ The logo lay out on the arms is a lot better than what the Rockets currently have, a lot less cluttered but still with that European flare
+ Crossover logo works well for what it is
+ Colour balancing is good between the two jerseys as is
+ Good execution

- There's a lack of colour on the upper jersey, which works okay for the white jersey but the white collar stands
- Call me crazy but putting the arm logo on the socks would look really cool

Rating: 8.5/10

Florida Panthers Concept (By: Tyler M.S.)

+ Love the striping pattern here, lots of hard and red
+ Good logo choices across the board
+ Love the font choice
+ Pretty solid execution

- Shoulder patches, helmet logo and TV numbers could be a little larger
- Like the Anaheim road jersey, there's a slight balancing issue between the arm and hem striping, where the gear acts as the blu on the hem, which I mean it's one of those things that's 6 in one half a dozen the other, it works on ice but not so much for the jersey on its own
- Try making the numbers red to see if they add some brightness to the jersey

Rating: 7.75/10

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