Wednesday: Welcome Home

This morning I had the privilege of attending the greatest moment in Islanders history since 1983. I was at Belmont Park in the Turf & Field Club in Elmont, NY, watching New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announce that the Islanders have officially won the bid to build a new $1 billion state of the art arena on the land adjacent to the racetrack, in addition to a hotel and retail in the surrounding area. Here's a photo I took after the conference ended.

And here are some renderings posted on Governor Cuomo's twitter feed via New York Arena Partners, LLC:

(A drawing of inside the future Belmont Arena)

 (Side rendering of the development from the northbound Cross Island Parkway just past NY 24)

(Overhead rendering, with the existing racetrack in the bottom left corner, and the Cross Island Parkway on the right with Southbound traffic on the right, as NY 24 crosses over the Parkway)

After the conference was over, I thanked Jon Ledecky for all of this, as well as Gary Bettman. I'll continue to boo him otherwise but he was as much of a part of this as Ledecky and others in the development group and New York State government. Also I met Andrew Ladd, took a photo with him, and joked around with Doug Weight and Garth Snow as we left the conference.

Billy Joel was there for some reason too. He didn't say anything. Cuomo asked if he could be the act that opens the building. On top of that Bettman said that he'd consider the Isles playing temporarily at Nassau Coliseum if Joel opened the Belmont Arena. Kind of awkward.


REMINDERS:

 COTW DEC 8-14 vote (Due Friday @ noon EST) 

 Devils Redesign Competition Top 3 vote (Due Friday @ noon EST) 

ON TO THE CONCEPTS!

Cole W: Vancouver Giants (WHL) Concept

This is a bit of an improvement over their current jerseys but I don't think the recolored logo on the home jersey works as well as the actual logo, because the black shield provides a nice shadow on the Giant. Not usually a fan of the silver-white combo next to each other. One thing the existing jerseys have that aren't here are the positioning of the shoulder logos. The leaf is towards the front of the jersey on both shoulders, trailing off towards the back. The TV numbers are too close to the template edge. They need separation because it'll show separation just on the arm view, instead of directly next to each other as shown here.

Rating: 80%


Cole W: Victoria Royals (WHL) Concept

 
I think the only thing this concept needs is, besides the execution notes from last concept (and lowering the nameplate on this one) is the shoulder patches they currently use, which is a nice coat of arms logo with hockey sticks behind it. One more note: The shades of blue between the logo and the jersey are different. The jersey's color is slightly darker than the blue in the logo.

Rating: 78%


Lucas D: Boston Bruins Concept

 
Lucas, your ID? Now besides that, this is a somewhat nicely presented concept. I still see Reebok edge template lines on the 3-D view though. As for a design aspect, I think the B could be a bit bigger, the C can be moved off the yoke striping, and the name and number on the back can be lowered and bigger. Clean that up and I'd love to see that on ice.

Rating: 75%


Noah B: North Melbourne FC (AFL) Concept

Noah tries his best to translate the Kangaroos AFL to a hockey jersey. Their existing jerseys are blue and white vertical stripes. That doesn't look good on a hockey jersey. Therefore this is the best option here. Simple two-color look, with enough stripes on the arms and socks that represent the main set. North's set here best represents a good crossover look. The silver trim from the logo gets lost on the name and number.

Rating: 95%


Noah K: Invertigo (Fictional) Concept

I like a good double blue concept. But a good double blue concept utilizes a light blue and a navy blue. This set is kind of ordinary for the good logo we have. Also I think the recolored logo is a downgrade from the existing logo. Name is too large, font isn't a hockey font, and they are too close to the top of the jersey. The pants would look better with the darker blue. I get the explanation on the bottom, but it still makes no sense as to why Nick Cage is here. I do appreciate a good Nick Cage meme but this isn't a good one.

Rating: 60%


The WINNER of my Concept of the Week nomination is

 NOAH B 

 NORTH MELBOURNE FC CONCEPT 

Christmas came early to me, the Islanders and, technically, the blog assuming you read yesterday's post. Belmont is real, Belmont is happening and we hope to see shovels into the ground soon. Keep your eyes peeled for a potential third jersey, as for the Islanders I'm hearing it will be orange and fisherman related. Until next week, have a happy holiday season.