Thursday: The Golden Girls

The women do it right. That's what I've learned from the Olympics. Send your best to play the best and do whatever you can to grow the sport. Women's hockey may be a two-nation sport, but the USA-Canada match-ups are almost always undoubtable instant classics, and last night was no different.

One thing I will say is that I'm tired of hearing that Amanda Kessel is Phil Kessel's sister or that Sarah Nurse is the niece of ex-NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb. Both are Olympic medalists, both are damn good hockey players, and both deserve to be recognized as such; not by family heritage, but what they leave (and always leave) on the ice when they play.

I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty jazzed up about women's hockey at the moment (definitely a lot more than usual). I may not be too pleased with yesterdays result, more so with the way the game was concluded than its actual outcome, but I can certainly recognize that both teams deserved the medals they received at the end of the night. After growing up in men's hockey my whole life and watching the NHL every step of the way, the women's game is quite refreshing. The defensive zone focuses much more on effective stickwork rather than brusiers or brute force and though it may be a little sloppier, the game seems to flow a little better.

My homework for you all this week (I'm about to go grade around 100 exams, so I'm in TA mode, I apologize), is to look into women's hockey in some capacity. If there's a team in your area go to a game (I'm sure Phil would give you an automatic COTW nomination if you can include proof of Riveters attendance in one of your concepts). If not, look into the visual history of the CWHL and NWHL and shoot us a concept for one of the teams. Even better, watch some of the classic Gold Medal Games between USA and Canada and get an appreciation for the history behind last nights occurrences. Keep in mind that for me (as a 19 year old hockey jersey blogger), that was the first time Team Canada has lost a game, round robin or otherwise, in my entire lifetime, with their last defeat coming at the hands of the Americans in the 1998 Gold Medal Game in February of that year.

In summary, teach the NHL a lesson. Show Bettman and his band of misfits that Olympic competition can be profitable for a league as it breeds viewership that otherwise wouldn't tune in. We clamor at and crave the deadline dealings of NHL teams almost every second of the few weeks preceding the deadline, but often forget a hole leagues worth of quality hockey right under our noses. So go out and enjoy, see a game, design a jersey. Whatever you do, just make sure the next time you care about women's hockey isn't four years from today.

REMINDERS:

COTW Vote Feb 9- 15 (ends Friday @ Noon Et)

The Season Week 3 Vote (ends Friday @ Noon Et)

On to the concepts!

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Adam G.- Vegas Golden Knights

The Good:

As a rule gradient jerseys don't work. As a rule white numbers don't work on jerseys devoid of white. Fortunately, rules are made to be broken which serves this concept well. Vegas' scheme works itself very well into a gradient and the white numbers pop up the striping beautifully.
One way to make a gradient much more effective is to brake it up into stripes and the growing striped work really well here

The Bad:

Can't quite place why, but the pants striping doesn't sit right with me, even with it matching the rest of the set

Wouldn't mind seeing some red work itself into the chest logo to build off the striping a little better, but keeping a consistent logo set may be more important

Overall Rating: 9.0/10

Not a set I'd typically get behind, but I really like the Vegas Night Lights look here.

Danny R.- Okotoks Oilers

The Good:

Classic look for the Oilers here.
Really unique color scheme here, though than can be credited more to the team than to you
Number font here works really well in conjunction with the derrick in the roundel
Still a huge fan of the NOB/#OB founding year tribute

The Bad:

As pretty as this is, its essentially just a paint bucket fill of the Penguins original winter classic set

Overall Rating: 6.0/10

Something we see all too often, unfortunately. A beautiful look, but one so beautiful that it's already been adopted elsewhere.

Danny R.- Calgary Flames

The Good:

Much of the world is clamoring for the Flames to adopt their retro alternate, so basing a set off that would likely be a pretty popular idea...

The Bad:

...but if you're gonna due that, it'd probably best to just follow that template, rather than subtly changing the pattern as seen here

As I mentioned in Adam's concept at the start of this post it's hard to sell me on number colors that are found nowhere else in the jersey

This number font doesn't seem to fit the flaming C either

I think all 3 of the main jerseys (minus the throwback) would benefit from including some of that 4th color to give some definition to the striping

Red C simply does not look good on the home, since you've got so much black in the striping, I'd advise following suit in the crest

Overall Rating: 5.0/10

I would've thought anything would beat the Flames' side striping and awkward piping, but I hate to say I stand corrected.

The Big Man.- Pittsburgh Penguins

The Good:

Up until this year, I've never been a fan of the Robo-Pen. The skating penguin is simply a better logo, however the Robo-Pen has moved into prime nostalgia territory, so now might be the perfect time for a comeback
Pittsburgh gold is here to stay. With the rumor of 31 alternate jerseys being released next year. I'd be surprised to see the Pens in anything other than gold.
Collar matches the striping nicely, well executed there
Like the extended cuffs, I've got the Pens original WC jersey in my collection and its a beautiful look...

The Bad:

... but I feel like it should should peek out at lease a bit from behind the gloves on the full-body template

While the is nice, the white exterior is lost due to some considerable YOWS. I think this could be solved by matching the logo with three bold black stripes split by two thin white stripes as seen on the right side of the Robo-Pen

The Ugly (Execution Issues):