Thursday: Third Period Pitfalls

The only thing better than watching your second favourite team blow a two goal 3rd period lead and lose in over time is flipping the channel to watch your favourite team do the same.

Unfortunately, this is exactly what the Dallas Stars and Pittsburgh Penguins had in store for your Thursday writer on Wednesday night. The Stars and Pens both played a great first 40 minutes on the road, with the Stars up 4-2 at the Air Canada Center and the Penguins besting the Rangers 2-0 through 2 periods. This was not to last however, with the Stars falling 6-5 in the shootout after a wild four goal third period between the two teams. In New York, much the the appreciation of Friday's writer and our third artist today, Chris Kreider led his lovely bunch on misfits to a 4-3 victory with a 3-point third period.

As much as I love revisiting the misery of last night, it's time to talk HJC...

With THE SEASON now in THE PLAYOFFS its time to make sure your favourite teams don't follow the Stars and Pens by sharing in a disappointing finish after a promising start. With Aurora failing to submit a concept with got Orlando-Charlotte-Ottawa and Minnesota-Vancouver matchups on the slate with the regular season's top performers vying for a place in the championship game.

The voting continues with the regular COTW vote and the COTM vote for February. The February vote includes several concepts nominated on one of February's four Thursday's so I'm somewhat selfishly excited to see how this one shakes out.
  

REMINDERS:

 COTW-February vote (ends Friday @ noon ET) 

 COTW March 2-8 vote (ends Friday @ noon ET) 

 The Season Semi-Finals vote (ends Friday @ noon ET) 

On to the concepts!

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Noah K.- Clemson Tigers (NCAA)

The Good: 

• Script logo works well enough here and the paw print looks great on the shoulders
• Striping pattern works well, with the asymmetry providing a unique take on a traditional look
• Nice touch having the helmet match that of the football team...

The Bad:

• ...However I'm not a fan of the orange helmet and purple pants
• Number font was a misstep. Going with a more traditional block font would fit better.

The Ugly (Execution Issues):

• Hem striping from the back should show through (white area on hem should be orange)
• No white helmet for the road?

Overall Rating: 7.0/10

While this look would provide Clemson with something more original than their Canadiens copies, it's not without its flaws

Taylor R.- Niagara Purple Eagles

The Good: 

• Niagara currently sports a look that draws from the simplicity of the Tampa Bay Lightning, so its nice to see them get a bit of their own identity here
• The Eagle logo is not particularly strong so I fully support the diagonal "Niagara" text across the chest 
• Love the consistently inconsistent striping with the same pattern creating a different look on each set

The Bad:

• The Purple Eagles in... Black? I know the Golden Knights look great in grey, but it feels like a missed opportunity here.
• Just like the last concept, we've got mismatching helmet and pants. Still not a fan.
• Purple outlines are lost on the black jersey, though I'm not sure there's a better way to do it without cluttering up the look
• I'd make the pants stripes mirror the dark jersey to keep that consistency

The Ugly (Execution Issues):

• No white helmet? (2 for 2 today)

Overall Rating: 7.5/10

A step in the right direction, but a few more need to be taken before this set is battle ready.

TC Moore.- Expansion Classic

The Good: 

• Even as a Pens fan, I've always loved the Caps' burgundy and blue look from the 2015 Winter Classic, so its nice to see it show up again here
• The Scout's blue-yellow-red scheme is such a beauty, that it's always a positive to see it return
• One color numbers and NOB are era consistent

The Bad:

• Beyond that, there's not a lot I love about this one to be entirely honest
• Given that the rest of the text on the jersey is white, I'd probably make the Caps' W white as well
• Thin striping on the socks hurts that look as well, a single bold stripe to match the arm cuffs would work better, in my opinion
• I said earlier that I loved the Scout's color pallet, but I think there's a bit too much of it here for this to be an effective road look

Overall Rating: 6.0/10

Like the idea behind this series and the sets themselves, but there's too many missteps for me to get overly jazzed up about this hypothetical matchup.

Happy Spring Break Ladies and Gents. Nothing in particular stood out today, so I'll leave you the full force of COTW Nomination powers in the comments below.

Got Questions? Send 'em our way by stuffing the HJC Mailbag.