Thursday: Square One

And just like that, it’s 1-1.

As sad as I am as a Pens fan to no longer to say the Caps have never won a Stanley Cup Final game, I’m happy as a hockey fan to say we have what’s shaping up to be a good series. Back to Washington we go to see if the Caps can use home-ice to wrestle away control or if the rag tag Golden Knights will prove their mettle as road warriors seeking to secure the cup on home ice to bring their fans something far beyond their expectations in their first season as a franchise.

Want a chance to bring yourself (and a partner) something far beyond your expectations? Grab a teammate and enter the HJC pairs competition, officially starting June 1. Check the competitions tab for more details.

REMINDERS:

 COTW May 18-24 vote (Ends Friday @ noon EDT)

On to the concepts!

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Adam G.- Vegas Golden Knights (Flamingo)

As has been said by many of the previous writers this week, I really like we’re Adam is going here by exploring a series of promo jerseys unique to Vegas’ spread of hotels. Pink is prominent in this set and looks great within the unique arm striping. The yellow streak brings some life to the black cuff area and matches the logo detailing surprisingly well. Even the Adidas collar looks great in the complicated color scheme. For one, I wish the hem stripe showed a little more life by borrowing a but more from the sleeve pattern. And two, I think this jersey (and the rest of the series) would be more effective with a recolored primary, especially when the yellow detailing within a field of black could be so easily matched in the logo.

Overall Rating: 7.0/10

A step in the right direction for a Flamingo promo jersey, but a couple fine details away from greatness.

Adam G.- Vegas (Mandalay Bay)

Here, Adam continues his hotel-centric series by adopting Mandalay Bay’s famous detailing (resident architect Ben would have a much more technical term than I, so stay tuned for that). Technical terminology aside, I think this look works surprisingly well on a hockey sweater and, while I wouldn’t want to see it in the NHL full-time, it provides a fitting connection to the hotel in question. Here the simple hem makes more sense, playing off the color blocked cuffs and yokes, leaving my only complaint (once again) the original colors in the logo. In this instance, it’s a too close for comfort issue where the Knight’s gold is too close to the Mandalay Bay gold to warrant the use of two different colors.

  

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

Vegas, baby! A beautiful combination of two unique identities that Vegas is surely proud to call her own.

Anthony C.- Minnesota Wild

Anthony, one thing that always helps with concepts (especially a series) is to include the purpose on the concept itself. Something as simple as NHL Alternates (which I assume to be the case in your most recent set of submissions) gives some much-needed context to your audience. While I think a call-back to the North Stars would bring a beautiful look back into circulation, it’s hard to imagine coming to life considering the North Stars identity is connected now to Dallas rather than Minnesota. From a design standpoint, the look is solid save for a few details. Since you’ve got an extended white hem stripe on the bottom of the jersey, white cuffs would make more sense on the arms than the current yellow and would help with color balance, too. Additionally, the Texas Rangers-esque font doesn’t fit the logo particularly well with its spoke about halfway up the numbers. I’d suggest a simple block font to better match the front crest.

  

Overall Rating: 7.0/10

The key of a white-less look is the abscence of white and here, it's presence in the text here really brings this one down.

Anthony C.- Dallas Stars

Speak of the devil, the Dallas Stars. As someone quite in-tune with the Stars and someone whose family has been Stars season ticket holders for about as long as he’s been alive, I can tell you that stars fans are clamoring for a black alternate. As seen on much of the stars merchandise, Victory Green and Silver really pop of a black background and black just makes sense (The Stars at Night am I right, Texas folks?). That being said, if a second Victory Green look is in the works, I don’t think there’d be too much complaining here with Anthony’s look. I really like how the arm striping plays off the hem to provide a similar look while still adding some uniqueness to the set. The prominence of silver is great here as well, considering it falls out of use in the Stars’ primary looks outside of the logo. I will say, that like the previous concept, there’s some color balance issues brought about by the thick white hem. Logo choice leaves a bit to be desired as well given that the roundel is probably the weakest in the Stars’ arsenal. And the beautiful State of Texas logo is just begging for a home outside of the breezers. If you’re not going to use that, however, the Texas captain’s patch is a great way to tie in that Texas State Pride you never stop hearing about in the Lone Star State.

  

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

The quack pack is back, ladies and gentlemen.

Noah B.- Team Alberta

If you’ve talked to TC Moore at any point in your life, you’d know HJC has an affinity for a good double blue scheme. Throw in some yellow to add a little extra intrigue and you’ve got a real winner. I will day that the coat of arms on the chest could use a thicker outline on each jersey to really pull it from the background. Unfortunately, this look, although beautiful all around, isn’t particularly groundbreaking or all that memorable. In a series that contains a beautiful Nordiques-esque look for Quebec and several inventive looks for the rest of Canada’s provinces, this one falls a tad flat in comparison. More of a symptom of increased expectations due to excellence than sub-par work, I just can’t offer my usual praises to Noah for this one.

  

Overall Rating: 7.0/10

Like I said, a good look in its own right, but one that pales in comparison to its counterparts.

That's all for today folks. 

Entirely undecided on this week’s COTW Nomination. So, you get to decide who should take home the honors. Let us know in the comments.

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