Tuesday: Ovi's Hangover

Howdy, welcome back to HJC. First off, congrats to the Washington Capitals on their first Stanley Cup. It's been 44 long years for Caps fans, and I'm glad the wait is over for them. I knew I had watched something special at Ovi's sheer passion on the ice and over-joyous emotion once he saw Lord Stanley's timeless prize. He's not going to slow down until training camp, and he probably won't recover from his hangover until the All-Star break.

Second, the expansion team was the runner-up. I'll say that again, because I don't think it's sunk into our skulls yet. The expansion team went to the Stanley Cup Final. I don't think this aspect could possibly get enough attention. Expansion teams are never good. Heck, they're hardly decent. The Blue Jackets have been playing since the 90's and they've never even made it out of the first round. But an expansion team out in the desert beat every team except the Stanley Cup winner. Sure, the expansion draft was set up to give them a faster start than previous drafts- but to win the Western Conference? I don't think we're ever going to see anything even remotely close to this in our lifetimes. Unbelievable.

Back to the blog, we have our usual Concept of the Week vote, and this week, the Concept of the Month for May, so be sure to cast your vote for both.

COTW-May vote (ends Friday @ noon ET)

COTW June 1-7 vote (ends Friday @ noon ET)

Pairs Competition (ends June 22 @ noon ET)

Jersey Nerds Podcast (new episode Monday) 

Burkus C.- Dallas Stars

Burkus brings back the full-body star for Dallas in our first concept of the day. The design is practically the same as the sets from '97-'06, with the colors updated to the current scheme. One positive is the sock stripes are now consistent with jersey. I like how the the logo fits perfectly within the striping, and I appreciate you've followed the mandatory HJC logo policy. The collar was handled awkwardly, with no real reason for splitting the colors half, especially when they're so close. I have to dock points for lack of creativity, but this was the right grave to rob for a good-locking concept.

Grade: B-

Burkus C.- Ottawa Senators

Burkus's second takes us to Ontario for the Sens. The barber pole is practically required for the Sens, and not often do we see a concept where the stripes come in at these proportions. Typically, we see the thicker stripes like the team took to the ice with. To give this jersey enough color, Burkus adds an extra stripes to the hem, shoulders, and socks. I think this is almost the perfect amount of color; it's not too busy, and there's just enough there to keep the look from going too white-out. Some color on the collar would be the last touch this needs to be perfect. The O logo and numbers on the back would benefit from a thicker outline for better legibility. The colors are balanced well; I like how black is over red, the sharper contrast from the white draws the eye slightly upward, a neat visual effect.

Grade: B+

John E.- Anaheim Ducks

Not quite Mighty, but John brings back the duck mask front and center in this Anaheim concept. I like the inclusion of purple, but altogether the colors fall flat. There's a lot of dark colors on this, with not enough light accents to balance the look. The pants being lighter than the jersey furthers the color balancing issues, especially without another large purple element to pair with it. While it's not great on the jersey, the logo fits this much, much, better with the white mask on the black circle (is that supposed to be a puck? I think it's a puck) and purple triangle. The wordmark on the sleeves is a detail we don't see often, and it's placement work well here. The purple letters don't stand out from the sleeve stripe, and doesn't more more attention to itself than it deserves. It's quite similar to the pattern in the Vegas sleeve stripe. The modernist font fits the 90s team well; it's a small detail, but I don't think it should be overlooked.

Grade: C-

Taylor R.- College of the Holy Cross Crusaders

Our last concept comes from Taylor in his NCAA series, today for Holy Cross. Unlike John's concept, the lighter purple contrasts the black well, and the white, especially the yoke on the dark jersey, balances the look well as an accent. The design works well, and matches the logo nicely. The numbers would better fit the design if each matches their corresponding yoke colors. The stripe in the yoke parallel to the arms is a good move towards coherency, but the proportions are too far off to really sell it as complementing the hem and sleeve. With all the color on the jerseys, it follows that the pants would have a similar, colorful design as well. The shield makes a great crest logo, but I'm wondering if it would have better served as the shoulder patch, so the stripe doesn't run through the logo. It's a bit cluttered as it stands.

Grade: B

My COTW nomination goes to Burkus Circus's Ottawa Senators. That's all the fun I have for today. See you next week for more concepts, and keep your stick on the ice.