Thursday: Border? I hardly know her.

Headed back to school from Canada and the border crossing decided to suck up all my intro writing time, so let's head right into it...

REMINDERS:

 COTW  August 3-9 vote (ends Friday @ noon EDT) 

 COTW July vote (ends Friday @ noon EDT) 

 HJC Open Finals vote (ends Friday @ noon EDT) 

On to the concepts!

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Burkus Circus.- Calgary Flames (90s)

 

We're kickin' it old school with our first concept of the day as burkus takes us back to the 90s with the Calgary flames. At first, this concept reminds me entirely of the gradient alternate the Canucks employed in the same era and that's because the hemline basically is the same; with a recoloring and a thinner hem trim. What makes this concept better is the commitment to the gradient which extends to the upper arms as well. This step takes it from seeming like an afterthought to the inarguable design theme of the jersey. The red #OB and white NOB where great choices as the pop well against their respective backgrounds and the logo choice is fantastic. Long Live the Horsehead! Only fault I have with this concept is it's still a little too Canucks...y, especially given that the Canucks employed a similar color scheme for much of the 90s as well.

Overall Rating: 9.0/10

A little Canucks-heavy, but still has what it takes to win over this Canuck.

Dan H.- Washington Capitals Alternate

First off, the Caps 2015 Winter Classic jersey was a beautiful look. Even as a lifelong Pens fan, I'm not going to deny that (heck I've even considered adding one to my collection on several occasions).What's not so great, however, is recoloring an existing jersey and presenting it as a concept. It leaves little to review and shows nothing of that designer's actually talent. Sure it's fun to see what-if iterations surrounding a team's final design, but here we have an example of one of the biggest faux pas's on HJC. The jersey swaps maroon for navy and swaps a Reebok template for Adidas but, beyond that, there's not much else. The one noticeable design change I can see is the maroon cuff at the bottom of the socks which is a big downgrade in my eyes (and a look that has not and, I hope, will not, caught on at the NHL level up to this point).

Overall Rating: --/10

With little to review, there's little to rate. Happy to see you contribute to the site, but I'd love to see you contribute more of you next time around.

Jay S.- San Francisco 49ers

Gather around, folks! It's time for another entry in Jay's NFL Hockey series. Last time, we look at a look for the New York Giants that was a bit too Rangers for my taste and this time... we get a 49ers look that a bit to 'Yotes for my liking. Take a trip with me, think back to the original edge unveiling and let's go to Arizona  Phoenix. What do we have? Maroon jersey: Check. Three Stripe Pattern (albeit a slightly different one): Check. Maroon Yoke on the road: Check. No hem striping on the road: Check. And lastly... same number font as the 07-08 Coyotes: Check, please. I'm a reasonable man, I realize this look isn't identical to what the 'Yotes wore in their first attempt at Reebok and I realize it isn't just a recolor. There's a white yoke on the home, the striping pattern is made to match what the niners currently wear, and there is striping present on the hem of the home. But it just too much like the 'Yotes look to ignore. Again, I understand that this is likely coincidental (and honestly the only reason I noticed is likely because the font put me down that path), but this is the attention to detail necessary to really produce a winning design. Not only does it have to look good, but it's got to look new on top of that

Overall Rating: 7.5/10

I know I haven't been too friendly with the first two entries, but I'm really excited to see what Jay has to offer as it continues. Keep up the good work, Jay!

Jay FS.- New York Giants (NFL)

Now  that is a concept! The King's proved with their 50th anniversary look that grey can effectively be used at home and there's no better canvas to paint a new design trend on that the ECHL. Noah pays eccelent attention to the color balance of the Beast's primary and extends that into his concept, with grey and black taking the focus and just enough white and red to maintain their preencce in the colorway. The striping follows a traditional pattern put does just enough to make it new and the yoke striping presents a cutoff striping look that I've always loved. Couple shortcomings: I see no reason to have the Captain's C in a different color than the shoulder numbers. I'm looking at you, road sweater. I understand the color on both is taken from the NOB, but the clash when viewed from the front is visually distracting. While you at it, I'd put a nice stroke on it as well to better match the shoulder numbers. Along with that, I'd consider altering the color of the numbering on the road sweater (to black maybe) as the grey doesn't provide enough contrast against the white here. 

Overall Rating: 9.25/10

Top marks here for Noah's work with the Brampton Beast.

That's all for today folks. 

This week's COTW Nomination heads to Noah's Brampton Beast Concept

Like what you see? Hate what you see? Want to see something different?

Let us know in the comments and be sure to shoot your designs to concepts@hockeyjerseyconcepts.com to make your mark on our daily posts.

We'll see you all next week!

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