Tuesday: Two Gateways and Two Steel Towns

Howdy, welcome back to HJC for the Tuesday post. From the title, today's post has a New York concept, a St. Louis concept, and two for Pittsburgh.

Before we jump in, take a look at the Finals in the HJC Open. Top seed Jeff T. takes on Chris W. in the top competition of the summer. Jeff entered a timely Newfoundland Growlers set, while Chris went with West Brunswick High School in North Carolina. I think both of them saved their best for last, and this is definitely the toughest decision I've had to make this competition.

While less exciting, don't forget the usual COTW vote as well.

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

COTW July vote (ends Friday @ noon EDT)

HJC Open Finals (entries due Monday @ noon EDT)

HJC Open Finals vote (ends Friday @ noon EDT)

Burkus C.- Pittsburgh Penguins

First up for Steel Town, Burkus shows us his take for a Pittsburgh alternate. I'm not a fan of swapping black for blue; black much better fits the city of Pittsburgh, plus, most actual Penguins are black. Regardless, the yellow accents are what enliven this concept to greatness. The thin stripes up and down create a nice fauxback look and splash a perfect amount of color on. They also fit with the logo, in the yellow roundel and blue-and-white body penguin. Additionally, the angled P logo makes a good shoulder patch. The Adidas collar is tough to make work well, and cutting it awkwardly halfway around isn't the way to do it.

Grade: B+

Dan H.- New York Islanders

Dan takes us to the east coast for another alternate, this time for the Isles. Right away, there's a theme here that's not being applied consistently. The sleeves, pants, and socks all have a single color stripe flanked by thin white stripes. At the hem and gloves, the stripes are adjacent to each other. It's a minor detail, but it really hampers the coherency of the whole set in relation to each element. I like the inclusion of the New York and Nassau flags, but it would have been better to see them integrated into the Islander's scheme somehow, and not thrown on for lip service. On execution, the inside of the jersey should always match the same color on the reverse. On this concept, the inside of the yoke should be orange, not white. The crest logo also looks a tad too low on the front.

Grade: D+

Jay S.- Pittsburgh Steelers

Jay takes us back to Steel Town, this time for a Steelers crossover. The yellow jersey is the weaker of the two, with an awkward balance created by a dark, heavy yoke over the white logo on a light colored base, and hardly anything at the hem. The honeycomb pattern in the yoke is unique and fits the team identity well, and it's a shame it wasn't incorporated anywhere else in this set. The black jersey is what sets this concept apart; the design is more directly influenced by the football jerseys, in that the thinner stripes are on a field of black. This jersey does well to avoid yellow-on-white syndrome by making the hem and sleeve stripes just thick enough to differentiate between the two, but isn't so successful at the yoke where those stripes taper off towards the ends.

Grade: C+

Steven G.- St. Louis Blues

Steve takes us to the West's gateway to end today's post with two takes on the Blues. I'll split this review by category.

"New Look": This is a fitting design that follows current trends, which is a simplification of historic team looks. The simplicity is a tremendous strength here, especially on the white where the blue and yellow accent the white, without trying to overpower it. I'm not sure where the logo came from, but the way the "feathers" bend down is unnecessary departure from the classic logo. The way they bend inward makes it look depressed and crushed. The other logo on the shoulder is fantastic as a shoulder patch, as we've known for years. As I've lamented before, the split Adidas collar isn't my favorite.

"Steven's Ideal": This isn't a whole lot different from the current look, but the changes are completely warranted and welcomed. The consistency issues from the hem, sleeves, to the yoke have been resolved. Double blue is the HJC writer's weakness, and this works well with accented with white and yellow. While it's not the most creative, it's hard to find fault with it.

Grade: A-

My COTW nomination goes to Steven G.'s St. Louis Blues. That's all the fun I have planned for this week, I'll see you next week, with the HJC Open championship awarded. Until then, vote, and keep your stick on the ice.