Friday: Jesper's Winter Classic

Hello everyone, happy friday. Colin here for my first official HJC concept post! Before we get to the concepts, I should remind you of the change to the contest voting deadline, which comes along with all the changes to HJC.

The new deadline for all contest votes is on Saturday now, instead of Sunday. If you have not gotten your votes in, you still have time, but not as much time as you have had in the past.

STARS COMP Top 5 vote (ends SATURDAY @ 11:59pm EST)

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Winnipeg Jets concept (by Shaun)

This is a pretty straightforward Swift-ification for the jets. The light blue features more prominently on these sweaters, which is something I would like to see on a Jets sweater, but because I see more of the light blue, the shade seems a bit off to me. Also, I know it is just following the cut of the sweater, but I can't get over having straight hem stripes on the front, and curved stripes on the back. 7/10

Vasteras Iron Eagles concept (by Dustin)

Here is another concept from the VHL, a fantasy league which Dustin is involved in. These concepts well executed, and clearly Dustin has paid attention to detail by removing the NHL shield from the template. my one suggestion would be to add some white in the numbers on the dark uniform. 7/10

Montréal Canadiens concept (by Stephen T.)

I think this concept has some real potential. I like the barber pole arm stripes. I also like the crest, although it is far too small. I would also make the TV numbers white, so that they stand out on blue and red (same with the Reebok logo on the back of the neck). Be careful with the stripes on the side of the pants, because of the template, using exactly horizontal lines makes the stripes look like they are at a slight angle; I find it best to match their angle the top line and work my way down. there are also templates available on the templates page which are square horizontally and very easy to use. 6/10

Winter Classic 2014 concept (by Jesper)

Jesper sent in a concept package which turns the winter classic into a weekend series instead of simply a one-off event once a year. I have thought for a while that the NHL should consider doing this. The best teams to start with would obviously be the original 6, but maybe the following year, the NHL could reward division champs and put them in the feature games.

For the logo, I might have tried to incorporate the original 6 teams logos in a more subtle way, maybe on the red gate posts. Good clean logo manipulation though. 6/10

Plenty of stripes on these sweaters. I really like the numbers on the shoulders of the Bruins sweater. good job on keeping it vintage and leaving off the name plates. Both of these sweaters look great. 8/10

Who wouldn't love to see a Leafs-Habs match-up in a winter classic!? I would probably use a thin white outline around the Habs logo to make it pop a bit more, and I would go with a more interesting collar, likt the tri-colour collar which the Habs use. For the Leafs, I would try this sweater without the reverse colour sleeves, have them match the socks, and I would add a matching hem stripe. 7/10

I really like this look for the wings, and hope that they go with a red jersey instead of a cream jersey for this year's winter classic. This sweater is definitely along the right lines, I would add a hem stripe though. As for the Rangers jersey, it really sticks out like a sore thumb in this set. I don't like the arched word-mark over the shield logo. It makes the front of the sweater read "Rangers, New York Rangers"... this style of introduction has only ever worked for Agent 007, "Bond, James Bond." The arched text over the logo is a fairly modern convention, and doesn't really fit on a vintage sweater. I might have gone with the arched text over a number on the front. That would have been an awesome throwback to the Rangers 1946-47 uniform. 6/10

Good work by Jesper on this concept set. Some great sweaters, and an awesome idea to make the Winter Classic better. Overall I rate these concepts 7/10.

Vancouver Canucks concept (by Matt R.)

This is an awesome Canucks sweater from Matt. I love the sublimated First Nations art in the striping, and it really reminds me of the Canadian Olympic hockey team's logos from 2010. I also really live the Vs on the sleeve striping. As much as I love the Johnny Canuck V logo, and dislike the Canucks' Orca logo, I think that it would fit better with the motif of the sweater. As is, I love this concept. I give it 8/10, and a COTW nomination.