Saturday: Two birds of a feather don't really flock together

Well, it finally happened. The Blackhawks lost in regulation. I suppose it was inevitable since no sensible Blackhawks fan believed we would go 48 games without a regulation loss. Onward and upward to start a new streak tomorrow.

Don’t forget that a week from tonight at 9PM Eastern time, Ryan will be hosting the next HJC live chat. Mark your calendars!

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Before I begin with the concepts, and especially since it has relevance to one of today's concepts, I believe I've finished my new Nike template.

You'll notice that the collars are slightly different from the standard Nike collars we're all used to. I modified them to include the NHL shield, since every team does have it on their collars. Here are the two templates:

If anyone has any further suggestions, please don't hesitate to post them, but as far as I can tell, the template is done. It doesn't exactly reflect Nike's designs but it's a hypothetical version so it doesn't have to be perfect.

First up, the last of the Hamilton redesign entries:

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Tristan

Petr

Mike

Scott

Jets96

J3

Stephen

And now, the concepts.

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Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights (by Bastian)

Bastian's first concept today is for the team now known as the Abbotsford Heat. He used the Flames' color scheme, which makes sense since the Knights (who became the Quad City Mallards before becoming the Heat) are Calgary's farm team. However, instead of using a white jersey, he's added gray to the scheme as well, which is logical because of the logo. I think it's a good addition and since I'm pro-white jerseys at home, I would love to see a team wear gray at home.

The black pants seem somewhat out of place. Black is just a trim color in the jerseys, so I don't know if it works here. It might be the only choice, though, since gray pants wouldn't work with either jersey and red pants wouldn't with the gray jersey. Also, the pants could use some stripes.

Overall, I'll give it a 7/10.

Providence Reds (by Bastian)

Here Bastian goes back to the past again. Much farther back, in fact. The Providence Reds last played under that name in 1976. Nowadays, they've gone through a few name changes to become the Connecticut Whale, the AHL affiliate of the Rangers. I absolutely love the yoke striping. Vertical yoke striping isn't something you see often and I think it's something that more teams should try. Great idea and execution.

Apart from the lack of stripes on the pants, I have no faults with this one.

Overall, I'll give it an 8.5/10.

Boston Bruins (by Brady)

When I saw this one in my folder last Saturday, I was happy. It feels really nice to see that people are actually using something that I designed to make concepts. I'm happy to see it, and the fortunate thing is that the finished template doesn't mean that Brady's work goes to waste, since the only difference between the version of the template he used and the final one is in the collar, so it's an easy fix. The concept itself is great. Boston's current uniforms are among the best in the league and I have no doubt that Brady's design would look great in the real world.

There are three minor issues here: for starters, Brady made the nameplate really small because of space issues, but that's not actually a problem. While Reebok jerseys have the nameplate below the shoulder yoke, you can see here that the nameplate on a Nike jersey is on the yoke. Secondly, I would have left the under-arm mesh on the white jersey white. Finally, the hem stripes on Boston's real jerseys don't follow the contour of the hem. They're straight. If that was a deliberate design choice, I understand, but if not, it's something that can be fixed.

Overall, I'll give it an 8.5/10.

Pittsburgh Penguins (by Josh)

Let me start by saying I despise the Penguins' current third jerseys. They took parts from the Penguins' first two dark jerseys and threw them together. It's a throwback to a non-existent jersey and it doesn't look good. That being said, Josh's concept goes a long way to redeeming the overall design. The simplicity of both jerseys is a breath of fresh air next to their current jerseys, which are in dire need of improvement. I like the striping design especially.

A few problems: the numbers on the back are too low and the names on the back are too small. Also, white names and numbers on a white jersey would never fly. I haven't read the NHL's rules on uniforms lately but I'm fairly sure that the rules require significant contrast between the jersey color and the number color, and just outlining the numbers wouldn't do it.

Overall, I'll give it a 7/10.

Anaheim Ducks (by Kyle)

Kyle's design switches the black and orange in the Ducks' color scheme and brings back the old hockey mask logo. It's a chance I definitely wouldn't mind seeing. The Ducks will probably never bring the mask logo back as anything more than its current position as a shoulder patch, but jerseys like this would look great as alternates. As you know, I don't like alternates that are the same color as the main jersey so an orange jersey would be great for the Ducks.

I don't have any issues with this one. Kyle did an excellent job.

Overall, I'll give it an 8/10.

St. Louis Blues (by Ryan)

Not to be confused with HJC head honcho Ryan H., Ryan designed a concept that he believes should be an alternate for the Blues. His belief, of course, is wrong, because this should be St. Louis' primary jersey, not just an alt. I've discussed before how I think the Blues' current jerseys are a mess of Reebok mistakes and Ryan has corrected all of them. No stupid apron piping. No weird sleeve stripes. No wacky yoke design. All in all, this is a great design.

Two minor problems: I'm not sure why the glove is black. It would look better if it was blue. Secondly, the name on the back could be bigger.

Overall, I'll give it a 9/10.

Anaheim Ducks (by Torin)

Now this one is interesting. Torin's done something different from the previous Ducks concept and has taken them in a new direction instead of combining new and old. He's included a very modern striping design and the hem stripes almost look like a bird in flight if you squint a little bit. I applaud Torin for stepping outside of the box. Great job.

The design is certainly not without its problems, though. The particular shade of blue doesn't stand out well against the black, which hurts the aesthetics of the logo, and you can't really see the black stripes on the white jersey.

Overall, I'll give it a 7/10.

Pittsburgh Penguins (by Torin)

And so we swing back around again, as Torin moves in the opposite direction from his previous concept. He's put athletic gold back on the Pens' jerseys (as should be done) and made them look very traditional, while adding a gold third jersey. Wow. This one is awesome. Extremely awesome. If I knew Mario Lemieux, I'd send him this picture and tell him to keep it in mind. It'd be a futile pursuit, of course, since I've been told that Mario loves Vegas gold (the Pens' current shade of gold) and doesn't want to get rid of it, but it's the principle that counts. Well done, Torin. This is a fantastic concept.

There is nothing I would change about this one. It's FANTASTIC.

Overall, I'll give it a 9/10 and a COTW nomination.

Loyola High School (by WinnipegJets96)

We finish today with another HJC writer's concept. I need to start doing my Nike NHL series with the new template to catch up. This is a concept for Jets' high school. I don't know if they have their own hockey team or not, but if they do and they decided to wear something that was even remotely similar to this jersey, they'd be a very good-looking team. Jets has crafted a traditional look with an awesome logo and the color scheme blends together really well. It's a solid look.

The only issue I see is that the hem stripe on the back of the jersey isn't completely colored in. That's a simple fix, though.

Overall, I'll give it an 8/10.