Friday: Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland
Hello HJC. It is Friday, I am done exams, there was a tiny amount of snow on the ground here in Vancouver at the beginning of the week, Christmas is less than 2 weeks away... needless to say things are wonderful and (slightly) wintery for me in Vancouver. And things also look wonderful and wintery here on HJC.
One major piece of news that seems to have slipped through the cracks here on HJC is that Winnipeg looks poised to host an outdoor game in 2016 (I know this is far away, but you can read more about it here). This makes so much sense to me. Come 2016, Winnipeg will be the only Canadian NHL team to
have not participated in an outdoor game, they have a brand new outdoor football stadium, passionate fans, and COLD winters. An outdoor game is a can't miss in Winnipeg.
On other outdoor game related news, Ryan is organizing an HJC meet-up in January at the Winter Classic. I would love to go to the Winter Classic, and to that HJC meet-up but alas, I am on the West Coast. Good thing an outdoor game is coming my way in March! I'm hoping there will be tickets to the game under the Christmas tree :) As for an HJC meet-up, I am planning on organizing one for Heritage Classic weekend here in Vancouver. I know there are a few readers from Vancouver, and maybe a few people coming to Vancouver for the Heritage classic, so let's meet up and talk hockey jerseys and put some faces to names from the blog. I will be doing some more organization in the months to come, but thought I would get this on your radars.
In other outdoor game news, the Penguins have released their uniform for the Stadium series. Very similar template to the Kings and Islanders, but with some unique alterations, I especially like the stripes at the end of the yoke, and the new collars. bit that Chrome logo, and the non connecting shoulder yoke... YUCK.
If you can't make it to Ann Arbour in January, or Vancouver in March, you can always join in on the HJC live chat this evening (starting at 9:30 pm Eastern). I will be out merry making at a Christmas party, but might be able to slip away for a half hour to join you all. These live chats are great fun, so definitely check it out tonight!
We have more winter wonder on the way, but before we get to it, there is something you all must do: VOTE! A wise man once said: "A vote is a snowflake in the blizzard of Democracy." You, HJC readers, are all special snowflakes, this week, let's create a flurry of votes, so that when Ryan opens up the inbox, it will be akin to this:
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| photo: Winnipeg Free Press |
have not participated in an outdoor game, they have a brand new outdoor football stadium, passionate fans, and COLD winters. An outdoor game is a can't miss in Winnipeg.
On other outdoor game related news, Ryan is organizing an HJC meet-up in January at the Winter Classic. I would love to go to the Winter Classic, and to that HJC meet-up but alas, I am on the West Coast. Good thing an outdoor game is coming my way in March! I'm hoping there will be tickets to the game under the Christmas tree :) As for an HJC meet-up, I am planning on organizing one for Heritage Classic weekend here in Vancouver. I know there are a few readers from Vancouver, and maybe a few people coming to Vancouver for the Heritage classic, so let's meet up and talk hockey jerseys and put some faces to names from the blog. I will be doing some more organization in the months to come, but thought I would get this on your radars.
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| Photo: penguins.nhl.com |
If you can't make it to Ann Arbour in January, or Vancouver in March, you can always join in on the HJC live chat this evening (starting at 9:30 pm Eastern). I will be out merry making at a Christmas party, but might be able to slip away for a half hour to join you all. These live chats are great fun, so definitely check it out tonight!
We have more winter wonder on the way, but before we get to it, there is something you all must do: VOTE! A wise man once said: "A vote is a snowflake in the blizzard of Democracy." You, HJC readers, are all special snowflakes, this week, let's create a flurry of votes, so that when Ryan opens up the inbox, it will be akin to this:
 |
| Photo: cheezburger.com |
COTY-November vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)
COTW Dec 2-8 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)
NCAA Outdoors entries (due Saturday @ 11:59am Eastern)
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Now, let's get to some more wonderful winter fun. Here are the NCAA outdoors competition entries for today:
Caleb F.
Kevin P.
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Caleb F.
Kevin P.
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On to todays concepts, plenty of 'em to get to today, so we'd better get started! Our concepts are literally going to take us around the globe today, but Iam going to start close to home for me.
Delta Pacers - High School Grad Hockey Game - Austin E.
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Like: I know this school! I have friends who went there! Delta is a suburb of Vancouver, very cool to see hockey jersey options for a school I am familiar with. All these jerseys look great, and it is really awesome that the school can put on a grad hockey game, I wish my high school did that when I graduated. I really like the double chest stripe on the white sweater, but the simplicity of the single chest stripe on the green really works for me too. Those are my two favourite sweaters of the four, but if I were choosing a green and white sweater I would choose the top green sweater, and the bottom white sweater just to vary the looks a bit. All of these are fantastic and clean, and have some great attention to detail touches on them (grad year in roman numerals for the hanger effect is awesome). It is also really smart to keep the equipment plain black for a high school team.
No Dislikes
Change: I would make the outline for the numbers on the bottom white jersey a tad thicker, just to make them easier to read.
Rating: 8/10, and I'm going to throw a COTW nomination Austin's way too, not entirely out of my West Coast bias, but also because these sweaters look fantastic.
Atlanta Thrashers - Dylan Wonka
Like: This colour scheme really works for me for the thrashers, I like the emphasis on double blue and gold, and the downplaying of maroon. I also like the angularity of the arm stripes.
Dislike: Can't say I'm a huge fan of the T logo as the main crest, it just isn't strong enough in my opinion.
Change: I think the numbers on the white jersey should be mainly navy blue. There is also something weird going on where the collar meets the sleeve stripes, that issue should be resolved.
Rating: 8/10
Calgary Flames - Wings98
Like: I am a big fan of the vintage shoulder/football style TV numbers, in general, but they don't really work for me in this case.
Dislike: The fact that the placement of the TV numbers was the really the only new thing (besides the logo change, which is definitely a down grade for the home uni) added to this concept. Striping pattern is exactly the same as the original flames jerseys, just EDGE-ified
Change: Probably better in this case not to mess with a good thing. The tweaks made to the classic flames unis are lateral moves at best.
Rating: 3/10 (rating the tweaks not the original sweaters).
Sarnia Sting - OHL - Ryan D.
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Like: A bumblebee striped uni could only work for the sting, way to take a stab at it.
Dislike: As previously discussed consistency of stripe width is a problem, so I won't beleaguer the point. The from crest is very skewed, and I am not a fan of the yellow square around it, although that treatment does work better for the number on the back.
Change: The number on the back needs to be smaller and higher on te jersey and the name on the back needs to be bolder.
Rating: 4/10
Quebec Nordiques - Christian L.
Like: Christian has sent in a bunch of Nordiques concepts recently, This one is one of the best of the bunch thus far, for my money. The double blue i definitely the way to go for the Nords.
Dislike: I am not sold on the vintage white and grey on the same sweater, one says modern, one says vintage, it is confusing. Also, not sold on the logo... it is very 90's with a weird triangle, slanted text, and a big drop shadow.
Change: One thing that is a must is putting some sort of ID, and acknowledgement of where the logo came from. It would also be nice to see some TV numbers on the arms.
Rating: 4/10
Saginaw Spirit - OHL - Ryan D.
Like: How gung-ho Ryan has been with this OHL series... talk about ju,ping in with both feet! This guy is going to get a complete series done before I do... and I set out doing mine MONTHS ago.
Dislike: Not a fan of the colour scheme. Yes there is yellow in the logo, but the jersey (with the theme of the logo/team needs to be red, white, and blue... not yellow.
Change: There are a few execution errors, stripe width, TV numbers read 99 not 9, and don't show up on the back... BUT the biggest thing to change is the colour scheme.
Rating: 4/10
Carolina Hurricanes - Tjmolloy
Like: Welcome to HJC Tj, I don't think I've seen anything by you on here before, and it's always good to see new people's work. The look of this sweater is not bad overall, there are just many errors which take away from the concept as a whole.
Dislike: The biggest thing for me is there are a lot of consistency errors. The width of the stripes are all different, and sometimes they aren't even straight (TIP: hold down the shift key when drawing line to get it perfectly straight!). Also the fron and back of the sweaters do not match.
Change: I suggest taking some time to look at the TUTORIALS section and learn to fix these errors. You need TV numbers, have many loose pixels in the collar, and on the back of the neck, and lack consistency with striping. From a stylistic standpoint, I would get rid of the Stanley Cup Finals patch... you don't see the Habs skating around with 23 of them, so why should there be one on the Canes sweaters. I would make the arm and hem stripes match. I would also recolour the panel on the back of the neck to match the rest of the yoke.
Rating: 3/10 don't be discouraged by this mark, fix the errors, keep sending in concepts and listening to constructive criticism, and you will get better in no time.
Montreal Maroons - Dylan Wonka
Like: I have always liked the Maroons name and colour scheme. What's your team name? "The Maroons." What colour do you wear? "...Maroon." I really like how these jersey do not match but work really well together. The arms stripes anchor and unify these 2 designs, allowing some cool chest striping, and a neat yoke and hem combo to play off ech other very well.
Dislike: Again there is the weird collar thing going on where the yoke meets the collar. I understand why it is there, but it throws me off... not quite as bad as reebok not connecting sleeve stripes over the back of the neck (see Colorado and Florida), but still a small detail that would keep me up at night if it saw the light of day.
Change: aIf you figure our a way to fix that collar issue, it would be great.
Rating: 8/10
Team Canada - Gerard M.
Like: For the most part I like the changes Gerard makes to the 2014 Team Canada sweaters. Switching the logo is a great choice, I really like how this one plays with space and negative space. Obviously adding a matching arm stripe is a logical and good call.
Dislike: Not a fan of the sublimated leafs on the front and back of the sweaters. Without the numbers in them it would be better, people could infer that they represent the 8 gold medals won by the mens team (I actually really like the fact that there are 12 gold maple leafs on the current sweaters, representing gold medal won by the men's, women's, and sledge teams... just having the 8 leaves does miss the mark on that unity and national pride scale for me).
Change: As much as I am a fan of the red pants to go with the white uniform, I don't think they are a great choice for the red uni... head to toe red is not the right look for Canada. As much as black equipment seems a bit generic, and perhaps Black for Black's sake, it works for Canada.
Rating: 7/10
Team Canada - Alternate - Gerard M.
Like: I like the heritage feel of this sweater, something like this could work really well for Team Canada. I also like that it is "politically correct" (meaning without a single red armband... bad connotations).
Dislike: I am not a huge fan of the all black numbers, they dominate the back of the sweater, maybe something with a bit more nuance (thinner black numbers with a red and vintage white outline) could work
Change: Aside from the numbers, the captian's C needs to move off that black stripe, it just doesn't work there.
Rating: 7.5/10
Turkey - IIHF - Jake 88
Like: This is another one of those concepts that I like that has matching arm stripes, but nice differences between the jerseys in the set. The flag chest stripe is great, love it.
Dislike: Not the biggest fan of the thin hem stripe on the white jersey. I would be inclined to get rid of it, and move the chest stripe down a bit.
Change: The collars do nothing for me. I understand working within the Nike template, but a nice contrasting collar would really step this set up a notch for me.
Rating: 7.5/10
Kampong Cham Blue Wings - NHL Cambodia - Jordan R.
Like: What a great idea for a series, transplanting the NHL to somewhere completely different... Interestingly, ball hockey has become popular in pockets of Cambodia because of Canadian ex-pats. I love seeing the NHL in some place completely different, and I love seeing the Red Wings in Blue. Jerseys are great, and the logo is really clever (with canoe paddles instead of wheels, as Kampong Cham is located on a river, near a lake, making boats a common sight).
Dislike: Hate the weird Nike, collar, but what can you do... keeping it is jest being authentic.
Change: I feel like the main crest sits a bit too low on the sweater, moving it higher would make it seem a bit more balanced.
Rating: 8/10
Battambang Jayavarmans - NHL Cambodia - Jordan R.
Like: Another sweet entry in the NHL Cambodia series. I love how well these logos and jerseys pay homage to the NHL teams they are mimicking. The orange-y shad of red looks good here. Blackhawks jerseys look good as always.
Dislike: The "Nikelace" looks bad as always, and the contrasting colour makes it pop in a bad way.
Change: I think the black cuffs on the white sweater are superfluous, they will be covered by gloves, and don't really add anything to the sweater.
Rating: 8/10
Washington Capitals - Alternate - Steven G.
Like: HUGE CONGRATS TO STEVEN FOR FINISHING THIS SERIES!!! I have loved the De-Edge concepts, and this one is no different. great colour balance here, a blue alternate is just what Washington needs. good simple lines on this sweater which are kind of "swoopy" and remind me of the Weagle logo.
Dislike: aNot much to dislike here, although the stars on the sleeves are a bit understated, and not entirely neccessary in my opinion.
Change: I would get rid of the stars on the sweater, and play up the stars on the pants. Both are too understated. If you put red and blue stars I a white stripe on the pants, I think it could work well.
Rating: 8/10, and again, congrats on finishing up this series!
Well, that's it for today. We have been around the world and back, now that we are home and snowed in... or rained in as is now my case :( why not take 30 seconds to send your votes in for COTW and the COTY - November !?! Also, you still have time to send in your entries for the NCAA Outdoors Comp. Until next week, in the immortal words of Red Green, keep your stick on the ice.
Atlanta Thrashers - Dylan Wonka
Like: This colour scheme really works for me for the thrashers, I like the emphasis on double blue and gold, and the downplaying of maroon. I also like the angularity of the arm stripes.
Dislike: Can't say I'm a huge fan of the T logo as the main crest, it just isn't strong enough in my opinion.
Change: I think the numbers on the white jersey should be mainly navy blue. There is also something weird going on where the collar meets the sleeve stripes, that issue should be resolved.
Rating: 8/10
Calgary Flames - Wings98
Like: I am a big fan of the vintage shoulder/football style TV numbers, in general, but they don't really work for me in this case.
Dislike: The fact that the placement of the TV numbers was the really the only new thing (besides the logo change, which is definitely a down grade for the home uni) added to this concept. Striping pattern is exactly the same as the original flames jerseys, just EDGE-ified
Change: Probably better in this case not to mess with a good thing. The tweaks made to the classic flames unis are lateral moves at best.
Rating: 3/10 (rating the tweaks not the original sweaters).
Sarnia Sting - OHL - Ryan D.
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Like: A bumblebee striped uni could only work for the sting, way to take a stab at it.
Dislike: As previously discussed consistency of stripe width is a problem, so I won't beleaguer the point. The from crest is very skewed, and I am not a fan of the yellow square around it, although that treatment does work better for the number on the back.
Change: The number on the back needs to be smaller and higher on te jersey and the name on the back needs to be bolder.
Rating: 4/10
Quebec Nordiques - Christian L.
Like: Christian has sent in a bunch of Nordiques concepts recently, This one is one of the best of the bunch thus far, for my money. The double blue i definitely the way to go for the Nords.
Dislike: I am not sold on the vintage white and grey on the same sweater, one says modern, one says vintage, it is confusing. Also, not sold on the logo... it is very 90's with a weird triangle, slanted text, and a big drop shadow.
Change: One thing that is a must is putting some sort of ID, and acknowledgement of where the logo came from. It would also be nice to see some TV numbers on the arms.
Rating: 4/10
Saginaw Spirit - OHL - Ryan D.
Like: How gung-ho Ryan has been with this OHL series... talk about ju,ping in with both feet! This guy is going to get a complete series done before I do... and I set out doing mine MONTHS ago.
Dislike: Not a fan of the colour scheme. Yes there is yellow in the logo, but the jersey (with the theme of the logo/team needs to be red, white, and blue... not yellow.
Change: There are a few execution errors, stripe width, TV numbers read 99 not 9, and don't show up on the back... BUT the biggest thing to change is the colour scheme.
Rating: 4/10
Carolina Hurricanes - Tjmolloy
Like: Welcome to HJC Tj, I don't think I've seen anything by you on here before, and it's always good to see new people's work. The look of this sweater is not bad overall, there are just many errors which take away from the concept as a whole.
Dislike: The biggest thing for me is there are a lot of consistency errors. The width of the stripes are all different, and sometimes they aren't even straight (TIP: hold down the shift key when drawing line to get it perfectly straight!). Also the fron and back of the sweaters do not match.
Change: I suggest taking some time to look at the TUTORIALS section and learn to fix these errors. You need TV numbers, have many loose pixels in the collar, and on the back of the neck, and lack consistency with striping. From a stylistic standpoint, I would get rid of the Stanley Cup Finals patch... you don't see the Habs skating around with 23 of them, so why should there be one on the Canes sweaters. I would make the arm and hem stripes match. I would also recolour the panel on the back of the neck to match the rest of the yoke.
Rating: 3/10 don't be discouraged by this mark, fix the errors, keep sending in concepts and listening to constructive criticism, and you will get better in no time.
Montreal Maroons - Dylan Wonka
Like: I have always liked the Maroons name and colour scheme. What's your team name? "The Maroons." What colour do you wear? "...Maroon." I really like how these jersey do not match but work really well together. The arms stripes anchor and unify these 2 designs, allowing some cool chest striping, and a neat yoke and hem combo to play off ech other very well.
Dislike: Again there is the weird collar thing going on where the yoke meets the collar. I understand why it is there, but it throws me off... not quite as bad as reebok not connecting sleeve stripes over the back of the neck (see Colorado and Florida), but still a small detail that would keep me up at night if it saw the light of day.
Change: aIf you figure our a way to fix that collar issue, it would be great.
Rating: 8/10
Team Canada - Gerard M.
Like: For the most part I like the changes Gerard makes to the 2014 Team Canada sweaters. Switching the logo is a great choice, I really like how this one plays with space and negative space. Obviously adding a matching arm stripe is a logical and good call.
Dislike: Not a fan of the sublimated leafs on the front and back of the sweaters. Without the numbers in them it would be better, people could infer that they represent the 8 gold medals won by the mens team (I actually really like the fact that there are 12 gold maple leafs on the current sweaters, representing gold medal won by the men's, women's, and sledge teams... just having the 8 leaves does miss the mark on that unity and national pride scale for me).
Change: As much as I am a fan of the red pants to go with the white uniform, I don't think they are a great choice for the red uni... head to toe red is not the right look for Canada. As much as black equipment seems a bit generic, and perhaps Black for Black's sake, it works for Canada.
Rating: 7/10
Team Canada - Alternate - Gerard M.
Like: I like the heritage feel of this sweater, something like this could work really well for Team Canada. I also like that it is "politically correct" (meaning without a single red armband... bad connotations).
Dislike: I am not a huge fan of the all black numbers, they dominate the back of the sweater, maybe something with a bit more nuance (thinner black numbers with a red and vintage white outline) could work
Change: Aside from the numbers, the captian's C needs to move off that black stripe, it just doesn't work there.
Rating: 7.5/10
Turkey - IIHF - Jake 88
Like: This is another one of those concepts that I like that has matching arm stripes, but nice differences between the jerseys in the set. The flag chest stripe is great, love it.
Dislike: Not the biggest fan of the thin hem stripe on the white jersey. I would be inclined to get rid of it, and move the chest stripe down a bit.
Change: The collars do nothing for me. I understand working within the Nike template, but a nice contrasting collar would really step this set up a notch for me.
Rating: 7.5/10
Kampong Cham Blue Wings - NHL Cambodia - Jordan R.
Like: What a great idea for a series, transplanting the NHL to somewhere completely different... Interestingly, ball hockey has become popular in pockets of Cambodia because of Canadian ex-pats. I love seeing the NHL in some place completely different, and I love seeing the Red Wings in Blue. Jerseys are great, and the logo is really clever (with canoe paddles instead of wheels, as Kampong Cham is located on a river, near a lake, making boats a common sight).
Dislike: Hate the weird Nike, collar, but what can you do... keeping it is jest being authentic.
Change: I feel like the main crest sits a bit too low on the sweater, moving it higher would make it seem a bit more balanced.
Rating: 8/10
Battambang Jayavarmans - NHL Cambodia - Jordan R.
Like: Another sweet entry in the NHL Cambodia series. I love how well these logos and jerseys pay homage to the NHL teams they are mimicking. The orange-y shad of red looks good here. Blackhawks jerseys look good as always.
Dislike: The "Nikelace" looks bad as always, and the contrasting colour makes it pop in a bad way.
Change: I think the black cuffs on the white sweater are superfluous, they will be covered by gloves, and don't really add anything to the sweater.
Rating: 8/10
Washington Capitals - Alternate - Steven G.
Like: HUGE CONGRATS TO STEVEN FOR FINISHING THIS SERIES!!! I have loved the De-Edge concepts, and this one is no different. great colour balance here, a blue alternate is just what Washington needs. good simple lines on this sweater which are kind of "swoopy" and remind me of the Weagle logo.
Dislike: aNot much to dislike here, although the stars on the sleeves are a bit understated, and not entirely neccessary in my opinion.
Change: I would get rid of the stars on the sweater, and play up the stars on the pants. Both are too understated. If you put red and blue stars I a white stripe on the pants, I think it could work well.
Rating: 8/10, and again, congrats on finishing up this series!
Well, that's it for today. We have been around the world and back, now that we are home and snowed in... or rained in as is now my case :( why not take 30 seconds to send your votes in for COTW and the COTY - November !?! Also, you still have time to send in your entries for the NCAA Outdoors Comp. Until next week, in the immortal words of Red Green, keep your stick on the ice.
Friday: Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland
Reviewed by Unknown
on
December 13, 2013
Rating:
Reviewed by Unknown
on
December 13, 2013
Rating:
1 comment:
Thanks Colin! We've basically come to a decision on the top jerseys for both. I wanted the same combo as you but everyone else thought differently. I'll send some pics in when they come in a few months.
P.S I'm down for an HJC meet-up at the Heritage Classic as I've already got my tickets. Look forward to seeing some fellow designers there!
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