Tuesday: Jumping on the Bandwagon

Howdy folks. Hope your Tuesday is well. Mine sure is, I've been preparing a nice post for you today and when I'm done with that and it's all posted I'll be headed to Wrigley Field, one of my favorite places to enjoy a game from the left field bleachers, the best way to take in a baseball game at Wrigley. But back to your post, Everyone's been doing top 5 lists covering various topics and for the most part I've been avoiding it, I may have done one way back but I don't remember... But more on that in a second....

Let's take a break real quick and rap about voting..... [beat enters]

"Ungh.... uh... yeah.. My name is Dylan and I'm here to say, that you should flippin' vote today"

Alright kids, that was fun. Hopefully my flow and sick rhymes didn't break your heads...

COTW July 21-27 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

HJC Open Semi-Finals entries (due Wednesday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

So back to my list, I decided to do a Top 5 list and wanted to cover something I love...hats... One of my biggest weaknesses is a nice hat. I buy way too many hats, last time I counted I had near 80 hats and I know for a fact I've added 20 to the collection since then, so whoo.... I think....

So picking a top 5 was difficult so I raised the bar to 10!.... I'll do 10-6 this week and the top 5 next week... So that way my awesome hats don't overshadow the concepts today... So let's get to it...

10. Hartford Whalers New Era Snapback

I love the tri-color scheme like this on hats. I own quite a few similar to this but rounding out my top ten is the Whalers throwback featuring good ol' Pucky the Whale. #LongLivePucky

9. Atlanta Thrashers Practice Hat

I love these practice hats. I have a Blackhawks one as well and would like to snag a few others teams as well. I found this bad boy on eBay about a year or so ago and had to get it. I love(d) the Thrashers and their logo and I'd never had any Thrashers gear. Better grab it now before it's too hard to come by.

8. Chicago Blackhawks Fashion Hat

It would have been very easy to have the top 5 be strictly Blackhawks hats but I'm trying to avoid looking like a total homer so I tried to base the list off of how often the hats are worn...And as much as I love this hat I don't wear it a ton. I love it though because I don't think I've ever seen anyone wearing this hat or anything similar. I have another patterned hat similar to this with a neat plaid pattern but it didn't quite crack the Top 10.

7. LA Kings 2009 Draft Hat

2009, in my opinion, was the best looking year for draft hats. I love the Kings crown logo and I bought this right before the 2011-12 season as I was starting to be a big Quick fan and what do you know, they won the cup that year. You know how often I got accused of being a Kings' bandwagon fan just because of a hat? Especially frustrating since I bought the hat before that season. The Blackhawks version of this hat has managed to elude my grasp but I have managed to get the Thrashers hat from this draft.

6. Sarnia Sting 2012 Draft Hat

I'm not sure if the OHL has their players wear them as draft hats or just team hats for the players, but this hat is in the style of the NHL draft hats from 2012. I love this draft hat as well and have the Hawks version but this one is more special to me. I got it while at a Sarnia Sting game where I was recognized as the designer of their third jersey in the 2012-13 season. I love wearing this hat out to rinks or even the occasional IceHogs' game just to see the looks I get when people don't recognize the team.

Well that's enough about me for today, let's get to our designers and their concepts!

Vancouver Millionaires Jersey Concept - Scott B.

Pretty straight forward concept here. The colors are now that of a Canucks jersey as opposed to Millionaires and there's some very thing stripes added to the existing bold barberpole down the arms. Not a bad jersey but not anything really new either. It'd be nice to see equipment or TV Numbers, although the Nucks' Millionaires jerseys didn't have them so I guess not a huge deal here.

Rating: 6/10


Team Canada IIHF Concept - Jacob S.

New Canada set inspired by their newly unveiled jerseys featuring black yokes. The added black in this set makes the black yokes fit better but I still feel like there is no need for all that black on a Canada jersey. It should stick to trim. I've never been a fan of a wordmark in the hem striping. It's only ever really visible when hung up or laid out, not while being worn and playing hockey. The lack of arm striping makes the arms look very bare but with how busy the rest of the jersey is that's not a bad thing here.

Rating: 7/10

2015 Winter Classic Concept - Blackhawks vs. Capitals - Alex O.

My problem with this jersey matchup, as well as the majority of other WC2015 concepts coming out is the Blackhawks were black/white from 1926-34 while the Capitals didn't come to be until 1974. That's not really a huge deal to most, but some of us are anal about that stuff. I'd like to see a 70's throwback from the Hawks if the Caps go that route, but looking at this how it is, it's alright.

The Capitals fuse together all of their eras into one jersey, that's fine but I don't like the mish-mashing of logos. There's a reason they're separate but it doesn't look bad here like it normally would.

The Blackhawks are now devoid of any color which is part of team history but not one I'm hoping to see brought back. I need that red. I crave it. My biggest gripe about the jersey, and it's not Alex's fault is the inconsistency between stripe thickness on the shoulders and arms/hem.

Rating: 7/10

Cold War Game Concept - USA vs. USSR - Stephen T.

Interesting jersey matchup. I like the red vs. blue matchup. The Winter Classic last year showed us color vs. color can work. I'll start with the USA because patriotism.

USA - Classy set. I actually really dig the wordmark font. Only gripe here is the stripe on the cuff and the hem. I don't think they need to be there, especially the hem. On the front of the jersey it doesn't follow the bottom of the hem but instead looks like it's part of the hem striping itself. This probably has the least amount of stars out of any USA jersey I've ever seen with a whopping ZERO. Looks fine without them though.

USSR - Not a huge fan of the striping/stitching template but it's passable. Wouldn't mind seeing more yellow as trim but again, it's decent as it is. I don't care for the big stars on the arms, I'd either find somewhere else for them or ditch them completely.

Rating: 7/10


2015 NHL All Star Game Concept - Taylor R.

I never mentioned it on the blog here but I'm really interested in seeing how this color scheme works out for the ASG jerseys. I actually really dig the bright green. The jerseys here are pretty conservative which works well paired with the "out-there" color scheme. I don't care for the phantom yokes though. The numbers on the socks are a bit much. I wouldn't mind seeing the design be a tad bit more experimental.

Rating: 8/10

Minnesota Fighting Saints Concept - What If Series - s2dio

Another new concept from the man of the month right now, s2dio. This guy's presentation is way good. Only thing I'm noticing about his concepts lately are the lack of a second jersey. I'd like to see the light jersey in this set. But what we've got here is good. I prefer the blue/yellow color scheme over this as this is very close to 80's Flames. Swap to a red helmet and boom, you're golden as far as this concept is concerned. I also really dig the pant stripes/squares.

Rating: 8/10


Washington Capitals Winter Classic Uniform Concept - Christian L.

Honestly, I'm hoping the Capitals actually use something like this from their 90's era. They already did their red/white/blue throwbacks a few years back, let's see something new. Maybe if they use a 90's throwback the Blackhawks can use their 90's throwback alternate, which itself was an alternate. I like the "fauxback" route here as it's not just a clone of their 90's jersey but it definitely looks like it could be. I like how the diagonal hem stripe bleeds off the hem. I do think there could be more space between the tv numbers and the arm striping. The socks are confusing to me though... Good set overall

Rating: 8/10

Columbus Blue Jackets Concept - Gerard M.

Right off the bat I know this is something I want to see the Blue Jackets wear. For the most part I'm ok with the stripes not going all the way around the arms/hem. I like the striping and colored cuffs (white jersey) The sublimated Ohio is neat but not really necessary. The logo is now flat as the bevels in the star are gone. I think they should come back. The one other thing I can't get over is the arm striping. Is it supposed to come to a point and form a chevron on the arms or are they supposed to curl up the arm like the Stadium Series jerseys? Gerard perhaps you can point that out.

Rating: 8.5/10

Ottawa Senators Football Club Concept (Soccer) - Gerard M.

Here's something I don't think has been done around these parts. An NHL Team rebranded as a "fútbol" club. It fits their brand very well, especially by tying in the vintage barberpole, which works on a soccer jersey way better than a hockey jersey. Perhaps keeping the striping off of the backs is a good call as it won't interfere with the numbers but it still looks off to me. Not bad though. The striping on the shorts is neat too how it still matches with the jersey striping as opposed to being just one colored stripe that's just kind of there. And the sublimated laurel leaves on the white kit is genius.

Rating: 9/10 If this is allowed I'd like to nominate this for COTW