Monday: All Stadium Series All The Time

Hello hello hello and welcome to a brand new week here at HJC! Sundays don't count as the beginning of the week as it's the weekend dying and it's sad. So instead we start on a Monday.....which is equally as sad. Anyway, I know what will cheer you up.

Wonka's back! I mean Nowak... Dylan Nowak, former HJC writer, is rejoining the writing squad here at HJC. I remember speaking to him once and he mentioned he had lost interest in writing and he didn't have the time to devote to it... or some sort of nonsense... and then this past summer I had an emergency to attend to and had no one else to turn to but him. He wrote that day's post and it reignited the passion in him, and I take 100% credit for his return. I even killed off Caz to make room... Or did I? Tune in next week to find out on another exciting edition of... "H J C"

Ok enough of me being stupid. Since there's only two votes this week, the COTW vote and the Top 5 in the Stadium Series competition, I wanted to bring up my personal opinion on something.

With the voting phase of the Stadium Series competition starting, we just saw a large amount of concepts for next year's games come in, and we'll see countless more over the next year. So I'm preparing myself to critique them, and I'm going to lay down my personal guidelines, so pay attention.

These past two years, the Stadium Series has been very different from it's Winter Classic counterpart. The Winter Classic is built around the tradition of the sport and it's heritage outside. Therefore, the team's taking part wear throwback or fauxback jerseys to bring that nostalgic look to the game and really give it that old time hockey feel. While the Stadium Series is all shiny and progressive with it's designs. The event's logo itself is full of silver and gradients. The jersey designs have all been somewhat progressive. Minus New Jersey of course.

All the teams taking part, again...not New Jersey because they're not fun, follow the same basic jersey template and work off of that. The first year, it was shiny chrome logos, slanted arm stripes, and a squared off jersey hem. And this year, is was carbon fiber logos, chest stripes, and two toned jerseys. 

The first thing I'll be looking for is no throwbacks/fauxbacks. Only one team has worn a throwback for a Stadium Series game and a lot of people bashed them for not taking part in the "New Jerseys' with the other teams. Until someone comes out and says, "This year the Stadium Series participants will be wearing throwback/fauxback jerseys" I expect to see something new.

"Something new" brings up the second thing I'll keep my eye on. I think there is a 0% chance that any of the Stadium Series teams next year wear a jersey that utilizes either of the Stadium Series jersey templates already used. You don't necessarily have to come up with the next big thing in jersey design and wow me, but definitely try for something that hasn't been done, and definitely don't use the 2014 or 15 SS jersey templates.

The last thing I'll be looking for in Stadium Series concepts is "Is there a common theme", if the jerseys have no similar theme or design element, it'll probably lose a point from me.

I understand that these are just "concepts" and you're totally free to do whatever you want with them, I'm not sure the other writers look at the Stadium Series templates like this as I do, but I think when you decide to conceptualize a Stadium Series game, you should really try and put these rules I just laid down into play. It will force you to think of new creative ways to design a jersey. Who knows, maybe you'll pull a McElroy and Reebok/NHL will "borrow" an idea of yours.

COTW Feb 22-28 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

Stadium Series Top 5 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

Alright, enough going on and on about something that is entirely not a big deal. How about we get to the big deals...the concepts!

Minnesota North Stars Concept - Chase C.

Chase brings back the North Stars but relegates the classic N logo to the shoulders in favor of a sheared wordmark. The wordmark doesn't look bad when sheared like this, it's interesting, I did it on my Finnish World Cup entry, but the Minnesota is both unnecessary and way too small. But, with no other diagonal striping on this jersey, it seems out of place. You should only have "Minnesota" or "North Stars", you don't need both. The jersey design is pretty simple and fits in with the North Stars' brand. And upon closer look, the star in the wordmark appears to be uneven and bottom heavy, but maybe that's just me.

Also, resize your image so there's not so much empty space. The middle third of this image is the concept, and the top and bottom is empty.

Rating: 7/10

World Cup Team Europe Concept - Ben M.

Ben suggests a bright color scheme for Team Europe. Odds are, in my opinion, they would stick with something more generic or neutral like Red/White/Blue or Black/Silver/White. Not a big fan of the yellow doing down the sleeves. The black helps to darken the color scheme and I think it looks fine with the thin striping. I think the striping is a bit too thin though and it makes the sleeves look bare, especially with the bare hem. It's a bit disappointing that we don't get to see the light jersey associated with this.

Rating: 7/10


World Cup Team Finland Concept - David P.

David gives Finland new threads for the World Cup. I like the arm light blue to dark blue striping on the white jersey. Looks good. Not so hot on the Finnish flag in the arm striping. Because the vertical stripe is off center in the flag it makes the arm striping look awkward. The lion head is a new and welcome look. Though, I miss the yellow lion crest that really popped off the jersey. The font doesn't work for me and the TV numbers look tiny.

Rating: 8/10


St. Louis Blues Alternate Jersey Concept - Kevin B.

Kevin swaps the two shades of blue and slants the stripes for a Stadium Series-ish alternate jersey. I think the Blues in a darker version of their current jerseys would look nice. I feel like the stripes are slanted just for the sake of being slanted though. Granted, they do have a history of slanted stripes on their jerseys, but that's best forgotten.

Rating: 8/10


Arizona Coyotes - Simple Series Concept - Mike S.

I actually think that Mike managed to make the Coyotes' jerseys more complex for his Simple Series. He added the sand color to the uniforms and swapped white for black. It looks good on the dark jersey, but the black and brick red look bad together in the arm striping. There's not enough contrast so no one color pops out in the striping like it does on the dark jersey. I'd like to see some hem striping too. I understand the need for an outline around the logo as it has thin outlines as it is, but it's odd that the logo outline includes white. The biggest issue with no white jersey here, is the use of a sand colored helmet, which I think would only work as a one off or, at the very most, an alternate uniform.

Rating: 7/10


2016 Stadium Series - Colorado Avalanche vs. Detroit Red Wings Concept - Ryan C.

Ryan brings in an interesting idea/prediction for one of next year's Stadium Series matchups, but only applies it to Colorado's jersey. The slanted hem stripes is definitely an interesting look, and works decently when paired with the diagonal wordmark. Not every team has one of those though, and it looks odd on the back of the jersey, that way you could make the number on the back bigger, because as is, it is barely bigger than the TV numbers. . I think you could leave it off the back of the jersey and be ok. The Detroit jersey has more of a throwback feel to it, which doesn't fit in the Stadium Series branding. But maybe Detroit will pull a New Jersey and not wear a new jersey for the event and opt for an existing throwback.

I'd rather see both teams using the diagonal hem stripe.

Rating: 7.5/10


2016 Stadium Series - Colorado Avalanche vs. Detroit Red Wings Concept - Steven G.

The second Stadium Series prediction for today and it follows the same design that Steven used for his Chicago-Minnesota concept he entered into the current Stadium Series competition. I'm always excited to see people try new things, especially the use of vertical striping. I think Steven's two SS concepts have nailed it. Interesting striping that I don't think looks half bad. My one gripe is the chevron striping. As is, the arm striping would create a point and I'd rather it either be straight, like a normal jersey, or something similar to the first Stadium Series jerseys. I was ok with the large logos on the side of the pants in this year's Stadium game, but I think its an idea that works much much better for the California teams than it does here.

One little gripe with the vertical stripe. I think it COULD just go all the way down the back, instead of being interrupted by stitching, but I'm not really bothered by it, as I understand why it is. But if you insist on interrupting it, maybe leave the striping off of the back of the hem. That idea would at least work on Detroit's jersey because as is, there's just a random stripe going nowhere on their butts. Colorado would need a more creative solution, but alas, the jerseys as a whole look good as is.

Rating: 8.5/10 and a COTW Nom since I can't give it to his Chicago-Minnesota concept


And there you have it folks! I was pretty impressed by the number of comments on last Monday's disappointed. And also, be nice. I don't really want to get involved in the negativity that went on last Sunday in the comments but if you're going to criticize somebody, do it with an identity and be constructive with it. As far as I'm concerned, if you're only going to be here to make negative comments about someone's work, writing, or just themselves as a whole and do it from an anonymous account, then you really don't need to be here. Just my 2 cents. I love you all.