Thursday: Playoffs Day 2

Hello again guys. As you all know the playoffs started last night with I think 4 of the 8 series having games. The Pens play tonight so of course I'll be watching that. Speaking of playoffs why not show you my totally unbiased predictions:

So yeah it's obviously biased towards the Pens but you know. I'm not going to explain my predictions, simply because I just kind of picked teams to a degree. I will say though my predictions at least for the Pens-Rangers series are either that the Rangers will crush the Pens in 4 or 5 games or the Pens will possibly come to their senses and actually manage to win, but I think they would still need 7 games. Of course I gave them the benefit of the doubt all through my bracket but you know. Enough about that now on to normal HJC things.

There are 2 votes for this week, COTY 1st quarter and COTW as always. I'm in the COTW vote this week so maybe you should go drop me a vote ;). I'm just kidding go vote for whoever you think has the best concept, who knows maybe it is me. The pairs comp is also officially over, and unfortunately something came up at the last minute that prevented me and my partner to be able to finish on time. Oh well, maybe next year if there is another pairs comp.

1st Quarter Vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

COTW April 5-11 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

And now for the concepts:

Jake88 - Espoo Blues

I've always liked that logo for some reason. I'm really not sure why. I think a yellow alternate would work well for them too. I'm not sure how realistic this is but I like the exclusion of ads of course. You can barely see the design of their regular jerseys because there are so many ads. The striping pattern is simple but works really well. The only thing I really don't like is the yoke outline, but maybe that's just me because I don't really like those.

Overall: Simple, solid concept (9/10)

Jarrett T. - Ottawa Senators

Our first of 2 Sens concepts from Jarrett today, this one being the main set. As he says, there is more gold and more black in the concept, and I like that, especially more gold. I'm not entirely sure I would say there is more black though because their current jerseys use black as a secondary color along with white. As he also says, the striping pattern is simple and I think it works well. It looks too thin though to me. I don't prefer the front facing logo but I don't hate it as much as everyone else seems to though. The pants striping pattern should match the jersey stripes and the number outlines should be slightly thicker too.

Overall: Simple concept that looks good, but a few execution problems bring it down (7/10)

The second Senators concept today which is the alternate for the previous set. I think that a black jersey definitely works well for the Senators and think they should use one. This one follows the same theme as the last set so anything I said about this template/striping pattern go for this one too. The only thing different I would say is to only use the O instead of the rectangle behind it too for the logo and the shoulder patches look too big.

Overall: Same as the last concept really (7/10)

John E. - Notre Dame

After a little research their current jerseys use the same striping pattern as this one does. This concept adds green to the color palette and also a few other changes like the logo. Overall I think all of the changes are beneficial to the set in comparison to the other ones. The gold socks are interesting and remind me of the Bruins. I'm not sure how well that would work, I would have to see it in person. The only thing I don't really like is the logo, I think the "ND" logo should be used, but maybe that's just me.

Overall: Good set that improves on the previous one (8.5/10)

Phil B. - Stoke City

Our last concept for the day is another footie concept from Phil. The jerseys I saw with a google search were basically just a vertical barber pole design, and I think these play off of that well without turning it being too busy. I like the inclusion of blue too on the white jersey, even though there isn't much. I'm not a huge fan of the apron piping though, especially on the white jersey.

Overall: Another solid set that translates their uniforms from the field to the ice well (8.5/10)

Well that's all I have for today. A lot of good concepts today but I'm going to nominate Jake88's Espoo Blues concept for COTW. Did you like another concept? Comment and nominate it! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the post, I'll see you guys next week.