Saturday: One Stripe, Two Stripe, Red Stripe, Blue Stripe
As the resident die-hard Leafs fan on the blog (though Sean does have ties to Toronto), it is my duty and obligation to comment on the new Leafs jerseys. That will come later in this post.
The winner of the COTW vote for June 10-16 was Josiah B!
This is Josiah's 2nd COTW win in a row! That bodes well for him in the HJC Open...if he makes it out of the Round Robin...if he enters the tournament. Anyways, I'm really impressed with this concept. It's very crazy yet very believable. And it makes sense how it's constructed and amongst all the craziness it still looks like a hockey sweater! Well done Josiah, I hope this concept goes far in this year's voting.
The new COTW nominees have been listed on the side of the page. In total 21 COTW nominations were made this past week. 11 different concepts were nominated. Of those 11, there were 7 that were made by Avi. Of the 11 nominated concepts there were 8 that were seconded. That's too much!!! (Price Is Right anyone?) So we take the two concepts that were thirded and BAM! we've got another head-to-head COTW vote this week between Avi and Taylor R.
The HJC Open has begun!
I really love the HJC Open. I love to see how everything unfolds and who has to face-off against each other! You can now submit your entry for the Round Robin of the HJC Open. The entry phase for the HJC Open is way shorter than every other entry phase for competitions we have. This one ends on Tuesday at 5pm Eastern. And that's the way it will be for the entire tournament. So heads-up and be ready.
The morning of the Draft the Penguins confirmed what we all thought we knew and that is that they will be going with their retro sweaters full-time at home! They also introduced a white fauxback to match.
A fauxback??? Yes, the version of the white jersey shown yesterday is a mash-up of the different variations of the white jersey the Penguins wore in the 80's. Lets explore...
I'm glad the Penguins went with a thicker yellow stripe to match the thickness of the arm stripes (looking at you, Leafs!). Of course the team wants you to reminisce about the glory days of the 91 and 92 Stanley Cup championships, but this jersey does not match that jersey.
Thanks to the always fantastic NHLuniforms.com, we can see that the white jersey Pittsburgh wore from 88-92 had thin yellow and black stripes on the hem. The Penguins did wear thick yellow and black stripes on their hem once upon a time, but it wasn't during the championship years.
They wore the thick stripes during the 86-87 and 87-88 seasons.
In fact, the jerseys the Penguins will now wear more closely resemble those from the 86-87 season, except for the numbers, NOB font, and the number placement. Those elements come from the championship years of 91 and 92. And the logo, but I hope we all already knew that.
All of those jersey images were from NHLuniforms.com
Ok, now onto those Leafs.
Why Leafs, why? Here's how I picture this situation going down. The Leafs want to change their logo and someone says it's also a great chance to change the jerseys to generate some revenue. Brendan Shanahan seemed to be spearheading the logo change, but he wasn't nearly as present for any jersey reveal. The Leafs' jerseys were perfect the way they were and I think Shanhan's team put the new logo on the same jersey (shoulder patches removed). Ahhhh! The marketing department freaks out because in their minds not as much money will be spent on the "same jersey". People in marketing think that the fans will just accept their old jerseys as the same thing and not pick-up the brand new jersey. So they tell Shanahan's team to change the jersey. His team doesn't want to mess with a classic look too much and combining the two waist stripes is the idea met with the least resistance from the marketing department. That's how we get this mismatching mangled mess.
The Leafs are my favourite team and I will be harder on them than I would any other team. I was skeptical about the logo change initially, but they knocked it out of the park. A jersey change I was downright miserable about. The jerseys of the last several years have perhaps been our best ever. So these new jerseys have gotten me cranky.
I give them a 5/10.
There are worse jerseys in the league and that saves the Leafs from dropping lower than 5, but these things are bad.
On a brighter note I attended the Leafs' Draft Party last night.
The only way to get in was to win tickets and that is exactly what I did. Free food and drinks, prizes and appearances made it an all-around good time.
The free food and drinks weren't what I was expecting either! I was expecting it to be cheap and not enough for everyone, but the Leafs went all out and provided passed mini sliders and flatbread pizza to start. As it got closer to the draft they started loading up a buffet with fish tacos, pulled beef tacos, salads, and three types of mammoth wings! Even the drinks were well stocked and taken care of. I'm a craft beer drinker, but if someone offers me a free tallboy of Molson Canadian or Coors Light, I'm going to take it! Everyone who entered got three tickets for free drinks and then the promo girls stuffed a free beer in your hand as soon as you got in the door. My wife was driving home so she stuck with bottled water and Diet Coke...free too!
The Leafs get a lot of heat for all the money they make and the perceived idea that they keep it all to themselves and don't give anything back to their fans. Well they just shut down their own sports bar (named best sports bar in North American by ESPN in 2012) on Draft night. They had the first overall selection and could have packed the place with paying customers. Instead they provided free everything to their season ticket holders and a few hundred lucky fans.
Oh, and I forgot to mention the free shirt with the new logo that everyone was given upon entry. This isn't a typical promo t-shirt that won't last the year. This is a good quality Under Armor shirt! It's really quite impressive.
The Leafs also had their Equipment Sale going on. I couldn't help but take a picture of the wall of gamed-used jerseys. They ranged in price from $100 - $1500. They even found some old one (bottom of picture) from guys who played only one or two games with the Leafs.
Please excuse the blue text. Blogger is being a real bitch right now!
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The winner of the COTW vote for June 10-16 was Josiah B!
Full Results
This is Josiah's 2nd COTW win in a row! That bodes well for him in the HJC Open...if he makes it out of the Round Robin...if he enters the tournament. Anyways, I'm really impressed with this concept. It's very crazy yet very believable. And it makes sense how it's constructed and amongst all the craziness it still looks like a hockey sweater! Well done Josiah, I hope this concept goes far in this year's voting.
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The HJC Open has begun!
------------------------------------------------
The morning of the Draft the Penguins confirmed what we all thought we knew and that is that they will be going with their retro sweaters full-time at home! They also introduced a white fauxback to match.
I'm glad the Penguins went with a thicker yellow stripe to match the thickness of the arm stripes (looking at you, Leafs!). Of course the team wants you to reminisce about the glory days of the 91 and 92 Stanley Cup championships, but this jersey does not match that jersey.
 |
| 88-92 jerseys |
 |
| 87-88 jerseys |
 |
| 86-87 jerseys |
All of those jersey images were from NHLuniforms.com
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Ok, now onto those Leafs.
 |
| MapleLeafs.com/Sweater |
 |
| MapleLeafs.com/Sweater |
I give them a 5/10.
There are worse jerseys in the league and that saves the Leafs from dropping lower than 5, but these things are bad.
------------------------------------------------
On a brighter note I attended the Leafs' Draft Party last night.
 |
| Photo: Leafs' Instagram |
The Leafs get a lot of heat for all the money they make and the perceived idea that they keep it all to themselves and don't give anything back to their fans. Well they just shut down their own sports bar (named best sports bar in North American by ESPN in 2012) on Draft night. They had the first overall selection and could have packed the place with paying customers. Instead they provided free everything to their season ticket holders and a few hundred lucky fans.
The Leafs also had their Equipment Sale going on. I couldn't help but take a picture of the wall of gamed-used jerseys. They ranged in price from $100 - $1500. They even found some old one (bottom of picture) from guys who played only one or two games with the Leafs.
Please excuse the blue text. Blogger is being a real bitch right now!
------------------------------------------------
HJC Open Round Robin entries (due Tuesday @ 5pm Eastern)
COTW June 17-23 vote (ends Friday @ noon Eastern)
Saturday: One Stripe, Two Stripe, Red Stripe, Blue Stripe
Reviewed by Ryan
on
June 25, 2016
Rating:
Reviewed by Ryan
on
June 25, 2016
Rating:
3 comments:
For the second year in a row, I won't be able to compete in the Open :(. I'm going away for the month of July and won't have any time to send stuff in. Good luck to all the artists entering! May the best concept win!
Your draft party looked more fun than me actually being at the draft... At least you didn't have to get booed by anyone :)
Love me some Molsonnnnnnnns!
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