Friday: Retro Maple Leaf Masks

Hello folks!  The other day I was reading a story about Gordie Howe, and I saw the following photo of him with Johnny Bower.  I noticed the vintage leaf on Bower's jersey and how nice it looked paired with his old leather goalie pads, which gave me an idea.  For the Leafs 100th anniversary, I believe Frederik Andersen should wear retro-style brown goalie gear.  We've seen a few goalies wear brown equipment recently for special events like the Winter Classic, but no one has worn them full-time.  I think a 100th anniversary season is the perfect time for that to change.

Image from Etsy.com

If Anderson were to use brown gear, he would need also need a retro design for his mask.  Off the top off my head I couldn't recall any memorable old-time Maple Leafs masks, so I googled "retro maple leafs goalie masks", and I found a few interesting designs.

Image from LegendsOfHockey.net

The first mask I came across was this beauty worn by Wayne Thomas, who played for the Leafs for two seasons in the mid 70's.  Like most retro masks, the design is nice and simple with just a cross and some silhouettes of the Leafs logo, and that simplicity is what makes the mask look so good.

Image from ThirdStringGoalie.com

Doug Favell's mask was even simpler, with just a single maple leaf painted on his forehead.  The best part of this design is how the stem of the leaf goes down the nose, which obviously wouldn't work with a modern helmet, but I still think a plain helmet with the silhouette of the new Leafs logo on the forehead would look pretty sharp.

Image from VintageSportsItems.com

My favourite vintage Leafs mask belongs to Mike Palmateer.  It features a diagonal stripe, with jagged edges to mimic the jagged edge of a maple leaf, and once again silhouettes of the Leafs logo.  I don't know if the diagonal line would work well with a modern helmet, so to update this design I would use a vertical line instead and I'd change the leaves to the shape of their current logo.

What do you think?  Would you like to see Frederik Andersen wear retro-looking goalie gear, or do you think I'm completely crazy?

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Before we get to the concepts, we have some very important business to take care of.  The voting for the Quarter Finals of the HJC Open ended today and noon Eastern, and the four people moving on are...

Way to go Brendan, J3, Taylor, and Brooks.  As you can see in the updated bracket below, Brendan will now face off against J3, and Taylor will battle it out against Brooks.

The four of you now have until Tuesday at noon Eastern to submit you entries.

HJC Open Semi-Finals entries (due Tuesday @ noon Eastern)

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That's not the only important business this week, there's also the 2nd Quarter vote for the COTY.  I find it hard to believe that 2016 is more than half over already, but apparently it is.  The new COTW poll has also been posted.

2nd Quarter vote (ends Friday, July 22 @ noon Eastern)

COTW July 8-14 vote (ends Friday, July 22 @ noon Eastern)

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Denver Cutthroats, by Jimmy T:

Our first concept, which comes from Jimmy, is for the inactive Denver Cutthroats franchise.  I like the striping pattern, it uses their unique colour scheme well, and the fact that it's curved makes it more interesting.  The logo looks nice as well, was it ever used by the team?  I don't think I've seen it before, and I couldn't seem to find it in use.  I'm not a big fan of the asymmetrical pant stripes, I think blank pants would look better.  Also the jersey and socks need the inner stitching pattern added back in, it looks incomplete right now.
Rating: 7/10

Binghamton Senators, by Ryan C:

I think the best part of this concept is Ryan's presentation, it looks well polished and the layout of everything is nice.  The actual design of the concept itself isn't my favourite though.  The logo is well put together, but I just think it looks very dated, especially the way it's currently coloured.  The uniforms are nice but they're just Ottawa's old jerseys, I'd much prefer to see something new for a concept.
Rating: 7/10

Toronto Maple Leafs, by Ryan C:

I was really hoping the Leaf's new road jersey would have a blue yoke, so I'm glad to see Ryan included one on this concept.  The contrasting yoke also looks good on the blue jersey, which is something the Leafs have never done before (unless you count their 1930-34 or 1970-92 blue jerseys, but those were different yokes).  The arm and socks are intriguing, I wouldn't have thought this asymmetrical pattern would be a good fit for the Leafs, but it works better than I thought.  The sock stripes are too low though.  Also I think the hem stripes need something, without any hem stripes this design feels too modern to work with their new logo.
Rating: 8/10

Winnipeg Jets, by Ben H and Truman K:

The duo of Ben and Truman made three fairly uncommon choices when creating this concept.  Probably the rarest choice was using grey pants, not many concepts include grey pants.  I actually love the pants, they're very unique, they work well for the Jets (since jets are grey), and they're dark enough that they wouldn't get dirty-looking like white pants do.  The second uncommon choice was using red as main colour for a Jets jersey.  This might be the best looking red Jets concept I've seen, however I still wouldn't want the Jets to use a red jersey in real life.  The third uncommon decision was using the Jets secondary logo on the front of the jersey.  I'm not a fan of that last decision, I just don't think the Jets secondary logo is strong enough to work as the primary.
Rating: 8/10

Original 6 Night (Canadiens vs Bruins), by Lucas D:

In their pre-NHL days the Canadiens had a white jersey with a sash, but it didn't look nearly as good as this red jersey with a sash Lucas created.  I love everything about this Canadiens jersey.  The Bruins jersey is good as well, when I first saw it I thought it was a direct throwback, but I now realize it's a combination of a few different early Bruins jerseys.  However I'd prefer if the players name was lowered so it wasn't overlapping the yoke.  Also the collars for both teams are very pixelated compared to the rest of the jersey.
Rating: 8/10

Toronto Maple Leafs, by Dylan N:

Dylan fixes the biggest complaint about the Leafs new jerseys by making the arm stripes the same thickness as the hem stripes.  It's a small change but it's a huge improvement.  He also added vertical stripes to the yokes, which I might not like in the real world but I do like in concept-land.  The number font is very nice, I like it better than their new font.  I'm also a fan of the simple, silhouette helmet logo.  Execution is mostly great, except the vertical stitching should continue down to the hem stripes, and the yoke outline seen inside the collar should match the back of the jersey not the front.
Rating: 8/10

Muskegon Lumberjacks, by Jordan R:

We end today's post with another concept in Jordan's IHL Resurrection series.  The new logos are very nice, I especially like the alternate logo with the goalie-stick/axe combination, and the colour scheme is perfect for a team named the Lumberjacks.  The striping pattern is great as well, I like how the design is a modern version of the throwback jersey.  Using a red helmet was a great decision, most people probably would have used a green helmet, but the red helmet is more unique and it matches the toque in the logo.  My only complaint is that the numbers should have a gap between the two digits.
Rating: 9/10 and my COTW nomination!

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That's all folks!