Sunday: New Year, New* Writer or Lightning Strikes Soldier Field

Posting live from Abbotsford, British Columbia and being viewed on computers, laptops and smartphones everywhere. This is the debut post of your new* writer here on HCI. Me. Justin S. It's great to be on the blog*. Hope you guys had a great Christmas break. Too bad it's gonna be over tonight. ...

My Christmas break was great. Got a lot of great hockey stuff. Like the new Canadian Olympic jersey!
Onto the concepts and the first post for me. Justin S. The new* writer! And I guess i'll get elbow to my head as well, whatever that means.........

Soldier Field Game CHIvPIT (Ricky Mazella)

Ricky brings us his take on the Solider Field Stadium Series game.

Yes:

-No chrome logos

-No elongated back numbers

-No angled TV numbers

-Robo-penguin logo

-Two-toned helmets 

-Both teams with coloured jerseys.

No:

-Chicago red undersleeves

-Chicago pants should be black and match the present striping

-Pittsburgh left cuff striping should match the other sleeves (unless that's some wacky part of the jersey.)

-Pittsburgh sock pattern should be the jersey's right cuff pattern

-Robo-penguin a tad bit small for my liking.

Final score from Soldier Field: CHI: 8.5/10 PIT: 7/10. Solid concepts, just little tweaks to change here and there.

Tampa Bay Lightning (Matt McElroy)

Matt continues his NHL redesign with the Tampa Bay Lightning (is it an actual series? If so, well done!)

Yes:

-Custom logo

-"Shoulder blade?" striping on dark jersey

-Simple arm and waist striping, but not too simple. Better than just a white stripe.

No:

-The zig-zag striping on one of either the front or backs of the jerseys should be mirrored. In reality, the striping would be spiralling upwards. (Do you get me? I don't even know how to describe it.)
-No "Tampa Bay" on the away jersey, my suggestion is to add that. Either straight or arched script.

Rating: 9/10. Keep up the great work.


That's it. For now. From me. Justin S. The new* writer!



*i'm not actually new, I just got removed from the page for about a couple months last year. Caden was nice enough to add me back on site, so here I am.

Saturday: Posting one team concepts is an bad HABit for me!

Hello I'm Alan, I'll get elbow to my head, so you don't have to. Welcome to the first Saturday of 2014! Did you guys enjoy the Winter Classic? If yes, then good for you! You guys should enjoy it, oh here's something you guys should enjoy also, "More Concept!" How about an all Montreal Canadiens post, sound good? Let's get going shall we.

Montreal Canadiens concept [by Matthew M.]

Up points: Nice classic like look, the stripes on the chest, arms, and socks is nicely done. The numbers really works nicely, mainly on the road it was nicely pulled off.

Down points: Collars looks to plain to me. No stripes on the pants.

My suggestion: Add two stripes on the collars, and add stripes on the pants.

Montreal Canadiens concept [by Me]

This is my concept from 2011 I put together I decide to keep the classic look with a touch of vertical piping on the front and the back of the jersey, then give a vise versa on the side, then add some old logos from the early days on the stripes and here it is I kinda like this design it may not be the set that no one will see it full time (or a 3rd for that matter) but someone has to dream it.

Well that's today's post be here tomorrow as I.... Oh wait I'm not posting tomorrow why? Because we got an new writer to do Sunday, who? You'll have to find out tomorrow until then, I'm Alan, I'll get elbow to my head, so you don't have to.

Friday: Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot?

With the Winter Classic now behind us until 2015, we have officially opened this season's outdoor games. And then you have the US national teams being announced. I almost forgot about my copy of last season's NHL rules and regulations. It shows amendments n norange and has been a very good reference for jerseys as well. Speaking of almost forgetting things, I have results - results for the Creighton Bluejays competition. The results are as follows:

1. Alan (6 Pts)
2. Jake88 (3 Pts)
3. Justin (2 Pts)
4. Caden (1 Pt)
5. Ricky {Me} (0 Pts)

Edmonton Oilers

Submitted by: Ware Creative Design

Here was a good acquisition by the Skopje Lisici a month or two ago in the HCIHL. Speaking of good things, the logos are just that - a little too big, but still very reasonable options. The back numbers and shoulder patches are also a little large. The striping meanwhile, well . . . is an interesting choice, I was thrown off because of their orientation. One uniform mismatches and the other looks more Islanders than Oilers. One thing that would be interesting to see is the Oil drop in chrome - I thought of it while looking at this concept from first glance. Everything else in these looks Edmonton-esque to the appropriate jerseys, so all business is finished. 

San Jose Sharks

Submitted by: Justin Sulpico

Very innovative, Justin thinks he is the Tampa Bay Rays management. That is to say he is creating "old" for a team that's just the opposite. But since the team has gone through at least one jersey redesign (with or without Reebok) and that the league owns the Seals' branding makes this fall through. While this is simple, I would like to see either Seals' black or blue included as an accent color here. I also would like to see the color of something in the equipment change color - the gloves to yellow, perhaps (and possibly the socks). Seeing as the font is more yellow on white, I would use that for the crest wordmark too, just to keep the unison color on white is almost always better than white on color (for me anyway, this is no exception). That should do for this concept.

In the meantime, I had this picture taken in my brand new hockey sweater! I purchased it yesterday at a local card shop before the holiday specials were over. I managed to save $75 dollars from the store price at US$38.85. I am also close to sealing a Lady Liberty jersey having the only bid as of this sentence with less than 7 hours to go. Notice that most of the time, I go for blank uniforms for one of three reasons: It's cheaper to have them embroidered after purchase than purchasing a pre-embroidered jersey, so I can put my name and number on it, and/or because I like certain jerseys blank considering player movement (it would have to be a retired number, hall of famer, or significant contributor to the team - e.g. a Stanley Cup finalist). I have a friend who owns a jersey customization business, which somewhat attributes to the first reason.

I'm glad I was able to finish my Stadium Series concepts ahead of schedule than I had figured. They were my last overall that I completed in 2013. Now that the Winter Classic is over, my focus has shifted back towards the IIHF U-21s in Malmo, Sweden. Malmo looks like a little bit of Dubai and somewhere in Nova Scotia (places I haven't been) - but very scenic indeed. But I'm actually going to tackle that Nike template for select teams if not all participating teams. I am just waiting for Olympic curling to get underway. What? I've been curling for at least a decade and I'm only turning 22 in two weeks. Maybe I'll use the participating curling countries instead. But either way, it would be interesting. You'll be hearing from me again in seven days.

-Ricky

Thursday. 3 to 2 Leafs.

Hey it's Caden, sorry for the late post. I loved watching the Winter Classic. Comp results tomorrow. Here we go!

Matt uses the Staidum Series logo, which is good for an alternate.

ORANGE: I like that orange was used. The Islanders dropped the ball on their first orange alternate and fixing it is a good idea. I like the blue collar and the blue outline on the logo. I'm not exactly a fan of the white numbers and NOB. Blue might have been a better choice.

BLUE: I like the orange collar and the shade of blue used. The logo looks nice as well.

BOTH: Though I like the color of the collars, I don't like that they are tie down. Tie down collars seem over used. I do like that you used the lighthouse shoulder patch. I really think the Isles need to turn the page with their 4 cup dynasty that happened when? Back in the 70s?!? I think 3 slightly thicker stripes would be a better fit for both jerseys. That really brings the jerseys down, as the stripes almost blend together.

Orange: 8.5/10

Blue: 8.7/10

Both: 8.6/10

I like that Mr. McElroy was able to include stars in this concept without overdoing them. I like the thin hem stripes and the arm stripes look cool. I love the slightly slanted NOB. I would have added a pants stripe. Something about it seems not right.

Concept Rating 9/10

Israeli Flames (Plus the First Post of 2014!)

So today is the big day, finally we get to see another Winter Classic! Oh yeah, today's also the first day of 2014, and January, but do we really care about that? Speaking of which this years Winter Classic should be one of the best looking ones yet! Especially since there will be two colored teams playing against each other for the first time since the Kings played in yellow. Can't wait to watch it.

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Calgary Flames (By Matt Mc.)

I see what Matt's attempting (or at least I think I do) at making the pre-edge jersey like the older jerseys that feature more white. Though I don't see any real problems with this, I just can't say I'm a fan. Maybe something around the yoke (like the new shoulder patch) would help. Also I'd keep the old number font. Speaking of numbers.... Where are the TV numbers? Concept Rating 7.2/10

 

Team Israel (Caden P.)

Caden brings us a concept he used for the IIHF bottom ten comp. Other than the side panels and chest stripe on the blue jersey, these look like Toronto Maple Leafs jerseys. Despite this it really isn't that bad, but still not that original. The third jersey is different and I can't really say I like the striping that much. I'm also curious as to why the collar is navy. Speaking of numbers.... There aren't any! Concept Rating 6.4/10

 

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Did you like todays concepts, there wasn't anything that blew me out of the water today, but maybe you thought so, tell me why in the comments!