Thursday, July 10, 2008

Maple Leaf Sweater Concepts

Maple Leafs fans, yesterday I promised you some concept art and I'm making good on it. I've gotten half a dozen different jersey designs over the past few weeks and today I'm happy to share them with you.

The first one here is a take on Minnesota's home sweater crest. It's cool even if it's somewhat unoriginal.



But if originality is what you're looking for, see the graphic on the right. It's probably a little too awkward to make for a solid design what with the unbalanced logo, no striping on the white and too much striping on the blue. But maybe I'm just being critical.



These two are cool if Toronto were to add black to the color scheme. But obviously as a Lightning fan I would be somewhat opposed to that.

And finally, on the current jersey design is an interesting logo I've been waiting to see someone make — the CN Tower in the veins of the leaf.



It's not perfect but how cool is that?

You know what tomorrow is. Yes indeed, another Freak Out Friday is nearly upon us. Stay tuned for that.

Iowa Chops? No, I'm Not Kidding

So the American Hockey League will have a new team this fall based out of Iowa which will serve as the Anaheim Ducks' minor league affiliate. And they're called the Chops.

Yes, the Iowa Chops. I'm not even making a joke here. And if I was, it would be a bad one. What is a Chop? See below for the logo.



All right, now that you've peeled yourself off the floor, wiped away the tears of laughter and stumbled helplessly back to the computer, take another look at it.

Still bad, isn't it? I'm surprised because nowadays I think we've come to expect more from new expansion clubs. Better names, better logos. I mean, consider the Ontario Reign of the ECHL. Great name, great logo — though I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't initially realize Ontario was a city in California. Despite living in an ECHL town, I pay almost no attention to that league.

Anyway, I'm eager to hear what you guys think of the Iowa Chops and their new logo. I'll be putting together new logo tournaments for the AHL and ECHL some time this year, by the way.

My NY Times Shoutout!

Got a very cool mention today on Slap Shot the New York Times' hockey blog. I'm very proud. Who knew people were actually reading this drivel? But I certainly appreciate the attention.

Blog writer Stu Hackel writes:

Here’s something to help you enjoy: One of our thousands, er, hundreds, er, dozens, er, two or three regular readers, Ms. Conduct, has her own site and one of her other fave blogs is Icethetics where the proprietor, Chris, has been engaged in inventing imaginative re-designs of NHL uniforms.

Hockey fans have always been proud of the game’s jerseys (or sweaters, or shirts or whatever you wanna call them). They are the best in sports. Some are better than others, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with them all. So if you’ve got the time and inclination, these are worth checking out and checking back periodically to see the new ones.

In case you wanted to check out Ms. Conduct's blog, click here. It's a good read.

Anyway, pardon the vanity but sometimes its nice just to talk about something cool that's happened to me. Though it's not really just me. You guys are the reason I bother to do this in the first place — you keep coming back for more. With daily hit counts higher than I could've possibly imagined before I began doing this, I'm definitely proud.

Again, thanks for continuing to visit and submit the best fan-made hockey concept art on the web!