Sunday, September 21, 2008

IceHL Pacific: Final Names

The final names for the IceHL's Pacific Division are in! Hundreds of you made your voice heard by rating the 20 finalists for each franchise. So here they are.

  • Alaska HUSKIES
    average rating 3.69/5 by 417 people

  • California WAVE
    average rating 2.87/5 by 337 people

  • Portland PIONEERS
    average rating 3.76/5 by 363 people

  • Seattle AVIATORS
    average rating 3.56/5 by 346 people

  • Vancouver LUMBERJACKS
    average rating 2.91/5 by 313 people

Based on these names, your task — should you choose to accept it — is to brand the franchise. You choose the color scheme and design primary, secondary and script logos around that. Additional logos may or may not be included in the voting process.

Submit your logo art by email to me at icethetics@gmail.com. Do not post links to artwork in the comments. They will be deleted and not considered for use in this project. I'm also outlining guidelines for submissions below. I'm taking them a lot more seriously than I did for the IHA. If you don't follow them, your work will probably not be included.

Pacific logo submission deadline: October 11

If you want your submission included, follow these instructions:
  • DO NOT STEAL ARTWORK. Logos copied or adapted from professional trademarked logos will not be permitted.

  • Submit three (3) logos: primary, secondary and script. Use a white background. If your logo requires a white outline (think Lightning or Capitals), then use a gray background with the white outline included. ALL 3 LOGOS will be used in the voting process. If you leave out one, your work may be disqualified.

  • Submit vector art if possible. I will accept .ai, .psd and .pdf files. If you cannot submit vector art, you must be able to provide high quality images in .jpg or .png files ONLY. All other file types may be disqualified.

  • You must include your credit within the graphic itself as well as the email. This can be your real name or a pseudonym. I need them in both places so I can easily search my email to find your artwork and email address. Failure to do so may result in disqualification.

  • By submitting your own original artwork to any Icethetics email address, you agree to grant permission of its use for online or print publication by Icethetics. Do not watermark your logos or they will be disqualified.

  • No jersey concepts, please. That will be a later step in this process.

I tried to be specific here but I'm happy to answer any additional questions you may have via email. I was very clear about this but keep in mind that if you do not properly follow the instructions above, your work will likely be disqualified. So read them carefully.

Just so everyone is aware, when it comes time to choose a logo for each team, the process will work the same as the name ratings. Logo rating pages will be posted for each team and up to 20 logo submissions will be available to rate. I'm sorry I can't include more but this assures that all worthy submissions will get a fair shake.

The difference here is that once the rating period has ended, there will be a vote on Icethetics of the top 3 rated logos for each team. This assures that we choose the logo everyone wants.

Start submitting your logos!

From The Ground Up Is Now... IceHL

I've settled on a name for the league we're building here at Icethetics from the ground up. From here on out, I'll refer to it as the IceHL. You can take that however you prefer. Icethetics Hockey League... Icethetics Continental Elite Hockey League (submitted by Vic DiGital)... or whatever else fits that name.

By the way, I'll post the final teams names and begin accepting logo submissions for the Pacific Division shortly.

The IceHL. What do you guys think? Let me know how you feel about it by rating this post. Five stars if you love it! One if you want it to rot.

From The Ground Up: Southeast Names

The five markets with the most votes to be included in the Southeast Division of our fantasy hockey league are final. Over 4,000 individual votes were cast in the poll.

Here, I'm outlining those markets (alphabetically) along with the acceptable locators (listed below) for your team name nominations — which I'll begin accepting today by comment only.

  • ATLANTA, Georgia
    Georgia | Atlanta | Macon

  • BALTIMORE, Maryland
    Maryland | Baltimore | Columbia

  • CHARLOTTE, North Carolina
    North Carolina | Carolina | Charlotte | Asheville

  • TAMPA, Florida
    Florida | Tampa | Tampa Bay | St. Petersburg | Sarasota

  • WASHINGTON, District of Columbia
    D.C. | Washington | Chesapeake

DO NOT SUBMIT NAME NOMINATIONS VIA EMAIL. THEY WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

Submit your team name nominations by leaving a comment below. Email submissions will be discarded. I will accept nominations for one week at which point new comments on this post will be closed. Up to 20 name submissions that fit within the following parameters will be included in the name selection process which will begin next weekend.

If you want your submission included, DO NOT:
• use any name that has already been selected for this project.
• use the name of any current or past NHL or WHA team.
• use the name of any current AHL or ECHL team.
• use the name or close variation of any current or past professional sports team within the same market or geographical area.
• use the name of any team from Project: IHA.
• use any name that would be considered vulgar, obscene or in any way inappropriate. (Sorry, this is my call.)

If you decide to use a locator not already on the list above, be prepared to have it discarded. I'm not setting that in stone as a restriction, but I'm also not guaranteeing I'll include anything not on the list. Sorry for all the restrictions but sometimes you have to "guide" originality.

It was suggested that when submitting names you also submit a short reasoning for that name. I won't require that but I will recommend it since it might help your submission get votes later on if folks know where you got your idea.

Don't forget to make your submissions for the South Division. You have until September 27.

Start submitting!

From The Ground Up: South Names

The five markets with the most votes to be included in the South Division of our fantasy hockey league are final. Over 4,000 individual votes were cast in the poll.

Here, I'm outlining those markets (alphabetically) along with the acceptable locators (listed below) for your team name nominations — which I'll begin accepting today by comment only.

  • DALLAS, Texas
    Texas | Dallas | Fort Worth | Irving

  • DENVER, Colorado
    Colorado | Denver | Boulder

  • HOUSTON, Texas
    Texas | Houston | Beaumont | Galveston

  • NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana
    Louisiana | New Orleans | Baton Rouge | Shreveport

  • SALT LAKE CITY, Utah
    Utah | Salt Lake City | Salt Lake

DO NOT SUBMIT NAME NOMINATIONS VIA EMAIL. THEY WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

Submit your team name nominations by leaving a comment below. Email submissions will be discarded. I will accept nominations for one week at which point new comments on this post will be closed. Up to 20 name submissions that fit within the following parameters will be included in the name selection process which will begin next weekend.

If you want your submission included, DO NOT:
• use any name that has already been selected for this project.
• use the name of any current or past NHL or WHA team.
• use the name of any current AHL or ECHL team.
• use the name or close variation of any current or past professional sports team within the same market or geographical area.
• use the name of any team from Project: IHA.
• use any name that would be considered vulgar, obscene or in any way inappropriate. (Sorry, this is my call.)

If you decide to use a locator not already on the list above, be prepared to have it discarded. I'm not setting that in stone as a restriction, but I'm also not guaranteeing I'll include anything not on the list. Sorry for all the restrictions but sometimes you have to "guide" originality.

It was suggested that when submitting names you also submit a short reasoning for that name. I won't require that but I will recommend it since it might help your submission get votes later on if folks know where you got your idea.

Don't forget to make your submissions for the Southeast Division. You have until September 27.

Start submitting!

Blues Unveil Third Jersey!

Today, the St. Louis Blues became the fourth team to unveil their third jersey for the 2008-09 season.

The team posted a photo gallery on their official web site shortly after the unveiling ceremony at FANfest. It features Brad Boyes wearing his brand new sweater.



Below you can see shot of the complete uniform and a close-up of the crest — a new logo featuring the iconic Gateway Arch.



From what I can tell, they kept the same pants but got new socks to match these sweaters. They've also dropped the lighter blue from their color scheme for this jersey. They have a very classic yet not retro feel to them.



The third jersey features the same numbering and lettering style as the regular home and road jerseys.



For what it's worth, it looks like the sneak peek I posted yesterday was dead on — just really terrible quality.

To the right you can check out the full photo gallery which now includes several pictures sent to me by folks who attended today's FANfest in St. Louis where the jersey was unveiled and on display.

As with all of the photo galleries, I'll add game action photos when the jerseys finally hit the ice.

Icethetics Live Chat V

Live Chat Time Change

All right guys, I'm going to give the Live Chat another chance today. I've changed the time to 12:30 PM EDT.

According to the Blues' official web site, the third jersey unveiling will take place at 1 PM (noon, locally). It will not be streamed online like the Sabres and Hurricanes events were. However, they say there will be pictures posted on the site as soon as the jersey is unveiled. And I figured if we get things started at 12:30 it'll give me time to take some of the questions and comments I was unable to get to yesterday.

So, a lot is going on this weekend. I'm working on getting the next step of the fantasy league set up. In the meantime, I updated the Sabres' third jersey unveiling post from yesterday. I just added new pictures from the team's web site and the wires. Much better quality than the screen grabs from the live stream that I was using.

I kept an eye on some of the other fan events that were going on around the league as well. The Coyotes, Senators and Blackhawks all still have their new third jerseys under wraps. Nothing was unveiled or on display at these events — that I know of. If I missed something, please let me know.

I'll add the Live Chat window at about 12:15 PM EDT.