The Lesser of Two Evils

With each passing season, I'm becoming more concerned over the unwritten rule that says minor league specialty jerseys have to make players look like clowns. I mean it couldn't be more literal than with the most recent entry into the club.

The Albany River Rats recently revealed the results of a poll allowing fans to choose which jersey design the team would wear for Ronald McDonald House Night. Perhaps it would be difficult to create a theme jersey around Ronald McDonald without looking clownish, but this is unbelievable.

Albany River Rats specialty jersey for 2009-10

I'm willing to look beyond this poorly made graphic (HOuse) but professional hockey players — grown men — will be wearing this outside the confines a McDonald's restaurant and without the security of identity-disguising make-up.

The winning design features a yellow body with white shoulders and red trim. Albany’s primary logo is emblazoned on the front of the sweater and Ronald McDonald House Charity patches are displayed on each shoulder. The jersey will be worn with red pants and with Ronald McDonald’s signature candy-cane sox.

All proceeds will benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Capital Region.

At this point you may be thinking, "Well, the fans made their own bed. They had an online vote and this is what they chose." But you don't have all the information. Why don't we take a look at their options?

 

As you can see, the fans clearly went with the lesser of two evils. "Classy" was not an option for the good people of Albany. On the second choice, I count 31 stripes! Seriously!

The first design was obviously created with Reebok Edge in mind while the other was not. Let's talk about that second one. Not only are stripes like that apt to induce seizures, but it inexplicably carries the storm flag stripe of their NHL parent team (the Hurricanes) across the mid-section. Relevance?

Given the choice of bad or indescribably bad, I would've voted the same was the River Rats' fans. But that doesn't make it right. We need to figure out a way to get minor league clubs to let Icethetics artists take a stab at these one-off sweaters if for no other reason than to avoid this kind of trainwreck on an annual basis.

We know specialty jerseys like this are a necessary evil in the minors. They don't have the kind of huge, established fan bases that NHL teams enjoy. For one thing, they tend to be in areas with smaller populations. To keep the team financially viable against those odds, they have to become a big part of the community. That means charity nights are important. 

But they don't have to look like this! This is where you guys come in. I'm challenging Icethetics readers to design a River Rats jersey with a Ronald McDonald House theme that doesn't look ridiculous. It'll be difficult, but it can be done. I'll post worthy concepts here.

Wild 3rd (Officially) Unveiled!

As promised, the Minnesota Wild officially unveiled their brand new third jersey today to fans at the State Fair. The sweater was first leaked by Icethetics on Tuesday.

The new official pictures from the Wild offer us a better look at the new crest. Elements from it — such as the new stylized "M" — are set to make their way onto a bunch of new merchandise this season.

Here's a closer look at the front from the team's official photo gallery.

Minnesota Wild third jersey (photos by Bruce Kluckhohn)

In the previous leak, we never actually got to see what that "M" really looks like. Now that we have, I'm not so sure about it. It may grow on me but it just feels more Wild West than Minnesota hockey at the moment.

Back of new third jerseyThe new third makes use of the same numbering and lettering style seen on the red home jersey — the old third. You can see an example on jersey model Derek Boogaard here to the right.

This whole uniform very much lacks red — a plus, if I'm the one being asked. You see it very sparingly on the new crest and right at the collar behind the laces. Technically it's also on the gloves as well but that's just because players aren't going to get new gloves every time they wear a different jersey.

Even the socks are devoid of red, as you saw the in the leaked pictures this past week. The Wild's release had this to say about the new sweaters.

Based in the Wild’s Forest Green with Wheat trim and a hint of Iron Range Red, the jersey’s classic sports look was the overwhelming favorite of Wild fans surveyed during the summer of 2008. The jersey crest features a script “Minnesota” with “WILD” emblazoned below. The script look, including the classic “M”, harkens back to historic Minnesota teams of the past including Minneapolis and Saint Paul teams of the 1930s and 1940s. The familiar “north star” element, borrowed from the primary Wild logo, dots the “I” and adds a decorative detail to the stylized “M”.

“We wanted to provide our fans with a new look and feel for our third uniform that is uniquely Minnesota and true to our brand — authentic, classic, contemporary and truly worthy of The State of Hockey,” said John Maher, Vice President of Brand Marketing.

The new third jersey was designed by New York City-based SME and produced by Reebok, the exclusive provider of jerseys to all NHL clubs. SONY is proud to partner with the Wild for the introduction of the third jersey. Look for SONY high-definition displays throughout Xcel Energy Center beginning this fall.

Minnesota will debut the jerseys on Wednesday, Oct. 21 against the Colorado Avalanche on FOX Sports North and wear them 15 times this season (13 home games and two road contests). The Wild will continue to wear their original white jerseys for most road matches and their Iron Range Red jerseys for the remaining home games.

When/if the team releases a full third jersey schedule, look for it here on Icethetics.

Overall, it's an incredibly well-designed third uniform and should rank among the likes of the Penguins and Sabres in terms of current alternates. It may well rank among the best third jerseys in NHL history.

I'd like to do a complete ranking of all-time NHL third jerseys later this year after all of this year's new ones have been unveiled. Let THN try to stomp all over our turf, but nobody does logo/jersey tournaments better than Icethetics!

ECHL All-Star Logo Unveiled

ECHL 2010 All-Star Game logoToday, the ECHL unveiled the logo for the 2010 All-Star Game which will be hosted by the Ontario Reign. It is the 18th ECHL All-Star Game and will take place on January 20 at the Citizens Business Bank in Ontario, California.

You can see it here to the right. It's your typical minor league all-star logo. You take the host team's logo, incorporate some host city elements and wrap it all up with a pretty star-themed bow.

It's just like all the others. But they're all rather well done, actually.

Here's the official description of the new logo:

The logo features a front view of ECHL and the Citizens Business Bank Arena and utilizes the Reign colors of navy, grey and burnt orange. The team’s familiar shield is in the background with 'Ontario, California' below Citizens Business Bank Arena while '2010 ECHL All-Star' and an artist's rendition of the San Bernardino Mountains are featured above it.

For the seventh year in a row the ECHL All-Star Game logo was designed by Joe Bosack, who is the president and founder of The Joe Bosack Graphic Design Company. Bosack also designed the ECHL logo, the Kelly Cup Playoffs logo, the ECHL 15th Anniversary logo, the ECHL 20th Anniversary logo and the ECHL Hall of Fame logo.

That last bit got me thinking about something. It's what I mentioned on Twitter tonight. Icethetics should give some recognition to the individuals and design firms charged with creating the logos we all tend to bash or praise at the drop of a hat.

So I'd like to start a small side-project here on Icethetics wherein we gather information about who's behind all the logos we discuss every day. I don't have a name for this project yet, so if you think of something let me know.

UPDATE: I like "Behind the Brand" for the name of this project. Thanks Bill!

If you'd like to help out with this project, start doing some research and email in or comment with any information you find. I'd prefer a URL for design firms/artists still in business, but a name will suffice at the very least. You will need to provide some sort of proof so we don't credit anyone incorrectly.

Does this sound like a project you guys are interested in? If not, I'll drop it. But if it is, I'd love to start getting it put together.

Canucks 3rd Jersey Sked

The Vancouver Canucks will wear their third jerseys 15 times in the 2009-10 campaign. Canucks Hockey Blog posted the schedule today but didn't cite a source so I'm not sure from where this information originates. Still, why would they make it up?

Canucks fans, mark your calendars. Here is this season's third jersey schedule:

• Wed., October 7 - vs Canadiens
• Sat., October 24 - vs Maple Leafs
• Tues., November 3 - vs Rangers
• Sun., November 22 - vs Blackhawks
• Sun., November 29 - vs Sharks
• Thurs., December 10 - vs Thrashers
• Wed., December 16 - vs Ducks
• Sat., December 26 - vs Oilers
• Sat., January 9 - vs Flames
• Sat., January 16 - vs Penguins
• Mon., January 25 - vs Sabres
• Sat., March 13 - vs Senators
• Sat., March 20 - vs Red Wings
• Tues., March 30 - vs Coyotes
• Tues., April 6 - vs Avalanche

Every night of the week but Friday gets its shot with the alternate. 

In case you missed it, the Thrashers also announced their third jersey schedule.

Hershey Gets New Jerseys

As I mentioned last night on Twitter, there is an awful lot going on in the minors these days. Time to get everyone caught up. We'll begin with the AHL and work our way down.

The Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears have unveiled brand new sweaters for the 2009-10 season. They did so yesterday on their official web site — while I was busy with the Wild third jersey leak.

The Bears made the switch to the Reebok Edge style uniforms two seasons ago and were one of the few teams that kept changes to a minimum — HERSHEY placed diagonally down the front of the chocolate jerseys and BEARS down the front of the white ones. Those designs are no more.

Hershey Bears' new jerseys for 2009-10

The home and road sweaters will now place the team's primary logo front and center, while reserving a new text-based design for the alternate jersey. The new third takes its inspiration from the Dallas Stars' with the city name arched above the player's number.

The Bears have also announced the launch of the new sweaters will take place during their season opener in October.

The make of the jersey has remained the same, but the appearance has changed. Anyone looking to purchase one of the new jerseys can do so on opening night, October 3. As always, fans can customize their jerseys to have specific names on the back.

Thanks to James for the tip.

Moving right along now to the ECHL. The Ontario Reign will play host to the league's 2010 All-Star Game. It was announced yesterday that the logo for the event will be unveiled this Friday at 1 PM EST.

The Citizens Business Bank Arena will play host to the 18th ECHL All-Star Game which takes place on January 20, 2010. The event is sponsored by Reebok. No word on whether the All-Star jerseys will be debuted on Friday as well.

We'll finish up our look at the minors with the QMJHL. As you know the league is switching over to the Reebok Edge uniforms this season. Scotty from Hockeybums tells me the plan is for the league and Reebok to unveil all of the remaining uniforms on September 9. Not a hard date to remember — 09/09/09.

One more item now regarding the London Knights.

London Knights in their Euro jerseys

The Knights will be hosting the Euro Can Cup in which they and other participating teams will don European-style jerseys — as seen above. It's a rather awful sight. Organizers are hoping for it to be a success. I'm hoping it's not if for no other reason than those terrible uniforms.

You can read more about the event at the London Free Press. If you'd like to punish yourself by looking at more pictures of these jerseys, click here.