The AHL Will Look Different Next Fall

In this post, I'm hoping to catch us all up on some recent AHL news I haven't had a chance to write about. There will be new affiliations and some relocations and just general upheaval.

Canucks buy Rivermen, could move them to B.C.

We start in Illinois. Earlier this month, the Vancouver Canucks agreed to purchase the AHL's Peoria Rivermen from the St. Louis Blues. The deal, announced April 1, means starting next season, we'll have a couple of NHL/AHL affiliate swaps.

Obviously, the Canucks will be aligning with their new asset in Peoria. Only they don't appear to be staying in Peoria. According to the Vancouver Sun, the club will pack up and find a new city closer to the west coast. Where might that be?

Heat may leave Abbotsford for Utica, N.Y.

The Abbotsford Heat and owner Calgary Flames are in a spot of trouble. Things aren't really working out in B.C. See, British Columbians don't seem all that eager to cheer on the future of their enemy. Most of them are Canucks fans after all.

So where does that leave us? The Flames are apparently content with nearby Abbotsford, but clearly a Canucks-affiliated team would be a better draw. If the Rivermen find themselves in B.C. next season, where would the Heat go? I can't say, but it would be the franchise's fifth home in a decade.

From 1993 to 2003, the Saint John Flames played in New Brunswick. After that, there was a two-year suspension of the franchise followed by relocations every other year from Omaha, Neb. in 2005 to Moline, Ill. in 2007 and finally to Abbotsford in 2009.

UPDATE (4/16): A number of you have correctly pointed out that Utica, N.Y. is apparently the most likely place for the Heat to move given a February report that the Flames may sign a 10-year affiliation agreement with the city. What's funny is that Utica is where the franchise was based 20 years ago — prior to being in New Brunswick. Only then, then were affiliated with New Jersey and known as the Utica Devils. Will they keep the Heat moniker or go with something better?

Blues likely to enter affiliation with Wolves

So back to the Rivermen. They'll be ending their arrangement with the St. Louis Blues, who'll presumably pick up the Canucks' sloppy seconds, the Chicago Wolves. Geographically, it makes sense too. So no surprise there.

Aeros may leave Houston for Des Moines, Iowa

What is surprising, however, is that we could be witnessing the end of a 20-year run of pro hockey in Houston, Texas. The Houston Aeros apparently can't come to terms on a new arena deal. You know what that means. Relocation, relocation, relocation.

Word is, they've been eyeing Peoria — should the Rivermen be moved by the Canucks. In which case, my money says the storied Rivermen identity never skips a beat. The Aeros become the "new" Rivermen and the "old" Rivermen get a completely new identity in Abbotsford or elsewhere.

But if the Canucks can't get the Rivermen out of Peoria, the Aeros would still have to find a new home. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune believes Des Moines, Iowa could be a good possibility. It's closer to NHL affiliate Minnesota Wild but less convenient when it comes to air travel and call-ups.

So there you have four AHL teams that could look very different next fall. But they won't be alone.

Other leagues will look different, too

Elsewhere, other changes are in the works:

• The OHL's Brampton Battalion are on the move. The league approved the relocation to North Bay, Ont. back in November. It doesn't appear their name or logo will change — they have already been renamed the North Bay Battalion, according to the team's official website.
• Brampton, Ont. loses one CHL for another. The Central Hockey League swooped in with an expansion team for 2013-14, which recently got its official name — the Brampton Beast. (Think the IceHL's Boulder Beasts might have something to say about that?) The club doesn't have a logo yet, but this is the CHL's first foray into Canada.
• The CHL will also welcome the St. Charles Chill this season. You may recall the team named a winner in its logo design contest back in November.
• UPDATE (4/16): JanBan (comments) reminded me that the QMJHL's P.E.I. Rocket will be rebranding this summer. Their new name, announced last September, is P.E.I. Islanders. You can currently get 50% off Rocket merchandise from the team store.

If I've overlooked anything, please let me know. We'll have a lot to keep an eye on this summer as teams move around and new logos get unveiled. Stick around!

Update on Tuesday · Apr 16 · 2013 | 6:35 PM PDT by Chris

Whale could revert to Wolf Pack moniker in 2013

Almost left out these guys. According to a report back in February, the Connecticut Whale could go back to being the Hartford Wolf Pack next season. Rather than re-hashing it here I'll let you read the linked article for more details. I have no new information since that was posted.

If there are others I'm leaving out, keep them coming. Want to make this a comprehensive post.

Lethbridge Forced to Change Logo

Starting next season, the WHL's Lethbridge Hurricanes will have a new logo and uniforms. The change comes after the Washington Capitals told the junior club their current logo and uniforms were a bit to similar to the NHL club's.

CTV reporter Darrell Romuld tweeted this last week: 

President: The Lethbridge Hurricanes have been handed a timeline to change their uniforms by the Washington Capitals; Complained likeness.

— Darrell Romuld (CTV) (@CTVDarrell) March 21, 2013

He followed up by pointing out that the logo currently used on the Canes' third jersey would be promoted to "full time" use next season. It's the logo you saw at the top of this post. The real story is in how this new logo came to be and its designer's connection to Icethetics.

But first, we should compare the offending logo with that of the Capitals.

The Hurricanes made this their primary logo in 2011. At first, it looked like a bad mix between two Southeast Division NHL teams. But after two seasons, the Caps have had enough.

We all know what their logo looks like. The similarities are obvious but, to be honest, the Lethbridge logo is just a poorly-designed rip-off. No one should be disappointed to see it go.

The new one, however, is a breath of fresh air. It was designed by Joshua Schroeder, who was named GM of IceHL's Calgary Cavalry in the fantasy league's inaugural season in 2010. He departed last summer. But his connection to the Hurricanes is what's interesting here.

Photo courtesy Joshua Schroeder

Josh writes:

I've got a bit of a history with the Hurricanes, starting in 1999 when I was invited to training their training camp. That's me sitting on the boards in the middle. As you can see, we were wearing an old set of the team's jerseys. I was on my way home by the time the veterans reported to camp.

The Hurricanes' actual logo at the time was the infamous Tasmanian devil, or "Twister" logo, since that's the name of our Tasmanian devil mascot. (Yeah... twister, hurricane... apparently we're pretty confused about weather around here.)

Fair enough. Speaking of which — here's that "infamous" logo.

Josh tells me he moved to Lethbridge a few years later to attend college. He stuck around, became a season ticket holder, then founded CanesCast, the official social media partner of the Hurricanes. He bemoaned the bad logos the team endured over the years. And in 2010, he got inspired.

In March 2011, the Hurricanes launched a design contest for the team's 2012-13 alternate jersey — which was more than a year away at the time. So he started putting together a concept.

Artwork and photo courtesy Joshua Schroeder

Josh explains:

I also put together a full proposal package explaining the symbolism that was worked into the design and sent that off to the Hurricanes.

Right around the time I learned that my design had been selected, the new Winnipeg Jets logo was leaked. Another hockey team logo with an aircraft in an RCAF emblem-inspired design. I was a little discouraged at that point, since I figured that by the time my jersey was unveiled it would look like I had just copied the Jets (who, remember, were still the Thrashers when I created my logo).

I got over it, and I still like that I managed to work the symbolism into my logo a little more subtly than the Jets did.

Artwork courtesy Joshua Schroeder

As you can see, Josh put a lot of thought and research into this design. Never has one team worn so much meaning and history on their uniforms. Great to see it will be getting full time use starting next fall.

Photo courtesy Joshua SchroederMore from Josh:

Anyhow, that's pretty much where my involvement ended. I'd been told I'd won, but couldn't make it public knowledge.

The next summer I got a sneak peek at the jersey, and again had to keep it a secret. Unfortunately, the final design the team went with abandoned the striping pattern from my concept, which again was a bit disappointing, but it still looked good.

Early in the 2012-13 season the logo was leaked on our veteran goalie's new mask, and finally (FINALLY!) we got to unveil it in November.

I was able to talk about it and enjoy doing the media rounds for a couple of days. And of course, as winner of the contest, I got my own customized jersey, presented to me at centre ice by captain Graham Hood (photo above).

Sounds like any hockey concept artist's dream!

Josh said a handful of the jerseys were made available in the team store and — despite a higher price — sold out in two nights.

I'd heard a rumour earlier this season about the current Capitals-style jerseys needing to be replaced.

While it sounds like they haven't made a decision on what to wear next year, the indications point toward them adopting the Hawker Hurricane logo full time. The third jerseys were in heavy rotation by the end of the season.

And check out the carpet in the locker room (even Curtis Joseph thinks it's awesome!).

CTV Lethbridge has speculated that the team will add a blue version of the jersey and promote the third jerseys to full time use. As you can imagine, that would suit me just fine. I do work pretty closely with some of the Hurricanes' front office staff on game days now, so they know where to find me if they wanted to get me involved with the design process again.

To this point, though, I haven't been invited to be part of the process.

I know that's a lot of information to digest, but if you're interested in even more background on the forthcoming changes to the Lethbridge Hurricanes branding, I've got a couple more links.

Pat Siedlecki, the play-by-play voice of the Hurricanes, talked on his blog about how this will be the team's fourth primary logo in seven years. (He even used an old graphic I made for NHLToL years ago.) And on Yahoo! Sports' Buzzing the Net blog, Cam Charron compares the looks of other junior teams to NHL clubs. (Those pesky Reebok templates are generally to blame for this.)

Hope you found all this as interesting as I did. And I hope it makes up for both the lack of posts recently and the lack of posts to come while I'm busy moving to a new place this week.

Phantoms Sport the Retro and Ridiculous

Last week the AHL's Adirondack Phantoms busted out a couple of specialty jerseys. Nothing new in the minors. But these deserve a special look for two very different reasons.

AHL club returns to Philly in throwback threads

On Friday, Feb. 22 — for one night only — the Phantoms hit the ice at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia — sporting retro purple-infused threads just like they did back when they called Philly home from 1996 to 2009. The club moved to upstate New York when their arena was taken down.

Photos from Adirondack Phantoms (via Facebook)

The Phantoms faced their former in-state rival, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a game which drew one of the largest crowds to watch an AHL game indoors. Borrowing their NHL affiliate's arena was certainly helpful there. But the Phantoms ended up falling to the Penguins, 2-1.

It's always neat to see classic minor hockey sweater make a comeback — even if only for a night.

And then there's this disaster.

Phantoms celebrate mascot's birthday with silly sweater

I guess this is a situation where the universe required balance. The only way to allow an awesome jersey to be worn is to follow it up with an awful one. The Phantoms returned home two days after their trip to Philly to celebrate the "birthday" of their mascot, Dax.

Photo from Adirondack Phantoms (official website)

Last Sunday, grown men — professional hockey players, no less — wore these silly numbers with Dax's cartoon head replacing the classic Phantom crest. If ever there was a specialty jersey squarely meant for the kids, folks, this is the one. It's incredibly dorky and yet somehow charming.

Surprisingly, the Phantoms won while wearing it. They beat the Binghamton Senators 2-1. Still, let this not be a common occurrence. Maybe next year you just get Dax a gift card or something.

Photos from Adirondack Phantoms (via Facebook)

I'll leave you with these close-ups of the jersey. Recognize that awful number font? Remind you of something "Mighty" from way back when?

Connecticut Whale to Be No More?

Silly name and logo could soon be gone

It sounds too good to be true, but just three years after the Connecticut Whale brand was introduced, it may be disappearing, according to the Hartford Courant.

With Howard Baldwin no longer at the helm and new ownership in the picture, there's the possibility the franchise could revert to its previous (better) identity — the Hartford Wolf Pack. The article isn't specific about when the change would happen, but I'm hoping they don't do another midseason rebranding.

Evidence indicates return of Hartford Wolf Pack brand

Here's some of what writer Paul Doyle had to say on the matter — and why he thinks the Wolf Pack could be staging a comeback:

The Connecticut Whale brand was created by Howard Baldwin's Whalers Sports & Entertainment in 2010 and that company no longer runs the business side of the franchise, although it allowed current XL Center operator AEG to use the name and logo this season. The franchise is owned by MSG, but Global will run the team's day-to-day operation in Hartford and handle the marketing.

Unless MSG and Global decide to work out an agreement with WSE, the team's name will likely change. The team could return to the Hartford Wolf Pack, the name of the franchise from 1997 until it was re-branded in 2010. MSG has kept the brand alive by retaining uniforms and has even renewed the hartfordwolfpack.com domain name, updating data base information on the domain name Saturday.

Another possibility is to simply call the team the Rangers — Hartford or Connecticut preceding the name — although that could be a public relations risk. Returning to the Wolf Pack would be simple, especially with the still visible around the team and the XL Center.

The activity with the domain name is interesting. Why keep it if you have no intention of using it again? Plus, we all know the Connecticut Whale name and logo are just dumb.

I'm rooting for the Wolf Pack!

Solar Bears Roll Back the Clock

Photos provided by Orlando Solar Bears

Twelve years is a long time to wait for something. Orlando hockey fans had to wait that long to watch their championship banner be raised to the rafters. Last Saturday, Feb. 2, the ECHL's Orlando Solar Bears paid tribute to their IHL predecessors by celebrating their 2001 Turner Cup championship.

But the interesting thing to us jersey geeks is what the Solar Bears wore while doing it. The team broke out the old Solar Bears jerseys for the special night — complete with the upper/lowercase surnames and everything! Those uniforms looked great from 1996 to 2001 and they look great now.

Photos: ©2013 Gary Bassing/OSB via Solar Bears official Facebook page

Great to see the new Solar Bears honoring the old Solar Bears. You can find a lot more pictures on the team's official Facebook page.