IHA Poll: Calgary Mavericks

Cast your vote and leave a comment about your decision. If you chose a non-finalist, tell us which one. Then tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Starts Mon Aug 4
Ends Thu Aug 7

As promised, below are a handful of the logos that were submitted but not selected as a finalist. If you think one of these should be the Calgary Mavericks logo, select "non-finalist" in the poll and tell us your pick in the comments.

Inspiring Concepts

It's been a while since I've done a concept post. But as you know I've been busy redesigning the blog this weekend (again). Before I get into today's artwork — and there's a lot of it — I wanted to share my inspiration for this latest round of design upgrades.

A reader and graphic artist named Guillaume Bellemare emailed me a couple of weeks ago about the design of Icethetics. He said he had some ideas for improving it and I asked him to send me whatever he came up with. I just wanted to show you guys what he sent.

First of all, Guillaume obviously does really great work. You can check out his web site for more like it. You can click on the images above to enlarge them. On the left is the logo he created. I don't plan on using it (not a big fan of the font) but I do like the concept a lot. And on the right you can see the site design he came up with. So I have to credit Guillaume with putting the idea of a pollbar in my head. It wasn't until I saw his design that it really clicked with me.

One of the main focuses of this site is the polls. Why am I letting them get buried in pages of posts? It didn't make any sense. Now you have a quick at-a-glance way of seeing what you can vote on — and how long you have left to do so. That was the main element I took away from his demo here.

As for the rest of it, like I told him, the majority of the people who visit Icethetics are designers or otherwise artsy people who tend to use higher resolution monitors. Tiny text is difficult to read so I prefer large text and lots of spacing. I also widened the page for the same reason. Anyway, there's no need to beat this to death, so I'm not going to go into anymore details unless specifically asked.

If you have any questions, email me or comment. Now for today's concept art...

We're beginning with the Ducks because I have two great logo designs for them.

This one I like a lot but it's funny to me that, like the Canucks, the uniform would feature a prominent color not in the actual logo itself. The designer created orange uniforms for this concept. Still a great logo. The next one, I don't know.

It is quite duck-like, but I'm not sure that's winning it points. A little detailed perhaps, it makes great use of Anaheim's new colors. Moving on now to the Coyotes.

I think this logo would be improved by filling in the moon with a color. And while I like Phoenix's actual logo better, in this one, the coyote actually appears to be howling.

Another interesting Sabres design to add to the pile.

Simple, straightforward, traditional. Nothing wrong with that.

The next piece is based off an Islanders concept logo I posted here about a month ago.

Those are some nice jerseys and I can't see how the club from Long Island could go wrong with a logo like that.

We'll finish things off with a little something for the Quebecois population out there still missing the Nordiques. Here's what the old club might've looked like in today's Rbk EDGE sweaters.

Not bad at all.

IHA West Finalists Unveiled!

Last week you saw the logo finalists for the IHA Atlantic. This week, I've narrowed down three finalists for each team in the West Division for the logos I received. You'll begin voting on them tomorrow but for right now, have a look. I think we've got a good batch for this division.

CALGARY MAVERICKS

DALLAS PATRIOTS

DENVER MOUNTAINEERS

EDMONTON SEAHAWKS

HOUSTON COMETS

Like last time, I've left off credits here for a couple of reasons which I won't get into. However, if your logo is featured here and you would like a credit, drop me a line via email and let me know and I'll be happy to add it. Otherwise, I plan to wait and credit the logos that win for each team.

Also like the last division, polls will be posted throughout the week to decide which logo should be used for each team. Along with each poll, I'll show some of the logos that were submitted but didn't make the final cut for one reason or another. So if you sent in a logo that wasn't selected as a finalist, it should be there. If it's not, the image you sent was probably somehow unusable.

By the way, I've tried to weed out any logos with elements stolen from actual professional sports team logos, but if I've missed anything be sure to let me know. I've got backups to put in for most teams as far as the polls go.

Post your comments and critiques below!

New Polls Now In Pollbar

Just wanted to point out that the next poll in the Center Ice Tournament is up! You can now find all the polls for this tournament in the pollbar to the left. It's Phoenix and Carolina. Go vote!

If you want to comment, you'll now find a Comments link in the poll box after you've voted.

For more about the changes being made to the blog, click here.

The Facelift Continues

By now you might have noticed some dust. Icethetics has officially been going for a full month so I got inspired to do a little sprucing up the design. As I've said, the design I've had all month was never meant to be permanent. I'm always looking for ways of improving the blog.

I'll go more in detail about the changes later on, but suffice to say I'm adding a new column for polls. It's one of the main features of the site so to have them buried in the posts just doesn't work. I've also got a new banner at the top of the page. Hope everyone likes it.

Back to work now.

UPDATE (10:24 PM): All right, it's getting late so I think I'm going to call it a night for all these upgrades. By the way, the feedback in the comments here has been awesome! Thank you guys for all the suggestions! Now let me explain a little about what's what.

Obviously I've made some changes. The banner at the top is new. Hope you like it. There's a new sidebar on the left side of the page. I'll refer to it henceforth as the pollbar so there's no confusion. At the top will be the bracket for the current tournament. Beneath that will be all of the polls for the current round of said tournament (including the closed ones).

Now that the polls are no longer part of posts, it makes commenting a little different. Instead of leaving a comment here on the blog, you'll leave it on the poll via the PollDaddy web site. After you cast your vote, a comments link will appear within the poll box. Click that to see what others have said and add your own two cents into the mix.

Unfortunately this means comments posted on those polls up to now are in between worlds. They're not gone, but they aren't currently accessible. I don't see it being a problem for now, but I'll try to find a way to get them back in the future.

You may be wondering about the IHA polls. For now, that's staying the way it is. I may change it at some point, but for right now those polls will stay within posts. You can get quick links from the sidebar.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll be making even more changes tomorrow. Just keep letting me know what you guys think and if you experience any problems.

Kings Official; Who Else Is?

This isn't earth-shattering news or anything but I just thought I'd point out that the Kings have officially confirmed that they'll have a third jersey this season on their web site.

Season ticket holders will receive a free one — wonder if that means they think they'll have a hard time selling them.

Anyway, like I said it's not like we didn't know the Kings would have a third jersey this year, but amidst all the rumors I think we sometimes forget that very few of these alternate sweaters are officially confirmed yet and the carpet could be ripped out from under us at any time. So I still plan to keep a close eye on what the teams are saying — along with Howard Berger and other rumor-mongers.

Here's a rundown of teams that have confirmed a third jersey is some official capacity:

Sabres
Prior to the Winter Classic, Buffalo alluded to the use of a third jersey without setting a specific timetable when managing partner Larry Quinn said, "Our future retro jersey will be the dark blue sweater, so this maybe one of the last times our team wears this [white] jersey."

Kings
As stated above, Los Angeles has made their alternate sweater official by offering a "Kings Free Alternate Jersey (with mystery photo)" to season ticket holders.

Flyers
Philly was the first to confirm a third jersey last year, doing so within the online form to buy a new Rbk EDGE sweater. It read, "Black and white jerseys are available this year. A third orange jersey will be released next year."

Sharks
In May at San Jose's "State of the Sharks" event, CEO Greg Jamison confirmed a third jersey's existence by saying, "There is a good chance it will be black. It is still being decided on. I can tell you we get input from the fans, staff and the players. The players were very involved in the jerseys for this year. I think the third jersey will be very neat."

Those were the only teams for which I could find quotes on official web sites. I don't consider a media interview with a team executive to be an official confirmation, because that's not coming through team channels — if that makes any sense.

If you come across anything I haven't found, shoot me an email and I'll add it to the list.

THN Releases Logo Rankings

The Hockey News, as they've done every year since I can remember, has released their logo rankings. The Blackhawks are No. 1 on their list — far from that on mine.

Below are their Top 10.

Pretty much what you'd expect. Here are the Bottom 5.

I'm a little surprised to see the Hurricanes down there. Not at all surprised to see the Ducks last. Shame about my Lightning, but what THN says is true. They just can't find a font that works.

I highly recommend checking out their full ranking complete with rationale and everything. (You'll understand my joke once you've read that.)

Now that's not all THN has going. Yesterday they launched a new web feature that I can't decide whether I should be miffed or flattered by. They announced their Logo Rankings & Tournament. This is a lot like any one of our logo tournaments where we pit logo against logo and you vote for the best.

Theirs is on a larger scale. They're holding a tournament of the 40 best logos from 16 different leagues. A great idea, but not an original one. Still, I think you guys should all go vote in their logo competition and see how it all turns out. I'll still continue doing the same thing here.

I'm curious to know what you guys think of this. Read up on what The Hockey News has going and then drop me a line by email or comment.

IHA Poll: Washington Stars

Cast your vote and leave a comment about your decision. If you chose a non-finalist, tell us which one. Then tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Starts Fri Aug 1
Ends Mon Aug 4

As promised, below are a handful of the logos that were submitted but not selected as a finalist. If you think one of these should be the Washington Stars logo, select "non-finalist" in the poll and tell us your pick in the comments.

Previewing The New Thirds

All right, so much to discuss. This is the post I promised days ago but I kept putting it off every time new information leaked. So far I haven't heard anything new today so here are some of the concepts folks have put together based off of the latest design rumors. We're starting with Hockey Week, who put together a graphic that includes all 18 possible thirds!

That's a lot of work he put into that. But there's still more. The Islanders wore special vintage jerseys briefly two seasons ago that will probably serve as a basis for this year's alternates.

Very sharp. Those are the only photographs I have. Everything else is fan made art.

Next up are the Kings in a variety of different looks based off of Howard Berger's description.

I'm pulling for the one on the left, personally. Here are a couple of concepts for the Senators — or should I say, Sens?

While I'm on the subject, a group of fans in Ottawa are pushing a "heritage jersey" as they call it. This is what it looks like.

You can sign their peititon if you're so inclined. Honestly, they could do a lot worse. That's a very nice sweater.

You want to see what's not a nice sweater?

With the text on the jersey, I don't imagine the Lightning will use the numbers on the front. I do like the arm stripes here, though. Staying in the south, we've got Kari Lehtonen with a possible third jersey design painted on.

I'm not a huge fan but I think I need to see the actual sweater.

And finally, our friend Dave (aka DRutka) has come up with a little something for the Sabres. Charlie posted this at Sabres Not Slugs.

By the way, as you guys know, Dave's been adapted Matt's rebrands for use in EA's NHL video games. I'll have links to those coming shortly. You'll find them in the Rebranding The NHL section of the sidebar.

If you guys have anymore third jersey mock-ups, feel free to send them along for posting here.

By the way, almost forgot to mention it. All 18 teams getting third jerseys are now featuring in the sidebar.

IHA Poll: Pittsburgh Miners

Cast your vote and leave a comment about your decision. If you chose a non-finalist, tell us which one. Then tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

By the way, I normally wouldn't do this but I feel the need to point out that the bird in Option #3 is NOT a penguin even though that seems fairly obvious.

Starts Thu Jul 31
Ends Sun Aug 3

As promised, below are a handful of the logos that were submitted but not selected as a finalist. If you think one of these should be the Pittsburgh Miners logo, select "non-finalist" in the poll and tell us your pick in the comments.