Blaze Become Bloomington Thunder
Tuesday · Aug 6 · 2013 | 12:19 AM PDT
Central Hockey League forced name change
Back in May we learned the Bloomington Blaze were leaving the Central Hockey League for the Southern Professional Hockey League beginning next season. Seems that may have ruffled some feathers because the CHL's lawyers said the club would have to give up the Blaze name.
For that reason, according to the Pantagraph in Bloomington, Ill., the franchise renamed itself the Bloomington Thunder in late July. The move also helped the team align with the local youth hockey organization, also called the Thunder.
These teams are not to be confused with the Bloomington PrairieThunder which formed in the International Hockey League in 2006 and joined the CHL with the league merger in 2010. A year later, the PrairieThunder dissolved and a new group brough the Blaze to town in 2011.
I'm not sure why the CHL is so tied to the Blaze moniker considering the team only existed for two years. Unless they're just being petty because the team decided to switch leagues. This low-level minor leagues can be interesting. But nonetheless there's another new logo in the hockey world so it gets a place here on the blog.
For now, I'll leave you with a last look at the old Blaze logo.
Reader Comments (20)
The Prarie Thunder were originally in the UHL then the IHL 2.0.
Sounds awfully petty to me.
That Thunder logo is absolutely terrible. What a shame.
Maybe I'm missing something - what is it supposed to be?
Wow this logo would be more fitting for a minor league baseball team, but even at that it's awful imo.
the point of a logo is so you can identify the team when you first look at the logo without having to think too much about it. when I first saw this logo, my first thought was that it's a train... which begs the question, "why do teams choose 'Thunder' as their nickname"? you know what thunder is? a sound. how do you draw sound? (although I suppose it's better than the Oklahoma City Thunder logo...)
since it is a train, it obviously looks a lot like the- now derailed- chicago express echl team, but i do like it better than the blaze logo. that one always just looked odd to me.
The CHL has been losing teams to other leagues for a while now (mostly to the NAHL and ECHL) and I think they are probably getting very frustrated with that. This does reek of pettyness since usually the teams get to keep the names they already have had. Too bad they couldn't have given Bloomington longer notice on this0, they might have had time to come up with a better logo (I don't care for the Thunder name either, but if it ties in with local hockey, I guess that is a good reason for the name)
It's a shame, that new Thunder logo is just dreadful and I actually love the old Blaze logo.
I don't really see the train...can someone explain it to me?
If you read the linked article, the logo is explained some in the comments.
But this is still an awful logo.
NHLJeff
The train is a very stylized steam locomotive.
The circle with the star on the right is the front of the engine with the steam cloud coming out the top.
The grey line running across the bottom is the rail.
Hopefully that will help you to see it.
Overall, while I see and like where they are coming from, but that logo on it's own is simply not effective enough. I hope the design of the rest of the uniform will give a better big picture and please have shoulder patches with the train from a different POV to provide better context as well.
I choo-choo-choose the Blaze logo...
they should have just added a "rs" and became the bloomington blazers
Can we get a write up on what the AHL Hartford Wolfpack are doing about their jerseys this year .For the last couple years they were to Connecticut Whale but this year to reverting back to the Hartford Wolfpack
Rob,
I see it now. Thanks. Terrible logo.
Trains and Thunder, one in the same apparently.
the only part i thought i saw was the white stingray at the top ... now i see that its suppose to be stylized smoke coming from a ?train? what an utterly hot mess of a logo ... I stared at it for a while and had no idea what i was looking at (until i finally read Rob's comment) which is not a good thing for a logo
What? That is a terrible logo. The train is almost impossible to see and what does a train have to do with thunder anyway? When I look at it, all I see is what looks like a burning cigarette. Dreadful.
Jeff & Patrick: Glad to help.
Attn: Bloomington Management, I'm available to help your Sponsors and Ticket Holders to see the train as well. My fee is simply free Season Tickets, first class air travel from Vancouver for each game, and the promise you'll get better feedback when you are about to make huge PR bungles in the future.