Thursday
Jun252009

Heat Unveil New Logo

Words I love to write: "unveil... new... logo." Always exciting.

Yes, legitimate Icethetics news coming in today! The Abbotsford Heat, the newest addition to the American Hockey League unveiled their new logo this morning. And despite my hype in the previous graf, it is rather unremarkable. I mean, I looked at it, started writing this post, and had to look at it again to remember what it looked like.

See for yourself.

Now then, some of us may need a quick history lesson (I know I did). Who are the Abbotsford Heat and when did they join the AHL? The Heat is just another in a long line of aliases for a team I'm not entirely convinced isn't in witness protection.

This franchise began life in 1987 as the Utica Devils, the natural minor league farm club of the New Jersey Devils. That lasted only six years, until Calgary Flames took over the team in 1993, moved it to Saint John and shared its own moniker. The Saint John Flames lasted a full decade before it all hit the fan.

In 2005, following two years of absence from the league, the club was reestablished in Nebraska and were re-dubbed the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights. ("Ak-Sar-Ben" being "Nebraska" with some hyphens in your rear view mirror.) After two seasons, the franchise was relocated to Moline, Illinois and reunited with their parent club's nickname. Known then as the Quad City Flames, they were responsible for the immediate death of the UHL's Quad City Mallards, who had occupied the same arena for the 12 years prior.

Now for the worst part. After just two seasons in Moline and two stints in the American Midwest, the Flames ultimately decided that it really wasn't for them. This fall, the AHL's globe-trotting club returns to Canada once again after a zig-zagged trek across the continent. For the record, it's been 4,888 miles of relocations and counting. (If you're really bored, I've mapped it out for you.)

Now, about the logo from before that by now you've forgotten about. Go look at it again real quick. Responsible for the rather banal basketball-esque logo is a local company called Domain7.

The alleged lead designer Stephen Bau excused the drabness by saying, "We wanted to capture the essence of hockey and position Abbotsford as a destination for world-class hockey in the logo and branding."Before you assume he's about to follow up with an apology for failing, he goes on by saying "and I think we were able to do that." Out of curiosity, do you think he's actually seen it?

Furthermore, I was ready to express my sympathy for the fans of Abbotsford before I read that they voted for the name! Really? The Heat? Miami can get away with it. Your average high for the year is 74 degrees. Unless it's irony. And then it's funny. But I think we all know you aren't that clever, Abbotsford.

Not that you'll necessarily want to see it, but Heat's web site is claiming to offer a behind-the-scenes look at the development of the new brand. Someone actually wrote the following line describing this logo: "the movement of the puck looks somewhat like a flaming comet." Really playing it fast and loose with the phrase "looks somewhat like," aren't we?

Not even joking about that.

Anyway, I apologize if I've been a little harsh this afternoon on this, my first logo unveiling since the return of Icethetics. But I'm just unimpressed. I will say one thing in its favor, however. I'd sooner buy something with a "flaming comet" on it than that horrible Quad City Flames logo.

Anyone else have an opinion?

Thanks to Ian for the tip.

Tuesday
Jun232009

Concept Art: The Awaited Return

I wish I had more for you guys lately. There's not been much to report as far as news. A few bits of concept art have trickled in here and there so I thought I'd take some time to share some.

Untvar sends in this Maple Leafs re-imagining, saying "If Burke is able to turn the Leafs around, they might need an upgrade to their uni. I tried to think of something that would update their traditional look, but keeping in mind that they WANT it to be simple."

Thoughts?

From Kevin (aka Koho) comes a new Lonestar-based look for the Dallas Stars.

Certainly reminiscent of the old days of hockey and I wouldn't be surprised if a 1960s era club called the Texas Lone Stars had worn something just like it.

Kevin writes, "I think [the Stars] should've changed to [this] when they moved from Minnesota to Texas. Being that Texas is the Lone Star state I think that they should've rebranded themselves from the Minnesota North Stars to the Dallas/Texas Lone Stars after the move. I used an old police badge shaped like a star with the Texas flag inside as the logo and slightly based the jersey off of the retro Oilers third jersey."

Evan submitted a couple of interesting jersey designs for the Oilers and Senators.

Hope that holds you guys over for a little while. I hate saying "I'm back" and then going so long without a post. I'm doing my best to get some legitimate information with regard to the new crop of third jerseys for 2009-10. At the moment, I don't really have anything new. But keep checking back, it'll be right here when I do.

And as always, feel free to get in touch with any suggestions, comments, ideas, questions or criticisms you may have. I may not necessarily reply to them all, but I'll at least give them a ready. It's icethetics@gmail.com.

Monday
Jun152009

Bringing It Back

It's been over four months since the last post, but it appears there are enough of you interested to keep Icethetics around a little while longer. And I did say I'd try a relaunch this summer. The Stanley Cup has been awarded which, in my book, is the official start of summer.

In all likelihood, it'll be a slow return to normal. I've reopened the blog and last summer's Third Jersey Central. I'll update the blog whenever there is news to report. And we're expecting yet another round of third jersey unveilings this summer (although considerably smaller than last year's).

I know a lot of folks enjoyed the Concept Art aspect of Icethetics, so that is the first feature I'm going to reincorporate. If you've got artwork worth posting, send it my way.

Before you ask, I do hope to return to all of our other features, including the IceHL. That is a great project and I would like to see it through. However I do not have a timetable. Just keep checking back for more information.

So the news is that Icethetics is back, at least for now. Until there's news to report, enjoy the archives.

Saturday
Feb212009

Still Here

Hey guys, just wanted to check in. Haven't made any updates lately because there hasn't been much to update. There are some interesting minor league jerseys that hit the ice recently. I'll try to get pictures posted this weekend. 

Thanks to those of you who have emailed in. As ever, Icethetics continues to be a work in progress and now that I find I have limited time to run it, for a while it's not going to be what it once was. For those of you who don't work in television you may not understand why, but the next three months are going to be an incredibly busy time for me and you may hear from me even less than you have lately.

However, you guys should know I'm planning a sort of re-launch for the summer. We'll be following the second round of third jerseys as well as launching the uniform and logo history section (fingers crossed), among other things.

In the meantime, should anything big come up, I'll be here to write about it. Thanks for your patience.

Wednesday
Feb112009

Paint The Rink Pink

The OHL's Mississauga St. Michael's Majors (say that three times fast) are making their contribution to the Freak Out Friday (on Friday the 13th, no less) by playing a game on pink ice. The team's making donations to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation so I guess it's all right. I'll keep an eye out for game photos.

Yeah, that's right, it gets worse. This is at least the second time they've done this!

The ECHL's Ontario Reign didn't go as far as to paint the ice, but they did don pink jerseys against the Alaska Aces last Saturday. Unfortunately, this is the best picture I could find.

I don't really have much else for you today beyond that. Those of you who wrote in about joining Icethetics as a staff writer, I plan on getting back to you soon. I appreciate your patience.