Jersey Brief: AHL Classic Edition

Late January was a busy time for some "classic" American Hockey League uniforms. We'll start with the 2013 AHL Outdoor Classic which took place on Sun., Jan. 20 at HersheyPark in Hershey, Penn. between the Hershey Bears and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. (Does anyone else have a sudden urge for chocolate?)

Photos by Matthew O'Haren / The Sentinel

By the way, it turns out that jersey the Pens photographed for Instagram last October was the one they'd be wearing to the big outdoor game a few months later. Now we know. It's surprisingly lackluster for the Penguins, but it works for an outdoor hockey game, which sort of demands that old-timey look and feel.

Photos by Kyle Mace / Sweetest Hockey on Earth

The Penguins ended up winning the game in an OT thriller on a goal from Paul Thompson.

By the way, for more fantastic photos of the Bears' uniforms from the game, head on over to Sweetest Hockey on Earth. Lots of great shots by Kyle Mace. I particularly like the felt appliqué crests on these. Adds even more to the throwback feel of an event like this. Penn Live has more game photos.

Speaking of throwbacks, before the Outdoor Classic, a bunch of alumni from the Bears and Penguins got together for a game of their own — wearing, of course, sweaters of olde.

Photos by JustSports Photography

JustSports Photography has posted shots from the game on their Facebook page. (Note there were three separate links there as they posted their many photos in three separate albums.)

That wasn't the only classic AHL game in the month of January.

Just over a week later, on Mon., Jan. 28, the best players still left in the AHL (after the NHL nabbed a bunch of them) descended on Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, R.I. for the 2013 AHL All-Star Classic. After 15 years of pitting an all-Canadian AHL team against players born in other parts of the world, the league switched up their All-Star format in 2010 — to east versus west.

Photos from AHL via Facebook

Since it's not obvious from the sweaters, I'll tell you that the team wearing blue was the Western Conference All-Stars. The Eastern Conference wore white. And both teams feel like a bizarre mix between the old Montreal Canadiens' and Washington Capitals' uniforms for some reason.

For those of you that can't get enough of these "fauxback" jerseys, the AHL is the league to watch right now. And if you want one of your very own, they're up for auction on ebay.

Photo from AHL via Facebook

The West ended up winning the game 7-6. (Maybe because East players started shooting on their own goalie?) But what's interesting about the teams' jerseys is that they were worn during warms-up prior to last year's All-Star Classic. Why is that interesting? Check out this year's warm-up jerseys.

Photos from AHL via Facebook

I'm not saying they AHL All-Stars will wear black and gold in 2014, but these are unique. I doubt the league would stray from their red, white and blue. I'm also not sure I like how the Boston Bruins' primary and secondary logos have been redesigned for the purpose of this event. Seems like they could've been a little more original.

In case you're interested, the Journal Star reported last month that the AHL is considering Peoria to host the 2014 All-Star Classic. (Concept logos, anyone?)

And finally, this...

On first glance, from above, it looks like this could be the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators — or the Boston Bruins in their 2009 Winter Classic threads. But no, it's Providence and Worcester both wearing colored sweaters! Proof that you don't need a white jersey to have a hockey game.

Get with it, NHL. If they can do it, certainly you can too.

ECHL Unveils 2013 All-Star Jerseys

ECHL's 2013 All-Star Game jerseys unveiled Nov. 21

Last Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving in the U.S., the ECHL unveiled the uniforms that will be worn at the 2013 ECHL All-Star Game. The jerseys were revealed at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colo. — home of the host Colorado Eagles — during the first intermission of their game against the Florida Everblades.

Game features Colorado Eagles vs. ECHL All-Stars

The ECHL is continuing with a new format introduced at the last All-Star event in 2011 (the ECHL did not hold one in 2012), where the host team faces off against the top players from across the league. If that seems a little one-sided, you're not wrong.

The Bakersfield Condors lost to the All-Stars 9-3 in 2011. Currently, the Eagles are third in their division (of four teams) with a record of 8-7-1-2 — which is to say they're mediocre. So it's not like the league's best team is taking on the all-star roster. That said, it's easier to sell All-Star Game tickets in Loveland when the locals can cheer on their own team.

Photo by John Babitz

Four jerseys designed for All-Star Week events

Reebok has designed a total of four different sweaters for the ECHL's All-Star Week festivities, one set for the big game and another for the Skills Competition. The Eagles, who normally wear black, will sport a blue jersey with a few stars around the waist. The All-Stars will wear white with the event logo on the front. All jerseys will have the ECHL's 25th anniversary logo on one shoulder.

For the Skills Competition, the Eagles jersey will have the team name written diagonally down the front. The All-Stars will wear the same white jersey but with their own team's crest on the front. And if all these jerseys feel reminiscent of the NHL's old Colorado Rockies, that's sort of the point.

Uniform designs an homage to NHL's old Colorado Rockies

From the Eagles' press release:

With the strong Colorado theme, it made sense for the jerseys to also pay homage to Colorado's rich hockey history. As such, the jerseys worn by both teams will include the main colors from the state's flag (red, blue and yellow) and are strikingly similar to the jerseys worn by the National Hockey League's former Colorado Rockies franchise, which played in Denver from 1976 through 1982 (before moving to New Jersey as the current day Devils). The ECHL's championship trophy, the Kelly Cup, was named after Patrick Kelly, who coached the Colorado Rockies in 1977-78.

If you want to get your hands on one of the jerseys, here's how:

Replicas of each, except the All-Star team Skills event jerseys, will be available exclusively at the Eagles' holiday store in the Foothills Mall in Ft. Collins, Colo. through Dec. 30. After the new year, the aforementioned jerseys will be available online. Game-worn jerseys from both events will be available via auction from The MeiGray Group; details will be announced in January.

This news came just two days before the NHL announced the cancellation of its 2013 All-Star Game in Columbus. Seeing the unique format the ECHL uses, what do you think of the NHL doing something similar in the future? What sort of format would you like to see?

NHL Unveils 2013 All-Star Game Logo

Outside Nationwide Arena today in Columbus, the NHL unveiled the 2013 All-Star Game logo in front of a surprisingly large crowd.

The logo is par for the course on NHL All-Star logos over the past decade. Nothing surprising. The designers honed in on a recognizable symbol (Ohio's state flag) and were sure to work in some other elements of the host team's identity.

The star and crossed hockey sticks were lifted off the Jackets' shoulder patch. Though technically the sticks are an emblem on a Union soldier's hat, but you get the picture. Plus you wouldn't want anyone in Columbus to see the logo and mistake it for another sport.

All right, I'm not trying to take potshots at the logo. It's a good logo. It's just not mind-blowingly impressive or anything. To quote a fittingly tired phrase, it is what it is.

A big crowd takes in the logo unveiling ceremonyEarlier, I expressed surprise at the size of the crowd, not because of the rotten seasons the Blue Jackets have been having (ergo, jaded fans), but rather because this was nothing more than an unveiling for a logo with a shelf-life of 275 days.

Goes to show that hockey fans in Columbus don't need a winning team to be great hockey fans! My fellow Lightning fans from the '90s and I know a thing or two about that. Granted, there probably weren't as many of us back then.

I didn't hear any mention of the All-Star uniforms today. If I had to guess, I'd say we get the same ones for a third year in a row — which would be a first since the mid-90s. Those teal and purple jerseys were used from 1994 to 1997.

I'm not saying it's necessarily bad thing that we'll get them again. I actually like them a lot. But it would be one less new NHL design to anticipate in 2012. But I assume Reebok spent a lot of time on those 2010 jerseys, so they want to get their money's worth.

If you missed the live-streamed unveiling today, you can watch the cannon fire here.

I'd love to know what everyone else thinks. Share your critiques in the comments.

New All-Star Logo Coming Friday

The Columbus Blue Jackets have announced that the 2013 NHL All-Star Game logo will be unveiled at Nationwide Arena this Friday. The event will take place at noon ET.

The team designing the logo, Frederick & Froberg Design Group, have been hard at work on the new mark for the past several months. For more background on the design process, check out this blog post from February.

If you'd like to see what some of our talented concept artists have come up with for the next All-Star Game, click here to have a look.

Drop by Icethetics on Friday to see the logo and share your reaction.

At Work on Columbus' NHL All-Star Logo

Since I'm in the process of reinvigorating the Concepts page here at Icethetics (with new concept posts daily!), it seems only fitting that this latest blog update features a number of professional concept logos that have been created for the NHL.

It all comes by way of a video posted on the Columbus Blue Jackets' website — the first in a series chronicling the development of the 2013 NHL All-Star Weekend.

In the video, the guys who will be designing the All-Star logo talk about the process. It's all very fascinating to people like us.

Bill Frederick of the Frederick & Froberg Design Group and NHL Senior Design Director Paul Conway arrived in Columbus Tuesday to meet with Blue Jackets marketing and creative team members and begin planning the art for the 2013 All-Star celebration. Conway and Frederick have been a part of several NHL sanctioned event logo designs, most recently working on the 2012 NHL All-Star Game in Ottawa.

NHL All-Star 2012 logo developmentPerhaps the best part of the video is the B-roll in which we see the logo designers leafing through their incredible portfolio. Getting to see the logos that didn't make the final cut is very cool.

On the right are three screen grabs from the video that show the early development process of the 2012 NHL All-Star logo. Interestingly, it was the design labeled Concept A that appears closest to the final version.

Concept B is pretty nice, but it makes sense the overall shape of an All-Star logo is more of a — you know — star. And I guess the Peace Tower was kind of the obvious choice as far as a central design theme.

As the designers say in the video, the first thing they do is try to determine what makes the host city iconic — if anything. The goal isn't to rework the host team's primary logo with some stars in it — despite the fact that that's basically what happened with the 2011 game in Raleigh.

As Conway says:

“Some cities are more challenging than others, and Columbus certainly is one of those. There’s not that one key iconic aspect of the city that stands out, which makes this research phase and interview process even more critical.”

Columbus is a beautiful city, but I'm not sure the skyline is recognizable enough to cut it here. It'll be interesting to see what they go with since the Blue Jackets' primary mark is basically tailor-made for an All-Star logo — what with it being a giant star and all.

I hope the Blue Jackets continue to release videos throughout this process. It'll be fun to follow along with the development of an NHL logo. It's something we rarely get an inside look at — and something no Icethetics reader can get enough of.

Conway says the process can take about four to six weeks from start to finish. But that doesn't necessarily mean the official logo will be unveiled in April. It may not come until late summer. We'll obviously be keeping an eye on it.

One more thing. In the video we see someone thumbing through a Blue Jackets logo portfolio. It appears to share a glimpse of elements of an unused third jersey design.

I would guess the logo we see there was probably an intended shoulder patch. Beneath it we can see the numbers and letters that are actually used on the current third jersey — only in different colors. Bet it would've been a neat look. (UPDATE 2/26: After the initial post, Avi Stein put together a hi-res rendering of what we can see in that video frame.) And if you feel like putting together a uniform concept featuring this logo, maybe you can take some inspiration from some other Blue Jackets third jersey prototypes seen here last year.

For what it's worth, the NHL is currently promoting the 2013 All-Star Weekend with graphics like the one seen here. But it's merely the Blue Jackets' custom font. Nothing special — or permanent.

My thanks to Mike R. for letting me know about the video.

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While we're on the subject of logo development, Denver Post beat writer Adrian Dater posted a podcast he did with Dan Price, the creative director for the Colorado Avalanche in 1995 when the team moved from Quebec. He was responsible for the logo, but credits Michael Beindorff with actually designing it.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the interview to me was learning that the franchise was originally going to be named the Rocky Mountain Extreme. The name was actually leaked early by Dater in the Post but Denver hockey fans revolted and the marketing guys went back to the drawing board. Price points out that before the organization settled on Avalanche, they also considered naming the team Cougars and Black Bears. Glad they went with Avs.

Price is currently the head of a local marketing firm called Adrenalin. They are responsible for rebranding the Phoenix Coyotes in 2003 when Wayne Gretzky got involved with the team. Anyway, the podcast is a good listen if you've got a half hour to kill. But a necessity if you're an Avs fan.