RIP: San Francisco Bulls (2012—2014)

Sophomore ECHL club shuts down midseason

Maybe the Bay Area can only support one pro hockey team. The San Francisco Bulls — ECHL affiliate of the San Jose Sharks — ceased operations on Monday after only a season and a half in action.

It's not difficult to figure out why.

Photos from San Francisco Bulls by Mike Tkacheff

The team's press release tells us they couldn't find a new owner in time. The empty Cow Palace seen above on Jan. 15 tells us why no one was interested in buying the Bulls.

During their brief existence, the Bulls brought us one of the most wretched logos in minor league hockey — except, of course, when it had to be embroidered on the front of a sweater. So I can't say I'll miss this team all that much.

There is one thing they got right, though.

Last season, on Feb. 9 and 10, the Bulls skated in San Jose Sharks throwback jerseys — with that classic Pacific teal and gray. A lot of us miss those uniforms, so it was nice to see them in action one more time. Although they did their best to wreck it with those gradients in the crest.

Thanks for the memories.

Said no one. Okay, well there's that one guy in the middle a few rows up. He's the only one.

ECHL Opens All-Star Jersey Voting

Three finalists selected; voting ends Monday

Polls have officially opened on the 2015 ECHL All-Star Classic jersey design contest hosted by the Orlando Solar Bears. Last week, the Solar Bears began accepting submissions from fans. Today, the three finalists were revealed as voting began. Take a look at the options presented to voters.

Image from Orlando Solar Bears

According to the press release, the Solar Bears received more than a hundred entries and the finalists were selected by "a group made up of individuals from the ECHL, CCM, the Joe Bosack Design Co. and the Orlando Solar Bears."

Polls close Mon., Dec. 23 at noon ET so VOTE NOW!

Icethetics contributor's design among finalists

Unfortunately, the Solar Bears elected not to include the designers' names with their entries in the poll of finalists. However, we do know "C" was designed by frequent Icethetics concept contributor Matt McElroy, who tweeted about it earlier today. It also showcases his IceBorn concept template, which is featured here on Icethetics. Good luck to Matt!

For a look at some other all-star jersey submissions which were not among the finalists, check out yesterday's post on the Concepts page.

What do you think of the finalists? And which one will you be voting for?

ECHL Hosts All-Star Design Contest

League accepting fan jersey submissions for 2015 event

Feel like designing a couple of hockey jerseys this weekend?

Players participating in the 2015 ECHL All-Star Classic could be wearing uniforms designed by you! This week, the ECHL and the Orlando Solar Bears (the 2015 All-Star host) announced a jersey design contest for the big event.

They are accepting submissions from fans until next Friday, Dec. 13. Three finalists will be selected and posted to the Solar Bears' Facebook page the following week, when the designs will be put to a public vote. Voting runs Wed., Dec. 18 through Mon., Dec. 23.

All finalists will receive autographed replica jerseys. The grand prize winner gets a game-worn jersey and, of course, the opportunity to see his design in action. The winning jersey will be worn by the ECHL All-Stars team, which will face the Solar Bears.

If you're interested in participating, you can find more information and rules for entering on the ECHL's official website. That link also includes a handful of official all-star logos you can download to include in your design. I know we have a lot of younger readers here, but you must be 18 or older to enter.

Also, feel free to send your submissions to me as well and I'll put together a post on the Concepts page.

Finally, in case you're wondering, there will not be an ECHL All-Star game this season. According to the league, there were no bids to host. The first time league skipped the event was 1993. Prior to that, it had been held annually since 1993.

Last year, the Colorado Eagles hosted. In 2011, it was the Bakersfield Condors.

If you need a jersey template, try our new Templates page. Good luck!

Minor Jersey Mayhem

This is a big weekend for specialty jerseys around the minor leagues. Let's start in the AHL!

Game photo from Rockford IceHogs (via Flickr)

Rockford celebrates Los IceHogs Dos!

How can we not start here? The Rockford IceHogs donned these numbers for Los IceHogs Dos this weekend. If you missed "Uno," check out this post from last year. They are really something.

I talked with IceHogs' communications director Mike Peck who said the team partnered with the Latino Leadership Coalition in Rockford for the event. In fact, they inspired the jersey design.

"They really wanted to highlight the strong musical aspect of the Hispanic/Latino culture," said Peck.

The IceHogs wore this uniform on Friday night and auctioned them off afterward with "proceeds being donated to La Voz Latina, an organization dedicated to serving the Rockford region’s Hispanic community through education, workshops and youth programming," according to the press release.

The great thing about these specialty jersey nights around the minors is that these teams are always raising money for charity. So no matter how silly the team may look on the ice, at least it's for a good cause.

Photo from Worcester Sharks (via Facebook)

Worcester raises autism awareness

The Worcester Sharks wore these jerseys on Friday and Saturday to benefit The Autism Resource Center of Central Massachusetts. The puzzle piece pattern is the standard symbol of autism awareness.

Photos from Texas Stars

Texas dons player-designed stars and stripes

This Veterans Day weekend was marked by a number of patriotic or military-themed jerseys. The Texas Stars called it Stars & Stripes Military Appreciation Weekend and wore these jerseys on Friday and Saturday. The subsequent jersey auction is benefiting the Texas Stars Foundation.

The cool part of this uniform is who designed it. Remember Taylor Vause? He played for the Swift Current Broncos a couple seasons and ago and was responsible for designing some fo the team's specialty jerseys. He's continued that hobby since graduating to the pros.

Vause spent most of last season with the Stars but is currently with the club's ECHL affiliate, the Idaho Steelheads. So unfortunately, while he designed this jersey, he didn't get to wear it this weekend.

Images from Springfield Falcons and Hershey Bears

Falcons and Bears go patriotic for Veterans Day

The Springfield Falcons and Hershey Bears honored military veterans in different ways this weekend. The Falcons wore the Hometown Heroes Night jerseys above while being shut out 3-0 on Friday. (This is the only photo I've been able to find of the jersey so far.)

The Bears, on the other hand, are going the camouflage route with tonight's set. I have yet to see any photos of the actual jersey, but the rendering above was posted to their Facebook page on Thursday.

Bakersfield can't stop making odd jerseys

And finally, we wrap up in the ECHL where this is happening tonight.

Image from Bakersfield Condors (via Facebook)

Had to make it huge so you could truly appreciate it. The Bakersfield Condors are always trying to go outside by the box with specialty jerseys. And I really don't know what to say about this one. Perhaps I could address the irony of the sponsor being Dignity Health. Because that's just what the players won't have after they wear these for three hours.

If you can't get enough, the Condors have a photo gallery on Pinterest.

I know there are some I've missed so I'll have a follow-up to this post likely later this evening. In the meantime, what do you think of these? Any favorites in the bunch?

Update on Sunday · Nov 10 · 2013 | 7:32 PM PST by Chris

As promised, I wanted to follow up with a few more recent minor league event jerseys.

Photos from Toledo Walleye (via Facebook)

ECHL clubs compete on epic Star Wars Night

Last weekend, the ECHL's Toledo Walleye and Michigan K-Wings coordinated a one-of-a-kind Star Wars Night. This is a schtick that's been done many times before. In fact, just the week before, the Orlando Solar Bears hosted one of their own!

What made this one interesting was how both teams came together for this event in Toledo, Ohio. I have to be honest. I've never been a Star Wars fan, so I don't really understand all these teams doing this or even the references involved. But I can understand it's a big part of popular culture and many fans get a good kick out of it.

I read that the Walleye are dressed as X-Wing pilots (in orange) while the K-Wings are dressed up a Darth Vader. Of course as names go, wouldn't it be more appropriate to have the K-Wings dress up as X-Wing pilots? But then the game was in Toledo, so the Walleye can't be the baddies.

Anyway, it was visually a rather interesting game. No denying that.

Cancer awareness night jerseys also popular

If you're a team trying to raise money for charity, the best you can probably do is cancer research. The Providence Bruins and Portland Pirates recently held their Pink in the Rink Nights — an event that a vast number of hockey teams have started to latch onto in recent years.

But taking the crown this weekend were the San Antonio Rampage who focused on cancer affecting children. Because there's no bigger bummer on which to end a blog post. But you know what, when the jerseys are sold, it's money those researchers wouldn't have otherwise had. So good on these teams for their efforts!

ECHL Unveils 2015 All-Star Logo

Orlando will host the game on Jan. 21

The event is still 16 months away, but the logo for the 2015 ECHL All-Star Classic is already here! Can't accuse anybody of dragging their feet on this one.

The ECHL named the Orlando Solar Bears host of the 2015 event back on June 26. Then just yesterday, the logo was officially unveiled. This may be the earliest we've ever gotten an official look at a major event logo in any league.

The logo is basically an extension of the Solar Bears brand. No surprise given how Orlando is going to want to really own this event. Of course the Joe Bosack Graphic Design Co. was behind the design of this mark as well as the rest of the Solar Bears' identity.

There's one more detail that caught my eye in all of Monday's press releases. Check this out:

In addition, CCM will provide the All-Star game jerseys which will be designed by one lucky winner of the ECHL All-Star Jersey Design Contest.

So there's going to be an ECHL All-Star Jersey Design Contest. I assume we'll get more details down the road. I don't imagine it will actually take place for another year. But definitely something to pay attention to. I'd love to see one of our talented concept artists create something for the ECHL's All-Stars.

ECHL has yet to announce an All-Star host for 2014

By the way, if you're searching your memory for the 2014 ECHL All-Star Game logo, you won't find it. Not only doesn't it exist, the league hasn't even named a host yet. One ECHL blogger learned last month from the league that there apparently aren't any teams interested in hosting in 2014.

So the ECHL may skip it this season. No big loss, I guess. With the Olympics and all, who'd be paying attention anyway? Still, it's one less new logo for us to stare at.

What are your thoughts on the 2015 logo? Love, hate, indifferent?