The Whale is Coming

The AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack will be renamed the Connecticut Whale on Monday at 5 PM, according to the Hartford Courant.

A long-in-the-works deal for Howard Baldwin to take control of the American Hockey League franchise is apparently done. It was rumored he would rename the team the Connecticut Whalers. Perhaps he's saving that name for his ultimate goal of reviving the Hartford Whalers.

Connecticut Whalers T-shirtThe Courant says the deal and the rebranding efforts will be officially announced late Monday afternoon at the XL Center and that the new logo will not be unveiled. However, it could look something like what's on a t-shirt being sold through Baldwin's website. Wrote up a whole blog post last month.

Despite the announcement coming right away, it'll take some time before the change over happens. According to the newspaper:

The team will open the 2010-11 season as the Wolf Pack; the name change is expected to take place at some point before midseason. The name, a new logo and uniforms are expected to be in place by Feb. 19, when the Whale face the Providence Bruins.

That previously scheduled game is expected to be moved outside to Rentschler Field and played before an exhibition between a team of Hollywood celebrities — centered around the movie "Mystery, Alaska" — and former NHL All-Stars in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the NHL All-Star Game played in Hartford.

The article says to expect the changes to the logos and uniforms to happen between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Definitely keeping an eye on that.

Thanks to Jason for the tip!

Update on Monday · Sep 20 · 2010 | 8:45 AM PDT by Chris

A lot of the feedback on this story seems to be centered around the lack of a plural name — Connecticut Whale vs Whales vs Whalers. Actually, "a source close to Baldwin" was quoted in the article I referenced, explaining the choice.

"Based on internal discussions and significant feedback from both Whalers fans and Wolf Pack fans, we've chosen a name that touches on our past but also signifies this new era in Hartford hockey," one source close to Baldwin said. "Fans have always referred to the Hartford Whalers as the 'The Whale,' so it's a very familiar name."

Personally, I'm all for singular team names. They sound just fine to me. But then my team is the Lightning. It's not like I think every team should do it, but variety is always nice. Not only that, but I like the conscious choice of avoiding the Whalers name. They're wise to save that for a return of the NHL and the Hartford Whalers. Why diminish that?

By the way, for more on this subject, FOX Connecticut did a live shot this morning from the XL Center talking about the change. You can watch the video here:

A Tail of a Whale

With word coming down this week that merchandise emblazoned with that classic Hartford Whalers logo is among the hottest selling in the NHL, it's only fitting that we talk about its inexorable return to professional hockey.

It's been 13 years now since the Whalers left Connecticut for Raleigh, N.C. Despite that, T-shirts, hats and jerseys with that iconic blue-and-green mark continue to sell like that of a team that just won the Stanley Cup.

Howard BaldwinHoward Baldwin is a man bent on bringing back his team. And he may get his wish sooner than we think.

In June, Icethetics reported on Baldwin's plans for Whalers Hockey Fest 2011. A day of outdoor hockey featuring Connecticut's best college teams. But he's not nearly done.

Howlings, a blog dedicated to the AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack, has been following some interesting developments. Blogger Mitch Beck says Baldwin will be taking over the Wolf Pack and renaming it the Connecticut Whalers.

As many have read in local newspapers, or here on Howlings, the last hurdle has been cleared for Howard Baldwin and his Whalers Sports & Entertainment to take over operation of the Hartford Wolf Pack.

Well, it is only a matter of time now, as early as next week, that it should become official. When that happens, the Hartford Wolf Pack will be no more and the new team will be the Connecticut Whalers.

This will be a huge moment for the city of Hartford and for the players as well. With Baldwin running things there should be a renewed interest in the team and making it an event once again. Expect the team to once again start drawing big crowds and become the place to be.

Connecticut Whalers T-shirtThat was posted about a month ago. While we wait for something official, Beck at Howlings continues to stress the inevitability of the change as recently as a week ago.

[The] Greenville Road Warriors will be the new ECHL affiliate for the Rangers and the Connecticut Whalers… Technically they’re still the Hartford Wolf Pack, but that’s only a matter of time.

And even now you can buy a Connecticut Whalers T-shirt from Baldwin's website, WhalersProShop.com — complete with a brand new logo and everything. The potential new logo for a rebranded Wolf Pack franchise?

It's not a great logo, but how much can really stand up to that original HW design? Some people go years before even noticing the H in the negative space. It's a logo so great, it gets featured in a book titled Design Principles and Problems, published in 1995 and referenced by Paul Lukas on Uni Watch last December.

Whalers logo evolutionWhen the WHA folded in 1979, the New England Whalers were forced by the Boston Bruins to change their name before they could enter the NHL. That meant the need for a new logo. The following is an excerpt from Design Principles and Problems:

When Peter Good was commissioned to create a new logo for the Hartford Whalers hockey team, he was given a specific message to convey. Good's challenge was to give the H of Hartford and the W of Whalers equal billing in a design that suggests whaling and the feeling of a partnership between a dynamic team and a dynamic city.

The trial sketches and the final solution reveal Good pushing this basic idea through a variety of solutions until a design evolved that conveyed the desired message well. The first solution shown (a) was accepted by the client but unsatisfactory to Good because the H repressed by the enclosed, unfilled area was stronger than the W.

In the second sketch (b), Good softened the impact of the H by opening it to look more like harpoons than in the first solution. In the third sketch (c) he extended the attempt to soften the H, pushing the harpoons to the side. This possibility he rejected as ugly. In the fourth sketch (d) Good tried omitting the harpoons. The result balanced the W and H but was not particularly exciting.

The fifth sketch (e) reveals the sudden inspiration of using a whale's tail. Sketch after sketch followed, with Good trying to develop a more flowing interlock between the tail and the W. When he hit on the final solution, he wrote, "Eureka! Good 'W' and good 'H' living happily together."

Finally, Good notes a special effect created in the "empty" H space: Light seems to flow into the H legs from the outside, becoming trapped in glimmering optical pools of brightness at their base. This heightens the contrast between the straight-based H and the curved both of the W, giving the design an exciting look.

Stories like this always help me find inspiration when designing.

Anyway, though Baldwin might get his wish with the Wolf Pack, the chances of the NHL returning to Hartford in the near future are slim. Let's not forget the nature of expansion in the NHL over the past decade. This has been the league's most stable period since the 1960s.

Brian Favat of SB Nation Boston also makes a good point:

Thirteen years later, the primary factors that caused the Whalers to leave town — a viable market and lack of modern playing facilities — are still present. When the Whalers were in town, Hartford was the smallest market in the NHL. As Hartford straddles both the New York and Boston markets, their marketability was severely limited by geography.

In addition, Hartford still doesn't have a new hockey arena. The city's XL Center is 35 years old and there are no plans to build a new arena. The AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack ranks only 18th in the AHL in attendance, drawing a little over 4,000 fans a night.

Hartford's limited appeal as a viable NHL market isn't the city's only hurdle to overcome. Today, the city faces increased competition from cities like Kansas City, Winnipeg, Quebec and Hamilton, all vying for their own NHL franchise. Despite these obstacles, however, Baldwin remains positive about his chances.

Icethetics will continue to track any Howard Baldwin-related Whalers news, including any possible name change for the Wolf Pack.

Wild 10th Logo & AHL Report

Wild's 10th anniversary logoThe Minnesota Wild will celebrate their 10th anniversary next season. And we all know that no anniversary can be properly celebrated in the NHL without its own branding.

Meet the Wild's 10th anniversary logo. It started showing up recently on the team's official website in ads meant to promote 2010-11 season tickets. It's simple — a red X in the form of a pair of crossed hockey sticks with the years 2000 and 2010 in a wheat banner surrounding the primary logo. Gets the job done.

The Columbus Blue Jackets are also celebrating 10 seasons in the NHL this fall. However I have not yet come across their anniversary logo. I'm not even certain they'll have one. (But they probably will because it means being able to sell more stuff.)

That's not all. I also have a handful of AHL specialty jersey updates.

---

Mike Ivall's winning Wolf Pack jerseyThe AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack held a jersey design contest this season, asking fans to design a specialty jersey.

It was subsequently announced that frequent Icethetics contributor Mike Ivall was named the winner and his sweater design would be implemented for a couple of games in late February. That did not happen.

The Wolf Pack instead told Icethetics that it would be worn for the final home game of the season on Fan Appreciation Night. That was last Saturday. And the jersey looked great. Congrats to Mike!

Nice to see an Icethetics artist taking his concept art all the way to the pros. NHL, here we come!

And there are a ton more photos on the Wolf Pack's Facebook page if you'd like to see more of the jersey. But nothing really beats a fight pose.

---

Albany's final gameThe AHL's Albany River Rats sported special sweaters for their final regular season game in upstate New York.

Tom S. emailed in about this photo which appeared alongside a web recap of the 3-2 victory over the Adirondack Phantoms over the last weekend. Neither of us had seen that red jersey before, so I assume it was just used for this game.

No other details were available about it on the River Rats' website. And they did make the Calder Cup playoffs so they'll have a few more games up there before they head to Charlotte. (Scroll down for an update.)

---

AHL Pens' specialty jerseyFinally, the AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins wore special sweaters to honor the military last Friday.

The design is similar to their third jersey — a knock-off of the Blackhawks' Winter Classic/third jersey — though it swaps the red and black. And the logo text is replaced with "Support Our Troops."

The Penguins defeated Albany 4-3 in the game and now the two teams are facing each other in the first round of the AHL Calder Cup playoffs.

The Penguins are also utilizing their Facebook page to provide even more photos for your viewing pleasure. Unfortunately none of these guys is in a fight stance, but they're still worth looking at anyway.

Thanks to Dave B. for the email!

Update on Thursday · Apr 15 · 2010 | 8:01 AM PDT by Chris

Albany vs. Adirondack for Time Warner CupFollowing up on the River Rats story, it turns out that while that is a specialty jersey, it had nothing to do with it being the team's last regular season game. 

Matt C. explains:

The Albany River Rats red alternate jersey described in today's blog post is actually the jersey worn during Time Warner Cup games between Albany and their Northway rival Adirondack (Glens Falls) Phantoms.

Each team wears a special alternate jersey for these games — Albany's jersey is actually a representation of the jersey worn by their mascot "Rowdy" in their logo, and Adirondack wears an orange-colored jersey with "Adirondack" spelled diagonally across the front similar to the jersey formerly worn by the Adirondack Red Wings.

Always great to get insightful emails like that. Thanks Matt!

Checking In With the AHL

The Charlotte Checkers are making preparations to check into a new league next fall as they jump from ECHL to AHL. That means the unveiling of a new logo — in a way.

Here's the scoop in a nutshell. The Carolina Hurricanes want their top farm club, the AHL's Albany River Rats, to be geographically closer. So decisions were made to get the team relocated from upstate New York to Charlotte, North Carolina — a quick, 45-minute flight from Raleigh (or about three hours if you're driving).

Basically, the owner of the ECHL's Charlotte Checkers bought the Albany club and will move it to North Carolina, transferring the name of his ECHL franchise. So the Albany River Rats become the Charlotte Checkers this fall and will keep the Checkers' current logo, with some color alterations. It will now match the Hurricanes in black and red, as seen in this banner from the Checkers' AHL website.

Not a big surprise. Is the color change an improvement? More of a lateral move, in my opinion. An article on the Checkers' website discussing the move to the AHL had this to say:

The Checkers have also announced that they will change their logo and uniform colors to match those of the Hurricanes. The team went through an entire rebranding before the 2007-08 season and will simply change colors and incorporate the Hurricanes trademark. The details of these changes will be revealed at a later date.

When they say they will "incorporate the Hurricanes trademark," I assume that just means Carolina's logo will be used on the shoulder — a common affiliate practice. The logo in the banner above is likely the final artwork for the Checkers' updated logo. If anything changes, I'll let you know.

---

I'm keeping an eye on some other AHL jersey news.

Wolf Pack jersey design by Mike IvallThe Hartford Wolf Pack seem to have skipped a scheduled specialty jersey event last weekend.

I only bring it up because the jersey was the result of a fan contest won by a frequent Icethetics concept art contributor named Mike Ivall.

According to the Pack's website, the March of Dimes promotion and jersey auction was scheduled for (and took place) Feb. 26 and 27. Only the jerseys auctioned were not the one's Mike designed.

Photo albums posted on the team's Facebook page from the games on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27 clearly show the players wearing their standard white sweaters. I'm assuming it's those that were auctioned off following the weekend's games.

I have emails in both to Mike and the Wolf Pack about the situation. If I get any answers, I'll be sure to share them. In the meantime, if anyone else knows what's up, we'd love to hear about it.

---

Last bit of AHL news for the night. John writes in to let us know that during the Olympic break, a couple of American clubs wore specially-designed jerseys modeled after those worn by the United States in 1980 as a tribute to the "Miracle on Ice" team.

Admirals "miracle" jerseyInstead of USA, the Milwaukee Admirals' red, white and blue tribute duds read ADS.

But to everyone in the stands, it must've felt like they were at the Olympics too. (Right?)

The Admirals wore these special sweaters on Feb. 19 and 21 and then auctioned them off afterward to benefit the Power Play Foundation.

In case you were wondering, they were good luck as the Ads won both games, beating the Houston Aeros 2-0 on Friday and the Rockford IceHogs 4-1 on Sunday.

It's a neat tribute and it makes me wonder if it's been done before — or if they were just waiting for a nice, round-number anniversary. But then I feel like all these one-off specialty jerseys are just now becoming more commonplace in the minors. Am I mistaken about that?

Phantoms "miracle" jerseyThe Adirondack Phantoms, who recently relocated from Philadelphia, also wore similar jerseys. Theirs read ADK in lieu of USA.

Unlike the Ads, for which I was able to find loads of information thanks to their incredible and easy to use website, I can't seem to track down any details on when (if) these were worn.

I'm assuming it would've been between Feb. 16 and 28 but then again this is not a game action photo so I can't be sure. Any Phantoms fans out there that care to fill us in?

Anyway, that wraps things up for tonight. Get excited for the new logo tournaments! Voting kicks off on Monday!

Update on Sunday · Mar 7 · 2010 | 7:48 AM PST by Chris

Phantoms goalie in 1980 USA replicaDoes Icethetics have the best readers or what?

A commenter called chaosof99 added a link with details and even a photo showing the Adirondack Phantoms in action wearing their 1980 Olympic throwback jersey.

The Phantoms wore that jersey in a 3-2 win over the Norfolk Admirals on the 26th of February. Broad Street Hockey got an action shot too.

Good to know.

Another Icethetics reader told me he thought the Lake Erie Monsters either did something similar or plan to, with regard to this 1980 USA throwbacks.

I can't find any details to support that, but I can tell you the Monsters' Pink in the Rink night is March 19.

Update on Monday · Mar 8 · 2010 | 7:20 AM PST by Chris

A representative from the Hartford Wolf Pack tells me that Mike Ivall's contest-winning specialty jersey will now be worn on April 10 for the last home game of the season.

Hartford Taps Icethetics Artist

The AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack unveiled a new specialty jersey on Monday designed by a prolific Icethetics concept artist.

The always impressive Mike Ivall won the jersey design contest put on by the Wolf Pack. For his trouble, Mike gets a personalized version of his jersey as well as tickets to the game where it will be worn.

Screen shot from official team web site

Mark your calendars for February 26 and 27, when the Wolf Pack will hit the ice in this special edition sweater. The jerseys will be auctioned right off the players' backs on the 27th to benefit the March of Dimes. Last season, the Wolf Pack raised more than $10,000 for that organization.

Congratulations to Mike for being a part of that! And also for winning this contest! It's nice to see his work on the blog as opposed to the Concepts page (since it means his creation is coming to life).