Next Logo Tournament Vote

The next big Icethetics logo tournament is just ahead. So what's it going to be?

Vote in the sidebar poll to the right!

The options provided are NHL secondary logos, AHL primary or ECHL primary logos. Personally, I'd like to see us move forward with the NHL secondary/shoulder marks because of the off-season changes taking place in the minor leagues.

We might be better off waiting until we know all of the teams/logos that will be in those leagues for the 2010-11 season. Just a word of warning, however, if you guys do prefer to move on to another league, we will be using the logos that were active for the 2009-10 hockey season only. (This means no OKC Barons.)

The current tournament wraps up next weekend. The winner will be revealed on May 31. The next logo tournament will begin on June 14. I realize that seems like a long delay between tourneys, but I'm going to be out of the country with extremely limited web access from June 5 (my birthday!) to June 12. I wouldn't be able to keep up with a new tournament if we started it right away.

Any questions, feel free to ask. In the meantime, vote in the sidebar poll and if you've got any other suggestions for logo tournaments, I welcome them by email.

Official: OKC Barons Unveiled!

After weeks of knowing but not really knowing, now we know. The Edmonton Oilers' AHL affiliate is named the Oklahoma City Barons. And the logo is exactly as leaked.

The unveiling took place this afternoon at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City where Prodigal Hockey officially unveiled the name, logo and uniforms for the AHL's newest member.

Barons uniforms unveiledIcethetics readers were not surprised by the logo, but likely disappointed by the uniforms. Instead of being bold and creative, the Barons will wear the same, poorly designed home and road uniforms their parent club debuted in 2007 with the introduction of the Age of Reebok (right).

Hockey logos and uniforms never seem to surprise me anymore. Everybody seems to go for the safe option, lest they leave anyone offended. But such is the nature of things, right?

You can check out more photos from today's press event via the Oilers' official website. If you want to become a Barons fan, here are some useful links.

• www.okcbarons.com (the official website)
• @OKCBaronsHockey (official Twitter account)
• @RealOKCBarons (Prodigal Hockey on Twitter)
• Barons Official Facebook page

That should cover all of your Barons needs. If you visit the official website, you can pre-order merchandise and throw in your two cents to help name the team mascot.

The next big name/logo unveiling will come by way of Greenville's new ECHL club, formerly known as the Johnstown Chiefs. That will take place on June 25. And unlike the Barons, they seem to be locked up pretty tight. Either that or no one really cares about that team.

I would also expect, at some point this summer, the announcement that the AHL's Lowell Devils are moving to Albany. That will likely bring with it a new logo as well. And in the meantime, it appears the Phoenix Coyotes may be safe in xenophobic Arizona. If anything changes there, I'll try to keep you apprised.

All The News is Black & Gold

The only news around the NHL these days centers around one Stanley Cup. So that combined with my need for a break from the computer this past week means this is the first new blog post in nine days. Sorry about that. To try and dig up something worth posting, I look to my inbox.

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New third jersey for Sarnia?The OHL's priority draft was held April 30 and the Sarnia Sting gave a brand new jersey to the kid selected first overall, according to several readers.

Currently, the Sting wear a black jersey and a white one, each with that giant bee found in the primary logo. The jersey given to Alex Galchenyuk at the draft announcement was black but read SARNIA across the front arched above the No. 1, a la the Dallas Stars.

It's a terrible look. Logos belong on the front of hockey jerseys, not block letters. But what do I know about Canadian junior hockey anyway?

Many have surmised it's a third jersey which will first hit the ice next fall, though this article doesn't even mention it. In the meantime, if you've come across any information that would shed light on this subject, I'd be happy to update the Icethetics faithful.

But we've got more from another black and gold Canadian Hockey League team.

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Wheat Kings wear special sweaterThe WHL's Brandon Wheat Kings donned a special commemorative sweater for the opening game of the Memorial Cup on Friday.

The jerseys will now be auctioned off with proceeds going to the Dominion Command Poppy Trust Fund, to support veterans and their families. Bidding is open through May 25.

The opening game jerseys were designed by the CHL in conjunction with the Brandon Wheat Kings in honour of the Canadian Army, specifically the men and women past, present, and future of CFB Shilo. CFB Shilo is Manitoba’s only army base and is located approximately 20 minutes from the Keystone Centre.

For the record, the Wheaties (as I guess they're called) suffered a 9-3 blowout at the hands of the OHL's Windsor Spitfires while wearing the jersey. They'll use their regular sweaters for the rest of the CHL tournament.

Thanks to those of you who sent in links on this topic.

Looks like we just cannot escape the black and gold tonight.

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Germany gets it on in goldAs host of the 2010 IIHF World Championships, Team Germany pulled out a special gold sweater to open the tournament May 7.

They defeated Team USA 2-1 before a record home crowd of almost 80,000 inside a frozen soccer stadium. The jersey is quite refreshing when compared with the black and whites they usually wear — and will continue to wear throughout the tourney.

Maybe the goal was to help the team keep its eye on the prize from the beginning — gold all the way! You can see more pictures of this jersey in action in the IIHF photo gallery. That website also has images of every participating team's jersey.

I haven't been keeping an eye on the Worlds, by the way. How's it all going? All I know is they were worried Steven Stamkos was going to be sidelined with a concussion.

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Antti Niemi as a PelicanJust one more item on the agenda and it's not black or gold. It's blue!

During this afternoon's NBC telecast of the Sharks-Blackhawks Game 1, PxP man Mike Emrick mentioned the name of Antti Niemi's team back in Finland — the Lahden Pelicans.

He then wondered aloud what those jerseys would've looked like. In case you were wondering too, that's a picture (right) of Niemi in his Pelicans garb.

That logo only looks the slightest bit ridiculous, right? No, let's not kid ourselves, it's full-on ridiculous. Pelicans, haha!

GO SHARKS!

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All right, now the real reason I've been taking it easy with the website this week. If you don't see or hear from me after May 23, it's probably not because I'm dead. It's probably Super Mario Galaxy 2, which comes out in a week and could develop into a minor obsession.

I don't consider myself a "gamer" in the least, but when it comes to that little red-suited plumber, what can I say? I enjoyed the first game and have been looking forward to the sequel. Anybody else enjoy a little Mario action or are you guys just strictly hockey here?