The Next Tournament

In the next day or two, I plan to start putting together the next logo tournament. It's looking like we'll ease back in with a mini-tournament featuring NHL All-Star Game logos, maybe going as far back as the 1980s. But as of today, we can even use the 2012 logo as well.

Let me know what you guys think of that. Meantime, I'm thinking the AHL will be our next major tournament. But I'll wait until we get the season started at the very least. I still have the NHL jersey tournament on the back burner as I want to consider including third jerseys, some of which we won't see until November.

Always open to suggestions. Share in the comments.

Update on Saturday · Sep 18 · 2010 | 5:21 PM PDT by Chris

Got a lot of great suggestions here and by email. Sounds like we are indeed going with All-Star logos for the next mini-tournament. As soon as that wraps up, though, it's on to the AHL for our next major tournament. That will likely be followed up by our first ever NHL jersey tournament. Then our first tournament of 2011 will probably be the ECHL.

Can't really plan beyond that. But I will say I have plenty of ideas for bonus polls and mini-tourneys. So the voting won't end anytime soon. I'll post details on the All-Star logo tournament tomorrow. Voting kicks off Monday.

Polls: NHL vs AHL Week 2

Polls close Tuesday, September 14 at 11:59 PM

In this two-week set of bonus logo polls, each of the 30 NHL teams will face its AHL affiliate. Teams not featured in this week's polls were here last week and the results are in. Since we got a late start this week, voting will be open until Tuesday.

Minnesota Wild	Houston Aeros	NHLBLP 44
Dallas Stars	Texas Stars	NHLBLP 45
St. Louis Blues	Peoria Rivermen	NHLBLP 46
Tampa Bay Lightning	Norfolk Admirals	NHLBLP 47
Washington Capitals	Hershey Bears	NHLBLP 48
Nashville Predators	Milwaukee Admirals	NHLBLP 49
New York Rangers	Hartford Wolf Pack	NHLBLP 50
Edmonton Oilers	Oklahoma City Barons	NHLBLP 51
Ottawa Senators	Binghamton Senators	NHLBLP 52
New Jersey Devils	Albany Devils	NHLBLP 53
Atlanta Thrashers	Chicago Wolves	NHLBLP 54
Colorado Avalanche	Lake Erie Monsters	NHLBLP 55
Buffalo Sabres	Portland Pirates	NHLBLP 56
Phoenix Coyotes	San Antonio Rampage	NHLBLP 57
Detroit Red Wings	Grand Rapids Griffins	NHLBLP 58

Commenting Feel free to add your comments about the polls below. Keep it short, relevant and friendly. Currently, commenting is unmoderated. Abuse it and commenting will go away. I'd prefer to offer an open discussion but not at the expense of civility. Also, if you choose to announce the logos you've voted for, do it in paragraph form. Comments with long lists will be removed.

AJHLToL Standings & Format

Playoff Bracket

Not seeing the updated bracket? Refresh your browser.

Final

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Our next mini-tournament is a little different in that it features a rather obscure Junior A league — the Alberta Junior Hockey League. While it may not be obscure to scouts or Albertans, it is to the rest of the world, obviously.

My goal in launching this tournament is to take advantage of the AJHL's obscurity. One of the drawbacks to our previous tournaments is that voters were already very familiar with every logo going in. Most already had their minds made up before they even looked at the polls. The AJHLToL removes that element.

Voters get to look at these logos with fresh eyes and, unless you're from Alberta, you have no emotional attachment to any of the teams that might skew your selection. Instead, we get a tournament that cuts right down to the basics: Which logo is better?

The AJHL has 16 teams spread across two divisions — North and South — in the province of Alberta. Because this is technically a mini-tournament, there will be three weeks of round-robin voting. Each logo will face three others from within its own division, determined at random. The full format is explained below.

Standings

Final standings

North Division

	Rk	Team	Wk1	Wk2	Wk3	Pts.
	1	Sherwood Park Crusaders	76	48	70	194
	2	Lloydminster Bobcats	50	66	58	174
	3	Bonnyville Pontiacs	60	52	49	161
	4	Spruce Grove Saints	50	52	51	153
	5	St. Albert Steel	60	48	42	150
	6	Grande Prairie Storm	40	34	58	132
	7	Drayton Valley Thunder	40	61	30	131
	8	Fort McMurray Oil Barons	24	39	42	105

South Division

	Rk	Team	Wk1	Wk2	Wk3	Pts.
	1	Calgary Mustangs	72	75	81	228
	2	Camrose Kodiaks	60	57	60	177
	3	Olds Grizzlys	52	70	52	174
	4	Drumheller Dragons	65	60	48	173
	5	Okotoks Oilers	28	43	66	137
	6	Calgary Canucks	48	25	40	113
	7	Canmore Eagles	40	40	19	99
	8	Brooks Bandits	35	30	34	99

Tie-breakers: To break a tie in the standings, the edge will go to: 1. Head-to-head winner, 2. Best high score, 3. Best low score.

Notes: Standings updated every Monday after all polls close. Tables are sortable by header. Top 4 from each group advance to playoffs.

Format

Eligible Logos 16; The primary logos set for use by the AJHL's 16 teams in the 2010-11 season will be used in this tournament.

Preliminary Round The preliminary round, in a round-robin format, will last three weeks with each logo facing three others from its own division. Opponents are randomly determined. As with all logo tournaments, logos accumulate points in the standings with percentage points in the polls. A logo that collects 62% of the vote in a poll earns 62 points in the standings that week.

Quarterfinals As with all of our tournaments, the Top 4 logos from each group will advance to the first round of playoffs. Group A's #1 seed will play Group B's #4 seed, Group A #2 faces Group B #3 and so on. The logo with more votes in each poll wins and advances to the next round.

Semifinals The winners of the Quarterfinal polls advance to the Semifinals. The logos with more votes in their respective polls win and advance.

Championship Final The winners of the Semifinal polls advance to the Championship Final. The logo with more votes at the end of the poll wins the tournament and universal bragging rights.

Polls: AJHLToL Championship

Polls close Sunday, September 5 at 11:59 PM

Sherwood Park Crusaders

Calgary Mustangs

AJHLToL 30

Results of this poll will be revealed on September 6.

Tournament Notes Scroll down to vote in this week's bonus logo polls, NHL vs AHL.

Tie-breaking Since the playoff format is not points-based, the winning logo will be determined by the total number of votes received rather than the percentage. In the unlikely event of an exact tie, a 24-hour run-off poll will be held the following day.

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BONUS LOGO POLLS

Polls: NHL vs AHL Week 1

In this two-week set of bonus polls, each of the 30 NHL teams will face its AHL affiliate. Teams not featured in this week's polls will be here next week.

Boston Bruins	Providence Bruins	NHLBLP 29
Chicago Blackhawks	Rockford Ice Hogs	NHLBLP 30
New York Islanders	Bridgeport Sound Tigers	NHLBLP 31
Toronto Maple Leafs	Toronto Marlies	NHLBLP 32
Vancouver Canucks	Manitoba Moose	NHLBLP 33
Los Angeles Kings	Manchester Monarchs	NHLBLP 34
Carolina Hurricanes	Charlotte Checkers	NHLBLP 35
Philadelphia Flyers	Adirondack Phantoms	NHLBLP 36
Pittsburgh Penguins	W-B/Scranton Penguins	NHLBLP 37
Montreal Canadiens	Hamilton Bulldogs	NHLBLP 38
Florida Panthers	Rochester Americans	NHLBLP 39
Anaheim Ducks	Syracuse Crunch	NHLBLP 40
Columbus Blue Jackets	Springfield Falcons	NHLBLP 41
San Jose Sharks	Worcester Sharks	NHLBLP 42
Calgary Flames	Abbotsford Heat	NHLBLP 43

Notes As stated, the NHL vs AHL bonus polls will be split up between this week and next since 30 polls would be far too many for a single voting period. The next logo tournament will also be announced this week so keep an eye out for that.

Commenting Feel free to add your comments about the polls below. Keep it short, relevant and friendly. Currently, commenting is unmoderated. Abuse it and commenting will go away. I'd prefer to offer an open discussion but not at the expense of civility. Also, if you choose to announce the logos you've voted for, do it in paragraph form. Comments with long lists will be removed.

Polls: AJHLToL Semifinals

Polls close Sunday, August 29 at 11:59 PM

Sherwood Park Crusaders	Olds Grizzlys	AJHLToL 29
Calgary Mustangs	Bonnyville Pontiacs	AJHLToL 30

Tournament Notes Scroll down to vote in this week's set of bonus NHL logo polls.

Tie-breaking Since the playoff format is not points-based, the winning logo will be determined by the total number of votes received rather than the percentage. In the unlikely event of an exact tie, a 24-hour run-off poll will be held the following day. (This will shorten the subsequent round of voting by one day.)

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BONUS LOGO POLLS

Polls: NHL Modest Modifications

Whalers 1979–1992	Whalers 1992–1997	NHLBLP 16
Blues 1987–1998	Blues 1997–present	NHLBLP 17
Bruins 1949–1995	Bruins 2007–present	NHLBLP 18
Canucks 1970–1978	Canucks 2007–present	NHLBLP 19
Flames 1980–1994	Flames 1995–2000	NHLBLP 20
Maple Leafs 1967–1970	Maple Leafs 1970–present	NHLBLP 21
Lightning 1992–2007	Lightning 2007–present	NHLBLP 22
Oilers 1979–1996	Oilers 1996–present	NHLBLP 23
Jets 1979–1990	Jets 1990–1996	NHLBLP 24
Senators 1997–2007	Senators 2007–present	NHLBLP 25
Sharks 1991–2007	Sharks 2007–present	NHLBLP 26
Rangers 1978–present	Rangers 1996–2007	NHLBLP 27
Capitals 1974–1995	Capitals 2007–present	NHLBLP 28

Notes What would you guys like to see for next week's set of bonus polls? I'm open to suggestions. I'll be announcing the next mini-tournament next week as well. For those wondering, a jersey tournament is on the schedule, but I'm waiting until all the uniforms are nailed down for 2010-11 first.

Commenting Feel free to add your comments about the polls below. Keep it short, relevant and friendly. Currently, commenting is unmoderated. Abuse it and commenting will go away. I'd prefer to offer an open discussion but not at the expense of civility. Also, if you choose to announce the logos you've voted for, do it in paragraph form. Comments with long lists will be removed.