Quebec Armada Identity Tweaked

I'm really bummed to have to write another one of these posts, but it must be done. Last week, the Mariners logos had to be changed when it was revealed the trident was identical to the one found on the national flag of Barbados.

Shortly after that, it was brought to my attention we have a similar issue with the identity of the Quebec Armada. As you can see in the graphic below, the fleur-de-lis featured in the secondary marks was pulled directly from a clipart design.

Unlike the Mariners situation, the "borrowed" artwork is not the basis for the Armada's primary logo, nor either of the secondary logos. So the overall identity of the team will not be changed. However, any use of this fleur-de-lis in team branding must be removed. Therefore we'll abandon the logo marked "left shoulder" above and keep the "right shoulder" mark without the violating symbol.

Updated jersey designs for Armada; original design by Alex Gerwitz

The fleur-de-lis also appeared on the jersey in a fashion not dissimilar from how it was used on the old Quebec Nordiques jersey. For that reason alone, I'm more than happy to have it removed from the jerseys. What you see above is the official, updated look of the Quebec Armada uniforms.

I've been unable to contact the designer of the Armada's logos, Craig Wheeler, for a few years now, so I've had to make these changes without consulting him in any way.

On a personal note, I'm glad to see this symbol removed. While I don't deny the significance of the fleur-de-lis to Quebec (it's all over the provincial flag for one thing), it always felt to me like a furtive effort to tie the Armada's identity to that of the Nordiques. And as I've said repeatedly, I really do not want any connections between the IceHL and NHL. That would sort of defeat the purpose.

Finally, there's the question of the next RinkGear jersey. With the Mariners possibly out due to the forced rebrand, we were looking to the runner-up, the Armada. I'm calling it the Second Jersey Curse. The universe is conspiring to keep a second IceHL/RinkGear jersey from happening.

Moving forward, I'll be in touch with RinkGear to see how they'd like to proceed. We may pick one of these two. We may hold another series of polls. Or RinkGear may just want to pick another IceHL jersey design all on their own. I wouldn't be opposed to that.

I'll keep you all posted on what's decided. But for now, of course, that second jersey is in limbo.