Third Tourney Begins Today!

Fittingly enough, the third tournament here at NHLToL will be third jersey logos — those crests that donned the sweaters of your favorite teams. I've narrowed the pool to 16 logos, as I showed you back in September. And each will vie for the title of the NHL's best third jersey logo.

Voting begins today so keep an eye out for that first poll. In the meantime, check out the new bracket now located in the sidebar. It was created almost completely randomly (thanks to Random.org). Though I'll admit I did place the two Anaheim logos against each other in the first round on purpose.

Enjoy the tournament!

Computer Issues

Hey, I know I told you guys to expect some announcements today about future tournaments, but unfortunately I've been experiencing computer troubles which I'm really not happy about. You should expect to see some news for sure tomorrow. Cross your fingers.

Fantasy Update: In The Dumps

I know I haven't updated you guys on the status of the NHLToL fantasy team in quite a while — not that you care — so here goes. We suck!

We're presently in 9th place in an 11-team league. Things were looking good early on but that was before the Lightning started sucking. And if you remember, I stupidly stocked the team with Lightning players. I'm going to have to rectify that because obviously having Lecavalier, Prospal, St. Louis and Kuba is just not working. A 4-0 loss to the Isles? Really? Shameful.

Anyway, I'll let you know how things go this weekend and maybe you guys can offer some advice. Who to drop, who to add, etc. Look for that by Sunday.

Not Much Going On

Apologies, but the title says it all today. Not much going on. Freak Out Friday is tomorrow and I'm still in need of more crazy artwork from you guys, so send it along if you've got it!

All I can recommend today is that you get your votes in if you haven't yet. We're down to the final round in the Vintage Logo Tournament. It's Whalers against Sabres and so far, it's pretty close. Make sure your voice is heard. Go vote!

Also, if you haven't gotten involved yet in the AHL Tournament of Logos, now is your chance. We're getting into the second round now and the competition is fierce (well, kind of). Go cast your vote and help determine the best logo in the AHL!

And later this month, ToHL will turn its attention to the ECHL after we have an AHL champion. After that, we're moving on to other leagues. I'll hold a poll for that too so you guys can make your recommendations.

Hope you're enjoying your Thursday. And I hope you'll forgive today's lack of posts. I'm beat. For those of us who work in TV, an important month just started today. Check back for more tomorrow!

By the way, thanks to all of you who have stuck around. Yesterday, we surpassed the 3 million hit mark! Thanks for visiting! Now let's hit 4 million!

Rbk EDGE Uniform Ranking

The ratings are in! Here is the official ranking for the new Rbk EDGE uniforms as decided by you, the readers, here at NHLToL.

	4.3	Boston Bruins
	4.1	Montreal Canadiens
	4.1	Washington Capitals
	4.0	St. Louis Blues
	4.0	Chicago Blackhawks
	3.9	Columbus Blue Jackets
	3.8	Detroit Red Wings
	3.8	Tampa Bay Lightning
	3.6	Phoenix Coyotes
	3.6	New York Rangers
	3.6	Minnesota Wild
	3.5	New Jersey Devils
	3.4	Los Angeles Kings
	3.4	San Jose Sharks
	3.4	Ottawa Senators
	3.3	Philadelphia Flyers
	3.3	Pittsburgh Penguins
	3.3	Carolina Hurricanes
	3.3	Calgary Flames
	3.1	Vancouver Canucks
	3.1	Buffalo Sabres
	3.0	Florida Panthers
	3.0	Colorado Avalanche
	3.0	Nashville Predators
	2.9	New York Islanders
	2.9	Atlanta Thrashers
	2.7	Dallas Stars
	2.6	Toronto Maple Leafs
	2.6	Edmonton Oilers
	2.6	Anaheim Ducks

This ranking was reached by averaging the ratings chosen by voters in each of the individual Rbk EDGE Review posts. I reviewed all 30 NHL uniforms and within each review was a poll where readers could rate the uniform. See all 30 reviews.

All 30 polls will remain open forever so folks can continue to keep casting votes. The above ranking is based on results as of this morning. Any changes after more votes are cast would be negligible and wouldn't count for this ranking.

One other note is that despite how it may appear above, there were no ties in the rankings. For the purposes of this post, each rating was rounded to the nearest tenth of a point. For example, while the Canadiens and Capitals each received a 4.1, if you look further beyond the decimal, you'd see that the Habs have 4.146 while the Caps have 4.089, which is why the Canadiens are ahead of the Capitals. Make sense?

Hope you guys enjoyed the reviews! Please leave your comments below.

Gallery Updates

I just added a bunch of graphics to the Concepts Gallery. There are about 50 new images in there. Some have been posted here on the blog and some haven't. Enjoy!

Reebok Replacing New Jerseys With Old?

Interesting development coming out of Boston today. According to the Boston Herald the Bruins may be getting new jerseys — the same cut but the old material. Here's an excerpt from the article that talks about this.

According to sources in the B’s dressing room, Reebok has been unable to correct problems with the new jerseys introduced this season across the NHL and will replace them at the company’s expense with new uniforms made of the old materials.

Players have complained since training camp that the new jerseys, which are supposed to be lighter and allow sweat to evaporate out through the shirts, have instead trapped water inside and gotten heavier.

We'll see what happens. I'm intrigued. Will the EDGE go down in history as one of the NHL's biggest flubs?

Thanks to Jeff for the tip.

Changing It Up

All right, my intent is for this to be the last text-only post for a little while. I know you guys love your polls and concept art. I just wanted to mention quick that effective immediately, I'm ending the "Result" posts. From now on, links in the sidebar schedule will always refer you to polls, even if they are closed. This goes for polls closing today and onward. With closed polls, you'll simply see the results to know how many votes were cast for each logo. It'll help ease up on some of the work for me.

Polling Issues

Another thing I'm pushing back to tomorrow — aside from the final Rbk EDGE Review — will be the beginning of the semifinal round of voting in the Vintage Tournament. As you can see, Sabres/Jets and Whalers/Maple Leafs polls are in the offing on our way to determining the best vintage logo in the NHL.

I apologize for an inconvenience with the delays on this stuff, but this site has become difficult for me to maintain on a daily basis with changes going on for me personally. I'm going to try out a new format for the Third Jersey Logo Tournament which is coming up at the end of the Vintage Tournament.

The other thing is that traffic on the site has significantly decreased in the last several weeks. Don't misunderstand, I love you guys who visit regularly, but I'd be apt to post more if more people were interested. Anyway, I appreciate all the comments. And don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. My posting may become a little less frequent, but I'll still be here reading your comments and emails.

Those of you still left who visit on a regular basis — you're my heroes! Thanks a million! (By the way, near as I can figure, we're about a week away from reaching 3 million hits. Thanks again!)

Rbk EDGE Review... Not Quite Yet

Ha! Just thought I'd have a little fun with you guys. The final Rbk EDGE Review post will, in fact, not be posted tonight, but rather tomorrow. If your powers of deduction haven't failed you, by now you know the final review will the new Ottawa Senators jerseys. Hope you guys can wait one more day. Then expect to see some really cool stuff posted this weekend once the reviews have had time to settle in. We'll have a full ranking of all 30 uniforms as well as a special desktop wallpaper I'm trying to put together. Enjoy your night!