Tons And Tons Of Votes!

Before I call it a night I just thought I'd disperse some numbers now that the 2007 Championship Tournament has come to an end. In terms of the actual tournament itself, 456,600 votes were cast on our way to determining a champion! Here are some more numbers.

456,600
Votes cast in all Championship Tournament polls combined ending with the Montreal Canadiens' ultimate victory.

142,000 +
Votes cast in all Logo History polls combined to date.

11,700 +
Votes cast in all Rbk EDGE Review polls combined to date.

And the biggest number of all...

610,300 and counting...
That is how many votes have been cast here at NHLToL since I opened the first poll on August 12.

Thanks to everyone who has been voting and I hope you'll continue to vote on each and every poll I post in the future. Remember, as long as you guys keep coming back to vote, I'll keep adding to new polls for you to vote on. Thanks!

Rbk EDGE Review: Canadiens

Part 10 of 30. All 30 NHL clubs have unveiled new jerseys under the new Rbk EDGE Uniform System for the 2007-08 season. Here at the NHLToL, we're going to review every one of them. Read up and then rate the new sweaters. We'll do a full ranking after completing all of the reviews.

Rbk EDGE Uniform System

Montreal Canadiens

New Uniforms

Old Uniforms

The Unveiling
Tuesday, September 4. The Canadiens unveiled their new jerseys to fans via their official web site. Players in attendance a golf tournament that day in Montreal also wore them.

Home vs. Road
Home: Red. Road: White. The two sweaters feature rather different striping patterns.

The red home jerseys have a thick blue stripe that wraps around the chest, bordered by two thinner white stripes. The primary logo, serving as the crest, is placed over these stripes. Similar blue stripes outlined by thinner white stripes wrap around the elbows. Thin white-blue stripes wrap around the waist a few inches above the bottom of the sweater. The collar is white with blue trim on the inside.

The white road jerseys have a red shoulder yoke, rounded at the ends. The cuffs are red extending several inches from the wrist. Thin red-white-blue stripes wrap around the waist a few inches above the bottom of the sweater. The primary logo serves as the crest and the collar is white with blue trim on the inside.

In The Details
The crest sits slightly higher on the white jersey than the red one. This is so that the logo can be properly centered on the blue stripe across the chest of the red jersey. The same numbering and lettering style has been retained.

New & Old
There is hardly a difference at all between the two uniforms. The old design was simply adapted to the new EDGE cut. The one noticeable difference is in the collar, which now, like all new jerseys, features the NHL shield.

Standard FAQ
Numbers on the front? No.
Laces at the collar? No.

NHLToL Editorial by Chris
I'm reviewing the Canadiens because of their big championship victory in the logo tournament today. There are some things you just don't mess with. And as liberal as I am when it comes to changing a team's jersey design, I still think you cannot mess with the Habs. I'm rather glad they left everything alone. My one nitpick is that I feel this would be one of the best jerseys for the lace-up collar. The Rangers and Bruins are the only Original Six teams that have it. And I am a little bothered by difference in positioning of the logo but that's something most people will never notice since only in rare cases will you see both jerseys side-by-side this way. Anyway, we're a third of the way through the reviews now, and for the most part, I'm liking what I'm seeing. 5/5

View the photo gallery

Buy your new Canadiens jersey!

Vintage Tournament To Open Saturday!

With the Montreal Canadiens having been crowned the logo champion, we've also got a final tally on the next NHL Tournament of Logos.

Ladies and gentlemen, the 2007 Vintage Tournament will begin with its first poll on Saturday, October 6. Vintage was chosen by an extremely small margin as you can see in the final results on the right. That means Third Jersey logos will probably be up next.

Once again, just as a reminder, here is the Vintage Tournament logo pool. Starting on Saturday, these are the logos you all will be voting on.






Now, the necessary housekeeping. We're going to experience a few differences between the new tournament and one we just completed. For one thing, polls will now be open for five days, instead of eight. The fact is, we just don't need that much time to cast votes. Most of you guys are here every day or every other day and you vote right off the bat. So I'm hoping that will keep up.

Also, the new bracket will be completely random (thanks, Random.org). I already have the matchups as of right now and I'll be posting those tomorrow afternoon, so stay tuned for that. Bet you can't guess who's facing whom in the first round!

If you have any questions about the Vintage Tournament, feel free to leave a comment or email me. Get ready to choose the best vintage logo in the NHL!

Result: Canadiens vs Blues

CANADIENS LOGO VOTED CHAMPION!

Congratulations go out to the Montreal Canadiens' logo! It has been declared by the voters at the NHL Tournament of Logos to be the best logo in the National Hockey League right now.

I can't believe it's finally over. After nearly eight long weeks of voting in a competition that involved all 30 NHL logos, the best one has come out on top. It's been a great ride — despite its bumps — and I appreciate every single one of you who dropped in to cast your votes.

Now you no longer have to wonder which logo is really the best. Now you know. It's the logo of the Montreal Canadiens! Habs fans, bragging rights are yours!

By the way, we'll be raising the Championship Banner in the sidebar on Friday night. Be sure to check it out!

Montreal Canadiens
55% 9,144 votes
CHAMPION

St. Louis Blues
45% 7,525 votes
RUNNER UP

16,669 total votes votes

Click here to see the original poll

Poll opening date Sep 27 @ 5:37 PM

Poll closing date Oct 3 @ 5:00 PM

07CHTRN | #5 | MTLvSTL

Maple Leafs, Here's How You Fix It

The Fix It series has worked its way into the double digits today. In this episode, we explore ways of improving the Toronto Maple Leafs' brand new Rbk EDGE uniforms.

No question, the biggest complaint has been its simplicity and the fact that while wearing the home uniform, a player is nothing more than a giant blue blob. One minor change some feel might rectify this is adding the same double-stripe found around to the elbows to the waist.



If that's not entirely to your liking, however, I've got more. No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. These are the new Phoenix Coyotes jerseys recolored to blue and featuring the Leafs logo. If you look closely at the shoulders you'll see the remnants of the "PHX" patch.



But isn't that a sight to behold? Something about them just makes those jerseys look quite nice in my eyes.

And then if that still isn't your cup of tea, perhaps you enjoyed the new Vancouver Canucks sweaters. Perhaps Toronto could go that route.



Or perhaps not. That scares me a little bit. So let's pretend you never saw that one.

That's all I got. Up next: Nashville Predators.

Fan Art For Ducks, Stars, Coyotes

I've been getting some really awesome concept art sent to me lately so let's dive right into some of it, starting in alphabetical order with the Anaheim Ducks.



If this had been sent to me sooner, it would've been part of the Ducks, Here's How You Fix It post from a week ago. That team would look so good in this jersey and I'd eat all my words.

Then I was sent another set that I'm having some difficulty with.



That was making my head spin a little. So as to save me from having to explain it, a description straight from the horse's mouth:

I really wanted to pull together the Ducks' history in the jerseys. I tossed around a lot of ideas but landed on this set of home/away and two alternates. The home and away follow the current script years in Anaheim and I took a page from baseball for having different scripts for home and away. The home jersey features the 04-06 Anaheim script with Ducks in place of Mighty Ducks. The road is basically the current road jersey with an updated name font, captain's "c" and the script/oval logo. Both home and away jerseys feature and interlocking "AD" shoulder patch in the team script as well as front laces.

For the alternate I just changed the current sweaters up a bit but the new shoulder patch, front laces, a recolored Disney logo, and Anaheim, and Ducks wordmarks on the bottom of the home and road jerseys respectively. Just something a little different.

I like the jerseys independently of each other, but together they don't make a good set. I've heard of teams using different logos for their home and away sweaters, but never completely different color schemes. I think your team starts losing its identity when that happens.

I've also got a Dallas Stars concept that puts the state of Texas right on the crest. Not a bad idea, but it should be the white logo. It needs more contrast.



And finally, someone went a little nutty with the look of the Phoenix Coyotes. It's a harsh mix of the old and new.



I'm not really sure I have the words to describe it. Perhaps you do so feel free to leave a comment.

Some Unusually Familiar Concepts

I got a funny email yesterday. Check out these. See if you notice a pattern.




I don't feel a need to explain or comment on them really. They sort of speak for themselves. Pretty clever, if you ask me. What do you think of them?

Reebok Fixing EDGE Issues

An article on TSN's web site was emailed to me and I thought it would be worth sharing. Apparently, Reebok is responding to the moisture issue players are having with the new EDGE jerseys. In short, the wick-away technology is doing a fantastic job of keeping water out of the uniform, but also trapping sweat inside which results in very wet skates and gear.

October 2, 2007

New sweaters here to stay

Darren Dreger
TSN.ca

NHL players will tell you the practice and preseason version of Reebok's sweater design needs work.

The NHL has recognized the issues and Tuesday morning in a conference call with Reebok the league was assured alterations will be made.

The biggest issue focused on the water resistant coating on the fabric of the sweaters. It was designed to keep moisture out.

It did that, but also trapped the moisture in which led to soggy equipment and unhappy hockey players.

To correct that problem Reebok says it has developed a treatment that permits sweat to escape through the fibers, yet still manages to stay reasonably dry.

This new sweater is being shipped to teams around the league, with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Reebok's spokesman Sidney Crosby likely to debut the modifications as early as Friday.

Despite the public outcry from the game's fighters, the NHL doesn't see the need to alter the design to accommodate their needs, other than to further investigate whether the sweater's tie-downs have to be improved.

The belief is most fighters cheated in the past, utilizing the loose fit to get their arms free, or to shake-off binding elbow pads.

That can't happen anymore and the NHL has no intention of changing how the sweater is tailored.

The coordinating socks on the other hand have been replaced in hopes the issue of tearing that some players experienced in the preseason, has been corrected.

The message to all players from the league and the manufacturer is, it's a work in progress and patience is required.

Further modifications are likely, what isn't likely is the NHL turning back and abandoning a deal that pours millions into league coffers.

Very interesting. I think it's great that they're addressing this problem so quickly. What do you guys think about Reebok now? At least they're listening to the players.

Result: Senators Logo History

BEST ALL-TIME
2007
47% 2,084 votes


4,458 total votes

1997
30% 1,352 votes

1992
23% 1,022 votes

Click here to see the original poll

Poll opening date Sep 25 @ 4:31 AM

Poll closing date Oct 2 @ 11:59 PM

07BONLH | LHOTT