Just To Freak You Out XXIX

Since I leave in four days for my trip up to Canada, I'm going with a Canadian theme here in order to freak you out tonight. So let's start with the most obvious one. The usual "If They Mated" concepts typically mix two and in rare cases three teams. One artist went above and beyond, mixing all six Canadian teams onto one jersey. The result will shock you.



I warned you. And I love how it's on the Lightning's white sweater. Creativity at its finest there, friends.

But back to more familiar territory now. Imagine the Canucks and Flames swapping colors and sweaters. Wait, you don't have to. I've got it right here for you.



The Atlantawa Thrashators, if you will.



What happened to that dude's face? Not to be outdone, ladies and gentlemen, the Edmonton Oilers.



Gotta love the oil shooting out onto the shoulders. But back to the nation's capital, for a small handful of teams the state/provincial outline works well in the logo — Lightning, Islanders and Stars to name the only ones. Here's a good example of why not everyone should try it.



Yeah, I didn't even mention the stripes. Can you believe that?

And as you know, it's difficult to pull of a yellow jersey that actually looks good. Unlike most of you, I was a fan of Nashville's gold alternate jersey but not Boston's yellow third. Weird, I know. But the Flames should absolutely not try yellow.



That's why. And if they ever decide to look for a new logo, here's what else they shouldn't try.



Balls of fire! And that is all I have to say on the matter.

And with that I'm going to go pack a bag and prepare myself for weather in which a native Floridian can only freeze. But I'll be loving every frozen second.

Bruins Show Third Jersey "Finalist"

I got a few emails from readers tonight regarding the NESN broadcast of the Bruins-Penguins game. Apparently, they showed what's being called a "finalist" for a third jersey to be worn, I'm assuming, next year.

Here's an email I received about it:

NESN just showed one of the "finalists" for the Bruins third jersey next year. It was a black jersey with a thin gold stripe on the very bottom of the jersey, white, black and gold stripes on the elbow. The secondary logo is the primary and the spoked "B" is the shoulder logo.

Evidently, the Penguins broadcasters mentioned it to, according to this email:

While watching the Pens-Bruins game on Thursday, the Pens announcers made reference to the Bruins practicing in new jerseys that they intend to use next season. I have no photos but I thought that you could know about this.

The best part is one person even sent in a mock-up of what he saw. He says he's unsure about the collar and which logo was used (Boston or Bruins), but the uniform apparently looks a little something like this.



At least it's not yellow, right?

If anyone happened to record the game on NESN, perhaps you can send a screengrab my way so I can post it here. In the meantime, this appears to be a decent possibility for a Bruins alternate jersey for the fall. I'll post more as I find out.

UPDATE (2/29 4:33 AM): Got one more concept for the Bruins' new third from a reader, based on the NESN broadcast. Check it out.



I'll post more as I get it.

UPDATE (2/29 2:20 PM): Turns out someone did record last night's Bruins game and now there's video posted on YouTube. See the third jersey finalists for yourself right here.



UPDATE (5/4 8:13 PM): Because I'm slow I just realized that video above has been removed from YouTube. If anyone knows where another copy might be available, please let me know so I can embed a new link. In any event, someone was smart enough to grab freeze frames from the clip before it disappeared.



It's better seeing the video, but what can you do? At least you're getting a glimpse of what might be.

Odd, Unique Logo Designs

Tonight's post is dedicated to those of you who've used your imagination to create entirely new logos for your favorite teams.

We begin in Anaheim with a neat logo design I featured earlier this month. Prepare yourself. It's very purple.



Next to it is a Sharks concept that probably should never been seen by anyone — ever. But I thought it could at least serve as just one more reason why teams should definitely not do this. I thought it was all right for the Stars as a one-of-a-kind sort of deal. But the all-star jerseys this year worried me.

Moving on to Canada now, here's a Canadiens sweater with an interesting new secondary logo created by a reader some time ago.



It probably needs the fleur-de-lis in white, but otherwise it's a really cool, symbolic logo.

Now to Hartford, where someone has created a new brand for a team called the Whales. (Not to be confused with the Whalers despite the logos seen here.)



Those are some pretty snazzy jerseys. (Yes I said snazzy. What?) I like the "H" logo but the "W" logo is more effective with that hidden "H."

Next is a simply Panthers design.



I'm not really a fan of letter logos in cases like this. Put the "FP" on the shoulders and the panther head on the crest, that's what I say. But what does my opinion really matter?

And finally — you know I've gotta do it — in preparation for my trip to Vancouver, here's a new logo design for the Canucks.



I hate to be mean, but I'll come right out and say I don't like it. Ever since I saw the new Johnny Canuck logo, I haven't been able to imagine another symbol that would work better for that club. Still, no idea's too dumb to put out there, right?

Don't forget to go cast a vote at ToHL for which CHL league goes first when the new tournament begins on March 14. And if you're wondering, I haven't yet decided what tournament will follow the Quest For The Worst here at NHLToL. I'll keep you posted.

CHL Logo Battle Coming!

I'm gearing up for the next tournament over at ToHL right now. Yesterday I announced the CHL Tournament of Logos will begin on Friday, March 14. You can read more about that over there.

What I wanted to mention here is that you can already start getting involved in the battle for the best logo in the CHL. Since it's made up of three leagues, I want to do each one individually and then match up the champions of each to determine a final winner. And you can help decide which league we kick off with. Head over to ToHL and cast your vote in the sidebar for the OHL, QMJHL or WHL.

The order of the tournaments will be determined by the total votes. In other words, the league with the most votes goes first. The league with the least goes last.

Poll: Mighty Ducks vs Bruins

	vs
Anaheim MIGHTY DUCKS		Boston BRUINS

REMEMBER: You're choosing the WORST logo!

This is it, folks! Your vote has determined these two logos to be the absolute worst in the history of the NHL. Now it's time to cast one final vote and immortalize a logo as the very worst every to grace a uniform.

Place your vote and then feel free to leave a comment as to how you came to your decision. Tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Poll opening date Wed Feb 27

Poll closing date Sat Mar 1

Sad Day

This is a very sad day for me. Two of my favorite Lightning players play for other teams now. I knew this year's trade deadline was going to suck, but I didn't know how much. In case you haven't heard, Vinny Prospal is a Flyer and Brad Richards — I can barely admit it to myself — is going to Dallas. Makes me regret giving you Stars fan an entire post last night. I'm going to go curl up in a dark room now.

A Mass Of Stars Art

I was looking through my inbox and you guys have been sending in a ton of Dallas Stars concept art that I've failed to get posted. So tonight is all about the Big D. There are just so many options as you'll see.

For one thing, a big complaint about the Stars' new Rbk EDGE uniforms has been the word "DALLAS" written across the front of the home jersey, of all things. A simple solution would be to put the crest back.



Now, with all the talk about third jerseys lately, perhaps that design would be better suited as an alternate in, say, green.



Certainly brings a lot more to the sweater. Hell, there's even gold.



All right, yeah that's probably a bad idea. However, I'm liking the star crests on the green and white jerseys. In fact, the complete lack of black is actually pretty cool. Even something like this — which I like less — might well be worth considering.



But in this reality, I don't see the black disappearing anytime soon. So how about this. Save the black for the alternate.



I know they've got the Florida Panthers' elbow stripes going but try to see past that. The Stars really need to return to the green sweaters. Though I know the odds of that are slim.

But let's depart reality altogether and start considering some "different" alternatives. Like a new logo.



I get the shooting star theme, but there are a lot of reasons why those logos wouldn't work. I'm sure you can figure them out. Still, sometimes it's fun to wonder. Here they are on a jersey.



Then there's the whole constellation fiasco. I get it but it just wasn't well executed. Once you start seeing "that" shape, you can't really see anything else.



I don't think dropping the stars from the logo works, nor does turning up the horns. That's just strange. I've gotta say I do like the red, though. Red as part of that black/green/gold combo is quite unique. What about a reworked logo based on those colors?



It could use some work, like for instance I'd lose the puck, but it's something. A step in the right direction, perhaps.

The last two items I have for you tonight are just flights of fancy for the folks missing their beloved North Stars. The old Minnesota logo on the new Rbk EDGE sweater.



Not great. And this last one is more worthy of a Freak Out Friday post.



I think that about covers it. Stars, Stars and more Stars. By the way, just a little over a week now until my Vancouver trip. Can't wait! I'm hoping to be able to write from the road. I probably won't have much in the way of concept art for you. Maybe just stories from my experiences north of the border if anyone's interested. In the meantime, I've got to start packing.

Oilers Jersey Concepts

Got a handful of Edmonton Oilers concepts to offer up before I call it a night.



That one is very traditional, this one not so much.



But I like that oilman shoulder logo. Was sad to see it go and surprised at the number of you who nominated it into the Quest For The Worst tournament. But to each his own, right? Speaking of which.



Interesting pair of sweater designs there, but not all that "traditional" and I don't think they'd garner a lot of votes from fans.

Then this last one's just weird.



I'll be back with more tomorrow. In the meantime, keep the votes coming in as we narrow it down to the finalists for the Quest For The Worst.

Just To Freak You Out XXVIII

This is the 28th installment of the Freak Out series and the 1,002nd post of the blog. It's Friday, everybody! And you know what that means.



I feel this needs no explanation.



Yes, it's that bad of an idea. And believe it or not, it gets worse.




I don't know how anyone could consider corporate sponsorships which manifest on the uniforms.

Anyway, there's also some third jersey fun to freak you out. If you're the Blues, I'll tell you what you don't do. You don't wear a yellow jersey.



The Blues.

And for the Canadiens, I like the red sweater with the blue shoulders, but I'm not sure the white one is the way to go here.



Also, I'll throw in an "If They Mated" logo, matching up the Kings and Sharks.



It may be a terrible idea, but it's extremely creative and I love that.

And for good measure, here's a plethora of concept art based on the notion of creating jerseys with two colors — split down the middle.



Everybody's covered and they're all worth a look, most notably the Bruins, Red Wings, Islanders, Rangers, Canucks and Capitals. That's some pretty intense craziness right there.

Have a great weekend, all!

Poll: Bruins vs Canucks

	vs
Boston BRUINS		Vancouver CANUCKS

REMEMBER: You're choosing the WORST logo!

Place your vote and then feel free to leave a comment as to how you came to your decision. Tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Poll opening date Fri Feb 22

Poll closing date Tue Feb 26