Canada Concept and Guest Concepts

Hello!  We have a few concepts today, but before we get to that I just want to let you all know that I did a bit of maintenance on the Templates page recently.  Some of the templates have been updated to match changes I've made to my concepts in the last few months (like no collar tag on Reebok or CCM templates), and I also added a credits section to give credit to the people that created the templates.

Team Canada, by Me:

Another change I made on the templates page was changing the mesh style on the Nike Swift template (I got the new mesh pattern from the "Reebok Authentic Jersey Template" on HJC's Template page).  I then used that new mesh on this team Canada concept, which uses the throwback logo from their 2012 third jersey and a striping pattern that is supposed to kind of match that logo.

Team Canada and Team Russia, by Jared:

Next up we have a couple of IIHF concepts by Jared.  He gives Russia a jersey inspired by their flag, and Canada a concept based of their jerseys from the 1972 summit series.  Both those ideas are good ideas, but the execution is poor.  The striping goes over the template lines when it isn't supposed to, it's worst with Russia's pants which lost all their detail and now just look like a blue blob.  Using the paint bucket tool (if you're using paint or paint.net) will fix that problem.  Also the colours are too bright, I'd recommend getting colours from Colorwerx.

Phoenix Coyotes, by Justin S:

We end today's post with a fun concept by Justin.  He creates a jersey for the Coyotes based off of their original logo, and the result looks surprisingly good.  Even though it's based of off such a 90's logo, the jersey doesn't look dated at all.  Justin kept the jersey very accurate for the most part, although he did use the script version of the moon logo and added shoulder patches.  Both those decisions are smart decisions in my opinion, they help make the jersey look more complete.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

My Thoughts: Olympic Jerseys

The Olympics are over, Canada won gold in both the men's and women's hockey (yay!), and now it's time for me to post my thoughts on the Olympic jerseys.  I'll try not to ramble on to much, to keep this post from getting to long.

I'll start off by saying that I was a fan of the jerseys in general.  Most of the jerseys looked different than a typical hockey jersey to some degree, and I think that's a good thing.  What I didn't like was that a lot of the countries looked similar.  Slovakia, Germany, and the United States (white jersey) all used the exact same template.  Then there were Finland's and Russia's dark jerseys that both used flags as sleeve stripes with contrasting dark yokes, and a few other examples of similar jerseys.  This shouldn't happen, especially when there are only 14 teams.

One of the least popular elements of these jerseys were the "fake laces", but I actually liked the look.  My favourite part of those collars was that they were always the same colour as the shoulder yoke, instead of contrasting like most NHL teams use.  It created a clean and simple look, which I think looked good.  Again though, I wish there was more variety, different collar styles countries could choose instead of just the one.  Also, I was a fan of the shiny material used for the designs on the shoulders, but once again I wish teams had the option to use a regular shoulder logo instead if they wanted to.

Now I'll review the jerseys team by team, going in alphabetical order.  Also, the photos in this post are from the Associated Press (there's a link to the article where I got each photo in the captions).

Austria:

(AP Photo/Julio Cortez) - (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

We start off with the Austrians, who in my opinion had very solid but not terribly exciting jerseys.  The white jersey was my favourite of the two because I think the contrasting yoke worked better on the white jersey, and I also liked the chest stripe.
Grade:  B (white jersey), C+ (red jersey)

Canada:

(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) - (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) - (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

As a Canadian I'm probably biased, but I think Canada had some of the better jerseys at the tournament.  I loved how the home and road jerseys combined the 1972 summit series jerseys with the jerseys of the Winnipeg Falcons who represented Canada at the 1920 Olympics, and I think the black jersey rounded out the set nicely.  A lot of people didn't like the stripes only on one sleeve, and I'll admit the jerseys would of probably looked better with them on both sleeves, but I certainly didn't mind how it was.  It kind of made sense to have the sleeve stripes only on one side, since the chest stripe was only on one side of the jersey.  The one thing I didn't like were the socks, they didn't really match the jerseys and they looked kind of awkward in my opinion.
Grade:  B

Czech Republic:

(AP Photo/Julio Cortez) - (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

If I was ranking the Olympic jerseys the Czech Republic would be right near the top, if not at the top.  The white jersey was one of my favourites, it was the same style as USA's white jersey (along with Slovakia's and Germany's jerseys), but I think the Czech Republic pulled it off the best.  The dark "flag" jersey was quite unique, and it looked good, but it did have a lot of white for a dark jersey.  One more thing, I liked how the Czech Republic had a different number font than anyone else at the tournament.  All the other countries shared their font with at least one other country.
Grade:  A (white jersey), B (flag jersey)

Finland:

(AP Photo/Matt Slocum) - (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

We go from one flag jersey to the other, and without a doubt Finland's flag jersey was my favourite jersey in the whole tournament.  I loved the colours, I loved the striping created by the flag, there's really nothing I didn't like.  The blue jersey wasn't bad, but it wasn't as good as the white jersey.  I think the navy blue yokes made the flags on the sleeves look awkward, there was to much navy blue so close to the sleeve stripes to have no navy blue on the sleeves.
Grade:  A+ (white jersey), C+ (blue jersey)

Germany:

(AP Photo/Petr David Josek) - (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Germany used the most overused template at the Olympics, but I think it worked for their yellow jersey, although not so much for the black jersey.  The striping for the yellow jersey made sense, it goes in the same order as the German flag.  The black jersey, being the reverse of the yellow jersey, obviously isn't in the same order as the flag.  I also didn't like how the yellow yoke looked on the black jersey.  I think the yoke on the Nike template is too big to have a light yoke on a dark jersey, I just don't like the way it looks.
Grade:  B (yellow jersey), C- (black jersey)

Japan:

(AP Photo/Petr David Josek) - (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Japan's jerseys weren't very popular (there were ranked last by Icethetics readers), with a lot of people calling them boring.  I'll admit they weren't the most exciting uniforms, but I don't think they looked bad, I actually think both jerseys looked quite intimidating.  One thing I don't get though is why Japan is written in English, why not use Japanese.
Grade:  B

Latvia:

(AP Photo/Julio Cortez) - (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

My opinion of Latvia's jerseys is basically the same as my opinion of Austria's jerseys, they're decent jerseys but not very memorable.  I do like that Latvia didn't use a contrasting shoulder yoke on the dark jersey.
Grade:  B

Norway:

(AP Photo/Bruce Bennett, Pool) - (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Norway's jerseys were unchanged from the 2010 Olympics (besides the new jersey cut and collar), and that's not a bad thing.  These jerseys, with both sleeve and hem stripes, looked the most like a traditional hockey jersey of any of the regular Olympic jerseys.  I know that at the start of the post I said I liked that most of the other countries' jerseys didn't look like a typical hockey jersey, but with all the other teams trying more nontraditional designs, Norway's jerseys actually stood out the most from the rest of the pack.
Grade:  A

Russia:

(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) - (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

The host country's results at the tournament weren't very memorable, but their white jersey sure was.  From the the giant eagle silhouettes on the front to the wing pattern on the shoulder, everything about this jersey was unique.  I think it looked great and it looked very Russian.  My only concern about the jersey was that the front had a lot of red for a white jersey, although that didn't seem to be a problem in the Olympics.  I also think Russia made another good move by paring their unique white jersey with a more traditional red jersey.  The Russian flag looked good on the sleeves, but I didn't like how the blue yoke was cut off in the back.
Grade:  A (white jersey), B (red jersey)

Slovakia:

(AP Photo/Julio Cortez) - (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Slovakia revealed their jerseys after USA did, and my first reaction was that the two countries looked identical, especially the white jerseys.  The blue Slovakia jersey was an inverse of their white jersey, so it was different than USA's blue jersey, but again I don't think the light yoke on a dark jersey was a good look on this template.  I also think Slovakia should have stuck with royal blue, the colour they have traditionally worn, instead of going with navy blue.  One thing that was awesome about these jerseys were the pinstripes made out of the lyrics to Slovakia's national anthem.  I just think that was an amazingly unique feature.
Grade:  B (white jersey), C+ (blue jersey)

Slovenia:

(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) - (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

While most countries used the colours from their flag for their uniforms, Slovenia went in another direction by using blue and bright green.  It wasn't done out of nowhere though, Slovenia has used this colour scheme for other sports.  I liked the new colour scheme, there were already a lot of countries that used red and blue.  Slovenia also used a cool mountain striping pattern on the front of the jerseys (which would look great for the Colorado Avalanche).  There are a couple of things I didn't like though, first of all the green numbers on the white jersey looked terrible, and I also think the navy blue pants didn't work well with the jerseys.
Grade:  C+ (white jersey), B (blue jersey)

Sweden:

(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) - (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

For the most part Sweden resisted Nike's attempt to change their classic jerseys, except for the lack of sleeve stripes.  I missed the sleeve stripes, but everything else about the jerseys looked as good as Sweden normally does.
Grade:  B

Switzerland:

(AP Photo/Matt Slocum) - (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

The white jersey looks exactly like the white Switzerland jersey I made for my IIHF Redesign over a year ago.  I like to think Switzerland was inspired by my concept, but realistically I know they weren't.  Obviously I like that white jersey, it's exactly what I would have done.  One thing different is that on the real jersey there is a sublimated pattern on the red stripes (it's also there on the red jersey).  I love hidden features like that.  Switzerland's red jersey was simpler than what I did for my concept, and part of me thinks it was too plain, but I also kind of think that level of simplicity works for Switzerland.
Grade:  A (white jersey), B (red jersey)

United States:

(AP Photo/Matt Slocum) - (AP Photo/J. David Ake) - (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

We finish today's post with the Americans, who had two good main jerseys and one awesome throwback.  Besides being an overused template, the main white jersey looked good.  I also liked the blue jersey, especially how it avoided having a white yoke by using a different striping pattern than the white jersey.  My favourite parts of those two jerseys were the shiny stars on the shoulder yoke, although from what I've read I think that's an unpopular opinion.  The USA also used a throwback to their 1960 gold medal team for a game, like they did during the 2010 Olympics.  That jersey looked just as good now as it did in 1960, and I liked how it was able to keep a normal lace-up collar instead of the "fake laces" that every other jersey used.
Grade:  B (main white jersey and blue jersey), A (throwback white jersey)

Those are my thoughts on the 2014 Olympic hockey jerseys, feel free to leave your own thoughts in the comments.  Have a good day!

IIHF Redesign - United States

United States:

You may recognize the striping pattern for this concept, I used a very similar design for my Ohio Nationals concept in my NHL Redesign.  That striping pattern is based off of the US flag, so I use it whenever I create a concept with a US theme.  Also, I added sublimated stars to the shoulders.

Now that I'm done my IIHF Redesign, I added a page with all ten concepts.  Click on the IIHF Redesign Icon on the right of the page to get there.

IIHF Redesign - Switzerland

Switzerland:

For some reason, I think a very simple design works best for Switzerland, so that's what I did.

IIHF Redesign - Sweden

Sweden:

I'm a big fan of Sweden's current jerseys, so I really didn't change much.  The sleeves and socks have three stripes instead of two, to better match the three crowns in the logo.  Also the fonts for the name and number are different.  Everything else is the same (I think).

IIHF Redesign - Slovakia

Slovakia:

Not much to say about this concept.  I just did what I thought looked nice, and fit with what I thought a Slovakian jersey should look like.

IIHF Redesign - Russia

Russia:

If I remember correctly, Russia wore a similar style of jersey back in the early 2000's, with the full length sleeve-stripe.  The striping pattern here does subtly use Russia's flag.

IIHF Redesign - Latvia

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Latvia:

I wanted Latvia's flag to be the main focus of this concept.  I used the flag as the sleeve and hem striping on the white jersey.  For the dark jersey, I basically made the whole jersey one big flag.

IIHF Redesign - Germany

Germany:

I really like how Germany's current uniforms use their flag as the striping pattern, so I kept that.  I just changed up a few minor things that bugged me.

IIHF Redesign - Finland

Now that the holidays are over I'm continuing my IIHF Redesign.

Finland:

These jerseys are somewhat inspired by their current jerseys.  I changed up the placement of the stripes to something I liked better.

IIHF Redesign - Czech Republic

Czech Republic:

This is inspired by their current uniforms, but I changed it up too look less like a Nike Swift template.  I also made blue more prominent on the red jersey.

IIHF Redesign - Canada

HJC is still down.  Colin posted his HJC post to his blog, like I did yesterday.  If you haven't seen it yet click here.

This is the first post of my IIHF Redesign.  I will be posting the teams alphabetically, starting today with Canada.  Expect new teams every couple of days.

Team Canada:

I used my Team Canada third jersey concept from August as inspiration for this, with the arm-stripes using hidden maple-leafs.  Black is still around, but it isn't used anywhere on the striping.

Canada and Columbus

Two concepts today.  One from me and one from Justin, who runs a great blog called The Art of Hockey.

Team Canada:  Back in April I posted a Team Canada concept.  Now I thought I would create a possible black third jersey.  I used a simple striping pattern with no white in the stripes.  I also added a maple leaf to the sleeves.

Sleeve Design:  Here's a closer look at the maple leaf in the sleeves.

Columbus Blue Jackets, by Justin:  I believe it's time for the Blue Jackets to redo their look, and this concept by Justin would be a very good option.  I like the double blue and gold colour scheme, and the Cannon logo is great as the primary logo.  The new secondary logo, which is based on an unused logo by the Blue Jackets, also looks really good.  I'm also a big fan of the stars on the cuffs, it's little details like that are what make good concepts great.  One minor complaint I have is the blue numbers, I don't know if their would be visible on TV or high up in the stands.

I'm going to update my Sharks and Panthers concepts I posted earlier this week.  Expect the updates in the next few days.  Thanks for reading.

Happy Canada Day!!!

Happy Canada Day!!!  Do you like the Canadian design at the top of the page?

Canada Jersey:  Here is a special jersey for Canada Day, which is inspired by the Canadian Flag, but I made the stripes horizontal because I thought it looked better.

Also, I've decided to add a new tab with a list of other hockey jersey blogs.

Ok, you can go back to reading about free-agency now.

(P.S.  I'm not doing anything special for July 4th, I'll leave that for an American to do).

My Concept History

A special post today about the history of my concepts.  The execution is pretty bad on some of these, but please don't laugh.

I first starting making concepts near the end of 2009, when my local minor hockey association got new jerseys.  These "concepts" were basically me recolouring jersey from The Hockey Uniform Database, like this Team USA concept from January 2010.

A few months later I found the website Icethetics, and I took someone's concept to make a better template.  Here is a St. Louis Blues concept I made in May 2010, using that template.

Later that year I found a cleaner template, and decided to attempt an NHL series.  That series was very incomplete, I only made concepts for about half the teams, and many of the concepts were incomplete.  This Canucks concept from July 2010, and this Ducks concept from November 2010, are from that NHL series.

By the beginning of 2011 I had started using a brand new template.  This new template was a lot harder to use, but I thought it looked better.  I also didn't put numbers on my jerseys, because the numbers for the other template were to small.  This Predators jersey from February 2011, was my prediction of what their new jerseys for 2011-12 would look like.

I was still using the older template as well, and in March, when it looked like the Coyotes might move to Winnipeg, I sent Icethetics this concept.  This was my first concept posted on the Internet.

Image from Icethetics

Then two months later, when we knew the Thrashers were moving to Winnipeg, I sent in this concept to Hockey Jersey Concepts.  This was my first concept on HJC.

By summer 2011 I almost quit making concepts.  It just took too much time to create a concept on the template I was using.  Finally, by the end of August, I decided to switch back to my old template, and use my name and number on the back to save time.  I also made an attempt at an NHL series.  This Sabres concept from September 2011 was from that series (which I didn't complete).

For Christmas 2011 I got a new Laptop, and downloaded Paint.net (previously I was using MS Paint).  I also added a double outline to my concepts, and started posting concepts to CCSLC.  This Stars concept was from January 2012.

Most recently I started another NHL series, which I will complete, and I started this blog.  I hope you enjoyed reading about the history of my concepts.  The next NHL Redesign will be posted in a few days.

Team Canada Concept

I like Canada's current home and road jersey, so I set out to make a new third.  I wanted to include a bit more black than their current jerseys, but still use red as the base colour.  First of all I had to find a logo I liked.

Logo:  I started off with Canada's alternative logo, but I mad a few changes.  I switched the gold to black and added the sublimated design from their 2010 olympic logo.

Third Jersey:  After I had decided what to use as a logo, I created the actual jersey.  I used thick, bold stripes, and white numbers outlined in black.  I then paired that with black equipment, similar to their current jerseys.

Home and Road set:  After I had created the third jersey, I wondered what a matching white jersey would look like, so I made this concept.

Any thoughts?