Leafs Redoing Centre Ice

Just as we're wrapping up our Center Ice Tournament, we learn things will be changing pretty drastically for one team — not the Canadiens. In fact, it's their arch-rival the Toronto Maple Leafs I'm talking about.

The man with all the info — allegedly — Howard Berger had the following to say on his Hockey Buzz blog tonight.

Fans attending games at the Air Canada Centre this season will notice a pair of significant changes. The centre-ice design will now feature a giant Leafs logo enveloping the entire circle, rather than the two smaller logos that previously flanked the checkered red line. I saw the updated art-work earlier today and it looks sharp.

For those with short term memory loss, here's what was entered into the competition for the Leafs.



Yeah, not surprisingly they saw a first-round exit from the tournament at the hands of the Blue Jackets. Should be interesting to see what they do this year. But don't count on Berger to provide pictures though. He's industrious enough to "see" things but can't quite show them to us. Ah, but he is a radio man after all, right?

Tip of the hat to Alan for the link. He's asked that anyone interested throw together a concept of what this new ice design might look like. My inbox awaits.

IIHF Gets An EDGE

I got an interesting email linking me to the International Ice Hockey Federation's web site. Apparently Reebok has now taken their shtick overseas.

There are jerseys in the Rbk EDGE style for the 14 teams in the Champions Hockey League — not quite sure what that's about. (I guess I could've read up.)



I have a passing interest in that one only because they Lightning are playing them in an exhibition game before hitting the ice in Prague against the Rangers for the season opener. I believe they are called Slovan Bratislava. (That was a copy/paste.)

Thanks to Paul for the info.

IHA Final Art: West

This week we're unveiling of the winning logo sets for each team in the IHA Project. Yesterday we looked at the final artwork for the Atlantic Division. Today we move on to the West.

Below are the logos you selected for the IHA. On the left is the team's primary logo. To the right is the secondary and the wordmark is beneath it. Under the graphic is the designer's credit.


Erroneous Art


Cartello


Roccot


Harnock


Jason New Era Usher

To all the winning designers: If you would like your credit changed or a link added, please don't hesitate to let me know. Since you aren't being compensated monetarily for your hard work, the least I can do is offer a link to your web site, blog or online portfolio — just in case certain eyes are looking. You never know.

However, if you would like to remain anonymous, that's fine too.

Tomorrow I'll unveil the final logo designs for the Northeast Division.

New Sabres Logo On Merchandise

The guys over at 3rd Man In allegedly stumbled across some Buffalo Sabres merchandise today with the new third jersey logo on it.

They snapped a couple of pics. Here's one of them.

credit: 3rd Man In

To see the other one, check out their blog. By the way, these are not pictures of the jerseys, obviously. I think they said they were t-shirts.

I have no reason to doubt the veracity of these pictures. Notice the silver outline around all of the elements of the logo. That's really the only thing that makes it "new." Otherwise it's just the old logo from the Sabres' early days.

So it's not conclusive evidence, but one more reason to believe that 18 days from now, this is the logo we'll be seeing on the Sabres' new third jersey.

Making Over The Sharks

One of my favorite regulars has a new logo redesign. You've seen him give new looks to teams like the Red Wings, Devils, Predators, Senators, Flyers, Coyotes, and most recently the Panthers. Now he's taken a shot at the San Jose Sharks — who just unveiled a new look last season.



As you can see, it makes use of the Shark in the triangle. Here are a couple of secondary logo designs.



And even a couple of jerseys.



It's great work as always if you ask me. Feel free to post your opinions on these designs below.

IHA Final Art: Atlantic

It's been six weeks since we began the IHA project here at Icethetics. And through all its ups and downs we've ended up with some fantastic logos, showing off the stunning talents of many artists. It's been a phenomenal exercise is graphic design and we're going to start wrapping it up this week with the unveiling of the logo sets for each team.

We'll start the week the same way we started the project — with the Atlantic Division. Below are the logos you selected for the IHA. On the left is the team's primary logo. To the right is the secondary and the wordmark is beneath it. Under the graphic is the designer's credit.


Roccot


Sigma Kappa


Andrew


Andrew



To all the winning designers: If you would like your credit changed or a link added, please don't hesitate to let me know. Since you aren't being compensated monetarily for your hard work, the least I can do is offer a link to your web site, blog or online portfolio — just in case certain eyes are looking. You never know.

However, if you would like to remain anonymous, that's fine too.

Tomorrow I'll unveil the final logo designs for the West Division.

No IHA Polls This Week

Since the Central Division was just posted last week, you still have one more week to submit your logo designs. That means there will be no polls posted for the IHA this week.

Instead, I'll use this week to get everyone caught up on the logo winners. Technically you've already seen the winners for the Atlantic Division, but you're getting them again today just for the sake of simplicity. Tomorrow you'll get the West. Wednesday will be the Northeast. Thursday the Pacific. And on Friday you'll see who won in the Great Lakes.

I'm doing it this way because unfortunately, once a poll closes the images associated with it seem to disappear into cyberspace.

Third Jersey Interpretations

A few weeks ago, the folks over at JerseyDatabase.com posted their interpretations of Howard Berger's descriptions of this year's new crop of third jerseys. I realized I hadn't written anything up about it yet.

These images are by no means official nor have they been created with any information beyond what Berger wrote — as far as I know. But I at least thought they made for an interesting discussion. Here are a few of the speculative designs.

credit: JerseyDatabase.com

For a complete look at what they've come up with, check out their web site. They have all 18 jerseys plus a couple of bonuses divided into two parts. Click for Part 1 and Part 2.

Remember, this is all speculation and nothing official has been confirmed yet. And for what it's worth, I understand NHL 09 is coming out soon and may feature the new third jerseys. If they do and someone can provide screenshots, I'd be happy to post them. But for official release dates, stay tuned to the Countdowns element in the sidebar.