Housekeeping

I wanted to briefly mention a few things this morning. Nothing big. First, you can consider my "break" over. It's not like I ever really took one anyway but I just finished up a big project I was working on — what a relief. Anyway, all that means is I'm going to try and get back to doing more concept posts on a regular basis. News and project coverage will remain the same.

I'm ending a short-lived series. Wallpaper Wednesday is now over. I wasn't getting the sort of submissions I was hoping for. More than anything, this is a hockey logo/jersey blog. Instead of getting wallpaper designs that did cool things with logos and sweaters, I was getting wallpapers with random pictures of players. Don't get me wrong, I thought a lot of them were well done but just not in the spirit of Icethetics.

Freak Out Friday will continue. In fact, I'll have a new one posted late tonight next week. Need more submissions!

You guys can stop emailing me asking about Matt's rebranding of the St. Louis Blues. He should have it ready soon. I'll post it when he sends and he'll send it when he's finished. This is his hobby which comes after life/school/job. He does great work because he doesn't rush through it.

On now to comments. I haven't really had a whole lot of issues with them lately but I still wanted to go over some rules which I don't think I've ever really gone into before. I try to avoid deleting comments, but there are a few occasions where I will. Vulgarity — even with * in it. Attacking another person. Being mean or needlessly rude (think of what your mother taught you). Posting a link to your own website or one irrelevant to the topic being discussed. Posting an email address. Just a few things.

I mean there are a few other things but I figure if I mention those it should at least cut down on what I have to delete. Because worst case scenario is that I start moderating all comments. That's just no fun for me or anybody else. I like keeping this open so everybody can express their opinion. But keep it clean and nice. What possible reason could there be not to?

That's all. Any questions? Feel free to ask.

'Canes To Unveil Third Next Week

According to their official web site, the Carolina Hurricanes will become the first team to unveil their new third jersey for the upcoming season.

We previously believed the new sweaters would be shown first at the Caniac Carnival on September 21. Turns out that date is still significant since it's when the jerseys will initially go on sale. Here's the story from the team's web site.

Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team will reveal its new alternate uniform at a news conference on Sept. 10, at the RBC Center at 12:30 p.m. Media and fans are invited to attend the event and be the first to see the Hurricanes’ new look, which the team will wear for 15 home games this season.

Hurricanes center Eric Staal, defenseman Tim Gleason and goaltender Cam Ward will model the uniform at the press conference, skating out onto their home ice in the jerseys for the first time. Television and still cameras will be permitted to shoot the event from ice level. In addition, Rutherford will be available to comment on the sweaters and the process of developing the new look.

The alternate jerseys will go on sale to the general public for the first time on Sunday, Sept. 21 at the Caniac Carnival, the team’s annual season kick-off event. The Hurricanes will debut the sweaters in a game on Oct. 13, when they host the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings at the RBC Center.

So the excitement begins. We'll have photos of the new Hurricanes' third jerseys in less than a week!

I'll post photos here on the blog as soon as they are available. If any of you attend and want to send me pictures to post, I'd be more than happy to oblige.

Center Ice Champion

Congrats to the Penguins!
With 58% of the nearly 4,000 votes, the center ice design of the Pittsburgh Penguins has been declared the best in the NHL. My thanks to all who voted and all the folks who linked people here! The visitor count for the blog skyrocketed this last week for this final poll.

I'm working on championship banner ideas. I think I'll include all the logo champions from both NHLToL and ToHL in the new banners. Hope to have them posted at the bottom of the pollbar in the next few weeks.

I'm also thinking about the next logo tournament. I'm considering an IHA Tournament of Logos. Maybe a Rbk EDGE jersey tournament. Third jerseys for sure once they've all been unveiled officially. If you've got any other ideas, let me know by email or comment.

IHA Final Art: Pacific

This week we're unveiling of the winning logo sets for each team in the IHA Project. This week we've looked at the final artwork for the Atlantic, West and Northeast Divisions. Today we're doing the Pacific.

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


Bleetch


Emilis Acus


Emilis Acus


Roccot

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 in any other way for all your 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 Great Lakes Division. Then next week you'll vote on the Central Division logos and the following week I'll post the final designs and this project will officially come to an end. I look forward to seeing artwork from the same talented designers for the next project!

Sabres Tease Third

The splash page for the Buffalo Sabres' official web site has what appears to be a new third jersey teaser on an ad promoting the sale of preseason tickets.

It's a close-up of a blue jersey with a yellow collar. There are laces and a silver section at the neck with the NHL shield. Here's the image appearing on the web site.



Remember, they will officially unveil the new third jersey two weeks from Saturday.

Thanks to everybody who sent in this info. And seriously, there were a lot of you. I appreciate that.

IHA Final Art: Northeast

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

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.


Marc


Brad


Roccot


Ivall


Ivall

There's a big change you may notice. At the request of the league operator, Nicolas, I've swapped colors between the Ottawa Capitals and Toronto Knights. That means the Capitals are now red and the Knights are blue.

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 in any other way for all your 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 Pacific Division.

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.