NHL Hitz Expansion Project - (27/60) PARIS NATIONALES (5/03/2017)

[Edubdesign]

I'm kinda surprised that last one went over well.

I tried making stripes out of the gradients, but to be honest, it looked more like a shirt you'd see at a Grateful Dead gig than a sweater.

Anyway, here's the last team of the first round: the #13 ranked Sarnia Hazard.

The original:

The new home/away/third. I replaced the yellow with a sickly, radioactive-looking green. They're called the "Hazard", after all.

And the roster/attributes. Great offense, but sub-par defense, and piss-poor goaltending.

We'll be going to the Eternal City for the next team, which I will post in the next few days.

[New York's Greatest]

This is so much of an improvement

[Mvdbutler]

This is cool

[Edubdesign]

Next up, the first of eight "boss" teams. The #12 ranked Rome Gladiators.

Original unis.

New home/away/third:

Wanted to keep the gradient but tone it down a bit, and give them a dark, but sophisticated set. The old gradient is seen on the pants stripe, the numbers, and a small stripe on the side panel.

The design and striping of the third is based on gladiatorial armour.

The dark grey patches on the black uni and the light grey patches on the white uni are supposed to be strips of 3M reflective material: the team plays in a rink based on the Colosseum, and the material will reflect lights, camera flashes, phone screens, etc. at the right angles.

Roster/attributes:

[Pulv!]

I really like this set as the colors just work perfectly together. It is a overused color scheme but it always works effectively. I also really like the idea of the reflective material! The only thing I really can't understand is the gradient on the white uni, to me it looks like it is definitely not working. maybe a double striping of gold and red...

[Edubdesign]

I really like this set as the colors just work perfectly together. It is a overused color scheme but it always works effectively. I also really like the idea of the reflective material! The only thing I really can't understand is the gradient on the white uni, to me it looks like it is definitely not working. maybe a double striping of gold and red...

Gradient on the white uni... not sure I follow. Are we still talking about the side stripes? I kept them the same to keep consistency with the black set.

[Edubdesign]

Next team up, the first team in the second tier, the #11 ranked team, the pride of the Caribbean, the Montego Bay Lobsters.

Here's what they looked like in 2002.

Here's the 2015 team. Weaker offense, but a steady team overall. A lot of Jamaican players on this team, including star goalie Jean-Baptiste Elpidio, scoring centre George St. Jacques, and team captain Reg Cline. Very fast forwards, but not a ton of shooting and passing skill, and they could stand to be tougher throughout the lineup.

The team's 2015 unis: A new, more basic logo, with brighter colours and similarly bold and angular striping. The alt seemed... well, obvious.

C&C welcome. If you don't feel like commenting, I don't really care. I'm gonna keep going anyway. This is as close to a labour of love as I've had with hockey design, and even if it doesn't get a ton of attention, I'm continuing.

Hope you enjoy anyway. The next team is based in the core of the Big Apple. Details coming soon.

[New York's Greatest]

Both sets are absolutely fabulous but I would have kept the Shoulder patches for Rome.

Also Core of the big apple....well there is a Youth and Junor hockey team called applecore in New York....I used to play for them....something tells me we're going to Brooklyn

[SnakesFan]

Do a team called the vipers

[Whittier S]

He's already set the names; they're from the video game Global Hitz.

[New York's Greatest]

Just realized the team he's doing next...

[Edubdesign]

He's already set the names; they're from the video game Global Hitz.

It's actually NHL Hitz, but thank you, Whittier. You're right, there's no snake-based teams in the game; therefore, there's not going to be any here. I did need to rebrand one of the teams, but I didn't rename them after snakes.

I'm calling the series the Global Hitz series because the NHL isn't involved and the teams are based all around the world.

Anywho, here's a team I bet New York's Greatest is gonna appreciate: the last of the double-digit ranked teams, the #10 ranked Brooklyn Brawlers.

The team's look in 2002:

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It's not bad, but that's basically just a recoloured Lady Liberty uni. Time for a refresh, using the new city black-and-white colour scheme and a couple of Rangers-esque elements.

Home/road/alt:

I kept a couple elements, like the chain across the hem and the interlocking B's, and put them mostly on the alt. The rest is meant to take the Rangers front script and give it a new, Brooklyn spin. The team's main logo is the stylized fist on the right chest of the jersey.

The other detail I'd like to describe is that distorted grid-type pattern on the arms, between the stripes and the colour block on the cuff. It's meant to look like the wires of the Brooklyn Bridge, which form a similar distorted grid-like pattern from most angles you can see it from.

Team roster and attributes:

Some of the team's key players hail from the five boroughs or nearby towns, like forwards Jeet Vemulakonda and Tommy Ortiz and goalie Eric Testroete. The team's best player is Ortiz, but the team's leader is Eric Turmel, a Quebecois forward is who's been with the team since 2000 (and played for them in the game this is all based on).

C&C is welcome, once again, but we're still gonna press on anyway. We're heading to a land down under for the only total rebrand of a team in the Hitz League. It'll make sense, trust me.

[SnakesFan]

What I mean is is there a team that use a snake as their logo

[Edubdesign]

What I mean is is there a team that use a snake as their logo

No, there isn't. No snakes here.

[New York's Greatest]

You are right I do appreciate and Love this one. The Brooklyn black for black sake does actually work here. The only thing I'd do different is involve the Red from the in game uniforms somehow into the alternate jersey. Other that you hit the nail right on the head! 10/10 from me!

[New York's Greatest]

Also for those unfamiliar with the geography of Brooklyn the players who are from the nearby boroughs are from the Bronx and Queens. The players from near by to NYC and within it Brooklyn are from Huntington, Hempstead (Nassau County, Long Island), and Yonkers

[Silence of the Rams]

I fall in love

[Edubdesign]

Time for the halfway point, with the #9 ranked Sydney Dingos.

Full disclosure: I changed the name of this team from the original in the game. It's the only team I did this for, because the name of the team was the Sydney Piranha.

Sydney. Piranha.

Anyone else seeing a problem here?

You've named a team in Australia after a fish only found 3,000 miles away, in South America? Come on.

So, I renamed and rebranded the team, naming it after an actual fierce Australian animal.

Here are the 2002 unis for the team-now-formerly-known-as-the Sydney Piranha:

Here are the new home/road/thirds:

I based the new unis after the colours of Uluru and the outback: dusty, dirty, dark colours. The stripes are based on two things: the lines in sedimentary rock (which you can see in photos of Uluru and other outback rock formations) and Australian Aboriginal art, which often features repeating patterns like this.

And here are the new rosters.

Canberra native Quinn Hawkes anchors the defense, while the first line of Linwood, Aller, and Williams keeps the offense - and fight wins - coming. Kurtis Borchard and Tim Puha form a competent tandem in net - could be better, could be worse.

Next team is based in a land of high-stakes gambling, yachts, sunshine, and stacks and stacks of money. Keep yer eyes peeled.

[MrRockyTop16]

I like your Dingos set, but part of me (the selfish part) would really love to see your redo of the piranha set (I do realize what you didn't do it).

[hockey week]

This is fantastic.

What an overall concept. I was just talking about this game yesterday and its crazy-cool play-your-way-in mode, which as far as I know was unique to NHL Hitz. It gave you a reason to play through it all, because how many video game seasons go unfinished or simulated through? I had forgotten most of these teams, and the nostalgia factor alone is great.

But you didn't get stuck on nostalgia, these are legit re-dos, and they're well done. I really like Victoria, and I'm not even sure why, it's not a very traditional set, and yet it still looks pretty darn traditional, even the third...very Rugby look.

My one critique is really more advice: don't be afraid to be traditional.

These are wacky teams from all over with crazy logos, I realize, but look at how many had very traditional elements. This was way before the hem-stripe-free edge jerseys were on the horizon, nobody had seen super modern sleek no-stripe jerseys. While it makes perfect sense in 2015 to have some, make sure you don't have them all.

Even the Brawlers, who use Lady Liberty jerseys, included that chain as a hemline stripe (that's an element that's genuinely great, I'd love to see it on the home and road). If you break them down, Hong Kong is just a Wild jersey (very Brandon Wheat Kings), Victoria wore Thrashers jerseys, Maui wore crazy Florida jerseys, Sarnia is so traditional it could be many teams (for 02-03 I'm thinking it's based on Edmonton), Rome is a little out there, but stlll traditional, Montego Bay wore Mighty Ducks jerseys, and Sydney are recolored Devils jerseys.

These "crazy" teams still played within the lines of regular hockey sweaters, they just liked bright colors and gradients. That's really why, looking at these, they still don't look that terrible. Grainy, pixelated, bright...but they're still hockey sweaters. This ain't NHL Rock The Rink or Mutant League Hockey after all.

So really, don't be afraid to have a traditional striping pattern. There can always be a twist, but not ALL of them have to have said twist.

Oh, and Sarnia's shoulder yoke should be a little higher, so it doesn't touch the logo. Otherwise, these are great. Keep it going, maybe my advice will be useful. Good luck!