monkeypower

25 minutes ago, A_J_H said:

I wouldn't be surprised that the Ice would wear the same jersey design as the Jets, and Moose in the next two years or sooner.

I don't see why they would because they aren't going to have any connection with the Jets.

11 minutes ago, bkknight95 said:

who greenlit that W, g'ddamn

I know they're going for the stencil look, for some reason, but that can't be how the W is supposed to look.

The two flag logos look off to me.

The one with the bear in front of the flag has the bear logo over top of the flapping flag, which seems weird to me because it's not like it's a bear flag where the bear is part of the flag. I also think it looks like the star wouldn't be straight if the flag was unfolded, but that might be a minor thing.

Then the one with the bear holding the flag, the bear isn't grasping the flag, it's just placed between his paws. Then, unlike the first flag logo, the bear logo is part of the flag but it doesn't follow the flapping of the flag. The bear logo is placed on the flag like it's out flat, but the flag isn't flat.

1 hour ago, the admiral said:

Not a fan of three teams in Winnipeg nor a Dub team as far east as Winnipeg is. Isn't the arena in Abbotsford open? Is there an arena in southern Oregon?

 

I'm not really a fan of the Moose being there, either, though I understand that it's not an easy place to send guys up to and down from. Thunder Bay ior Saskatoon would be a headache for everyone, and the traditional AHL circuit isn't any easier.

Outside of the Jr. A Blues (and that's because they play in the Manitoba league), Winnipeg is in a tough location for anything other than professional sports, especially dealing with other Canadian teams. It's a rough trip to have to make in the bus leagues.

The Dub already accounts for this a bit by having most of the 68 games played in division, then four against the other division in the conference and then only playing the other conference teams once, either all at home or all on the road depending on the division (as far as I know, that alternates home or away each year). 

For example, the Hitmen this year;

In Division - 34 games

Edmonton - 8

Red Deer - 8

Medicine Hat - 6

Lethbridge - 6

Kootenay - 6

East Division (the other division in the conference) - 24 games 

Two home and two away with each of the six teams

BC Division (other conference) - 5 games

The Hitmen and the rest of the Central Division teams played all these games at home

The East Division teams played these games on the road

US Division (also other conference) - 5 games

The Hitmen and the rest of the Central Division teams played all these games on the road

The East Division teams played these games on at home

5 hours ago, AstroBull21 said:

Yeah, Winnipeg seems a bit saturated with the NHL and AHL in place.

Especially since the WHL team isn't owned by the NHL team, while the AHL team is. The WHL team is also not playing in the NHL arena, while the AHL team is.

Part of the reason the Calgary Hitmen survived in the late '90s was because they always played in the Saddledome and the Flames bought them a couple years in. Compare that to the then Edmonton Ice who started a year after the Hitmen (1996 and 1995 respectively), but were forced to play in a different arena and essentially run out of town by the Oilers to Cranbrook after only two seasons. The WHL had failed previously in the NHL markets until the Hitmen and now the Edmonton Oil Kings are doing well, but they were started in 2007 by the Oilers and have played in the same arena as the Oilers. The outlier being the Vancouver Giants who were never owned by the Canucks and never played in the Canucks arena. The Giants started in 2001 and played in the old Pacific Coliseum until a few years ago when they moved to a Vancouver suburb.

I can't see the Jets ever doing anything with the Ice because the Jets own the Moose and now the Ice and Moose are going to be competing for the same market, i.e. the cheaper more family-friendly hockey market. From what I've also seen recently, the Moose attendance has been on the decline so maybe that money will shift over to the Ice, but it remains to be seen.

3 hours ago, philcar1994 said:

 

I don't think it will be saturated too too much. Look at Mississauga. You have the Maple Leafs (NHL), Marlies (AHL), Beast (ECHL), Furies (CWHL) and the Stealheads (OHL)

 

The Steelheads however were ranked second last in average attendance last year, but I feel like Winnipeg will be a different story. Not as many teams in the area compared to Toronto or Vancouver

With all due respect to the Furies and the CWHL, I don't think they really factor into the market. I'll also say that for the Beast as weel. From anecdotal evidence, junior hockey does have more support in Canada than minor league does. The Steelheads average attendance is higher than the Beast too. 

You also have to take into account the population of the GTA compared to the population of Winnipeg.

There can be a market for NHL and CHL teams, the real issue for Winnipeg is the addition of the AHL team which is already owned by the NHL team.

2 hours ago, philcar1994 said:

 

From what I've read the owners have sunk their own ship. Trading away players, raising prices within their organization, dropping attendance due to this. I'm sure the team will do better in Winnipeg. They'll be playing out of U of M's hockey arena until a new arena for them is built

The current Winnipeg-based owners may have had one foot out the door since they bought the team a few years ago, but Kootenay's been a sinking ship for a while now. Attendance was already dropping and there has always been issues with the viability of Cranbrook.

I'm still not convinced about the viability of Winnipeg though.

Here's a model displaying their new hat.

And what do you mean by perspective?

The Kings are hosting a ‘90s night against the Oilers and Fox Sports is bringing back the Glow Puck for the broadcast.

2 hours ago, monkeypower said:

The Hitmen have Cowboys, Wranglers and Centennials shirts, sweaters, hats and toques for sale along with the jerseys in the Saddledome ahead of their games in the Corral. I have a picture of the jerseys, but I’m in phone so I’ll post later.

 

I’m wondering who the Hitmen had to get rights from to sell this stuff? The Wranglers and Centennials still exist (Lethbridge and Tri-City respectively) and who owns the WHA’s Cowboys trademarks?

The black Hitmen mask logo is on the back hem next to the CHL logo.

The Hitmen have Cowboys, Wranglers and Centennials shirts, sweaters, hats and toques for sale along with the jerseys in the Saddledome ahead of their games in the Corral. I have a picture of the jerseys, but I’m in phone so I’ll post later.

I’m wondering who the Hitmen had to get rights from to sell this stuff? The Wranglers and Centennials still exist (Lethbridge and Tri-City respectively) and who owns the WHA’s Cowboys trademarks?

This doesn't really have anything to do with the branding of the Whiskey Jacks and I'd never heard of this new team until now, but I find it kind of interesting this Brandon team is in this American league instead of the WMBL (now WCBL) Canadian league with teams in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Upon googling, I found articles saying the Expedition League wanted a team in Brandon and not the other way around (also the Expedition League only started last year, which is probably why I had never heard of it).

I know from being a fan of the Hitmen in the WHL that Brandon is in a odd place off by itself in the junior sports world and is subject to long bus rides, but from a cursory glance, the travel distance appears to be about the same for the most part for Brandon in either the WCBL or Expedition League. 

14 hours ago, Marcos Flamengo said:

The only Canadian NHL team that hasn't a radio deal with Rogers Media are the Edmonton Oilers. Their games airs on Corus-O&O radio station 630 CHED.

Well, Edmonton doesn't have a Rogers sports station. Both the Oilers and Eskimos are on 630 CHED, while the Oil Kings are on TSN 1260.

Down in Calgary, the Flames and Hitmen are on Sportsnet 960 while the Stampeders are on 770 CHQR, which is is Corus-O&O.

I just came across this alternate for the Jr. A Calgary Mustangs and could this possibly be the worst kerning/letter placement on a logo ever? Not just the nearly touching L and G and S and T, but both words also look unbalanced and it seems some of the letters are more slanted than others.

I'm sure someone with more knowledge on this sort of stuff could comment better on it.

29 minutes ago, Kaz said:

Why do you damn Canadians hate freedom so much? 

Canadian cell phones plans are the most expensive in the world, especially related to the amount of data offered. There is no way you're getting an unlimited data plan up here.

1 hour ago, LMU said:

The problem?  There are so many terrestrial radio companies on the brink of bankruptcy right now that looking to bail off of the sinking ship is the sound business strategy going forward especially now that unlimited data plans have made a comeback and cars are coming equipped with streaming radio apps built in.

Not up in Canada.

But as far as I know, all the Canadian NHL teams are on either Sportsnet or TSN stations who took over existing sports radio stations in most, if not all, of the markets.

I was going to say Barrie might be some of the worst jerseys in the entire CHL, which they are (up there with PA and Moose Jaw), and then I came across the Charlottetown Islanders. These are terrible, so much unnecessary piping and the white jersey carries over the Reebox from the black jersey but then still switches up the colour on the front chest swatch so it looks even stupider. 

1 hour ago, Sodboy13 said:

Name something good about the Ottawa Senators franchise. "They're in Ottawa" does not count.

That's definitely a Flames move to accidentally draft the wrong guy, so there might be some truth to that part.

17 hours ago, Ice_Cap said:

Only because you’re used to it. The Los Angeles Rams moved to Anaheim in 1980 and no one cared that they kept the Los Angeles name. 

 

The NHL first began to be interested in Anaheim in the late 80s. The Minnesota North Stars proposed moving in the early 90s, and were planning on using the name “Los Angeles Stars.” 

 

That deal only got nixed because the NHL wanted that sweet, sweet expansion cheque from Disney. And Disney opted to name their team the “Mighty Ducks of Anaheim” to drum up publicity for the locale of one of their major resorts. 

 

Had the Los Angeles Stars relocation gone through, or had Disney just gone with “Los Angeles Mighty Ducks”? We’d likely think nothing of a team in Anaheim using the “Los Angeles” name. 

Again, the Rams did it for fourteen years and no one cared. 

I'll start by saying I'm in favour of Anaheim being used as the geographical identifier and I think it can be after so many years of being used as one, but it is definitely a Disney creation.

Last season the Ducks put a bunch of old newspaper articles on their website ahead of this year's 25th anniversary from back when the team was announced. A few of the articles talk about what this new team will be called, including one where "Anaheim" is discussed with an Angels spokesperson being asked about it. I crudely cut and pasted it together here.

Another article (which I linked to them above, they're all very interesting) talks to Eisner and then a Disney spokesperson after the team was conditionally approved but before it was official. One of the conditions of the official approval being Disney needing to get a deal done with an arena in Orange County/Southern California with the now-Honda Center being built for reasons unrelated to the Disney expansion team.

(I like how [Disneyland] is added in before Matterhorn. Was the writer worried readers would think you could see it from the actual Matterhorn?)

Yeah, I don't think the Angels are going to move. They had either now or 2028 to opt out of the lease and with a local election on the way, why not opt out now and try to get something from a new mayor? They also just sunk a bunch of money into the stadium this previous season for new video boards, so kind of a weird move to do a major upgrade to the stadium and then want to leave.

---

I don't know where I stand on what happens if they do move. I'd much rather have them stay in Anaheim, but I don't know if I would stop being a fan of the team if they were to move. The reason I became an Angels fan was because of the Ducks so I'm a fan of two local teams, but I'm not a local fan.

3 hours ago, Dante_X said:

Interesting tidbits in this article (in French):

https://www.lequotidien.com/sports/sagueneens/un-chandail-pour-mettre-en-valeur-laluminium-5630e903956c4b177feeb3c07588392e

 

  

It mostly means that the Adidas fabric (or CCM from the AHL?) is coming to the CHL

As I noted earlier in the thread, the mockups for the retro jerseys the Hitmen are wearing for the Corral games this year are on the Adidas template, so maybe that's connected? 

Or it's just the Flames design team only having an Adidas template to work with.

I've come to the realization the Prince Albert Raiders uniforms which were unveiled in 2013 are pretty much everything that was wrong with the initial Edge roll out in 2007 that had been fixed for the most in the six years in between.

No hem striping, weird arm striping, a vertical side stripe and sock striping that is afraid of the back of the legs.

The CHL switched to Edge for the 2009-10 season and then switched out the Reebok patches for CCM patches a few seasons ago.

Get settled in here because I have many thoughts on this,

I think the Flames really screwed the pooch with their their jersey retirements Forever a Flame program. They retired Lanny McDonald's 9 in 1990 and Mike Vernon's 30 in 2007, though in good Flames fashion the Vernon banner was in the style of the then current uniforms, ones he never wore. That has since been fixed when they updated the McDonald one and matched the Vernon one, though both those banners don't have the correct number and NOB font.

Then in 2012, they introduced the Forever a Flame program because "The Flames have established a tradition that permits Flames of the future, with an opportunity to proudly wear the numbers of some of the Flames all-time greats." (direct quote from the article in 2012 including the [sic] comma) and "didn't retire" Al MacInnis' 2 that year and "didn't retire" Joe Nieuwendyk's 25 in 2014. No one has worn 2 since 2004 and 25 has been worn for a total of 109 games by Brandon Bollig, Freddie Hamilton and Nick Shore since the 2014-2015 season.

So now are they going to Forever a Flame Iginla? Because either way, nobody's going to wear 12 ever again for the Flames and he should really be retired. But if you go and retire 12, why not 2 and 25? I also don't know if anybody's going to wear 34 again, though I also don't know if Forever a Flame will come soon for Kiprusoff. (Nobody has also worn 14 for the Flames since Fleury was traded, though I also don't know how soon his Forever a Flame will come either).

They also had the Hitmen and Roughnecks to start the "Forever a Hitmen" (which I just now realized is grammatically incorrect with the other two "Forever a ..." because it really should be Forever a Hitman) and "Forever a Roughneck" programs. I have less of a problem with those because the Roughnecks hadn't retired any numbers before the program started and the Hitmen had only retired one, but due to the nature of junior hockey, a lot of players aren't around for many years so numbers get recycled and you can take into account their NHL careers as well.

The Hitmen retired Brad Moran's 20 in 2005(?) and then Ryan Getzlaf and Andrew Ladd got Forever a Hitmen banners in 2015 and 2017 respectively while Kaleb Toth and Tracey Kelusky got Forever a Roughneck banners in 2013 and 2017 respectively.

32 minutes ago, Scratcher said:

Pictures of the jerseys for these games:

Source: http://dailyhive.com/calgary/hitmen-calgary-corral-2019

Weird that they're being shown on Adidas templates with the collars in all their glory, but the CHL still uses CCM. And all the fonts are the same and wrong for all three jerseys.

I hope those are just place holders mockups.

The Calgary Hitmen are going to be playing three games in the first week of February in the old Stampede Corral and the email release says they're going to be wearing "commemorative jerseys" from the past including Calgary Centennials, the Calgary Wranglers and the Calgary Cowboys, who all played in the Corral. The Centennials and Wranglers being the previous WHL teams in Calgary and the Cowboys being the WHA team.

It seems like with three games and three teams, they'd be wearing a jersey for each game but it could also be just an only warmup thing.