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colinturner95

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Everything posted by colinturner95

  1. Welcome to Group B! IMO a much more balanced group of countries with a touch more collective hockey history than our previous group. Let's meet the teams: Brazil, the most decorated team in World Cup history, has a very modest ice hockey history. They've yet to compete in an IIHF World Championship, but were the first South American country to join the IIHF and competed regularly in the Pan American Tournament. Now they're much more known for their inline team, something many of the warmer climated teams have in common. The ever neutral Switzerland has grown into one of the top hockey countries in the world, rivalling members of the Big 6 for international supremacy. Since the dissolution of the USSR, Latvia has also grown into a competitive hockey nation, and looks to build off of their surprise 2023 World Championship bronze medal. Similar to football, Japan's international hockey presence has been bolstered by the women's successes in recent years, but now it's time for the men to rise to the top.
  2. Just like with my Idaho High School series, I also ran the teams through a simulation of a World Cup style tournament, just to see how wild it would get and well... Literally took one group for some ridiculousness. No one told Morocco they're the underdog and not supposed to be able to compete. Kicking things off with a surprise OT win over Sweden, an even more shocking 4-1 win over hosts Canada and a convincing 5-2 win over Australia. Canada welcomed Australia back to the top with a 6-1 boot to the face, but might have sleepwalked into their 4-1 defeat by Morocco, setting up a huge clash for second with Sweden. Sweden might have hung out with Canada too much, as they fell to Morocco in their first game in OT. They got their swagger back against Australia, doubling up the Roos. But in the end, Canada was too much for the Swedes, falling 4-2 in the de facto 2nd position game and resulting in an early trip home. Australia... well they did better than those days in 1960. Still couldn't get a win, but a -10 GD was much better than the -77 they finished with in 1960. Again, this bit is just for fun and for me. Onto Group B!
  3. Happy Saturday! Our last member of Group A, the boys from Down Under. The Hockeyroos take the ice in a very classic hockey styled uniform, not too dissimilar from their actual uniforms. There's not as heavy a soccer influence on these as the previous 3 uniforms, though the choice to make the gold uniform the away comes from the Socceroos wearing gold as their primary colors. The alternate borrows heavy from the 1960 Olympic team uniforms with a couple modern touches. C&C welcome!
  4. nope. they had a unique thing for one season and then Nike added it to the catalog and it's become stale. this might fall into unpopular territory but I think they should lead with the throwback logo: The current logo set is starting to feel like its course has been run.
  5. Boise State going with the Fiesta combo in Memphis this weekend
  6. The first of the true "non-traditional" hockey countries, and also the first look at a non-Nike or Adidas uniforms (CCM Uniforms will be worn by soccer teams not wearing Nike or Adidas) but I think Morocco settles in well to the hockey aesthetic, especially aided by the design features of '22 WC teams' red uniform. Quick addition of a regional pattern created a solid set of home and away uniforms. Alternate uniform honors Morocco's hockey history to date with the modern touches of the first two uniforms. I forgot to mention that for player names and numbers: Traditional hockey countries, or countries with a degree of hockey history will have historical greats or current greats or possibly future greats (looking at you Bedard). Non traditional/soccer countries will have all time sports legends or current soccer players as the team reps. Not quite an explosive start to the non-hockey teams but curious to know what guys you think! I've tried it before with the crown on the pants for a 2022 Olympic series and I thought it was a good look to re-work for this series. I got back and forth on the white keylines on Sweden's uniforms every time I deal with them. I personally think it adds just enough of a pop to the crowns and numbers. As for the soccer inspiration... I'm realizing that some teams I might have gone overboard with it
  7. A pretty solid aesthetic 1-2 punch when you lead off with Canada and Sweden, the latter of whom has stayed largely consistent in the wake of Nike's relentless nonsense when it comes to IIHF uniforms. However, Adidas in charge here... which doesn't lead to much change. Biggest change is the darkening of the blue to a more navy shade, something I've wanted to try out for a long time on Sweden but never felt like I should and finally pulled the trigger on. Also another first in modern Swedish hockey: a white jersey! Uniform Details: C&C welcome!
  8. Downgrade IMO. the new one looks like a hockey-specific logo for Winthrop University
  9. they've always had navy as a trim color, And I think it was their last set with Nike where they really introduced it to the palette as a alternate uniform color. But that game above looks like an off-brand Territorial Cup matchup.
  10. The first group of teams features two current powerhouses in the international hockey world and two teams that would have a long way to go to catch up. Do I need to say too much about our hosts? Team Canada is the most decorated team in the history of international hockey, despite the takeover by the Soviets for a couple decades. In recent years, Sweden has challenged Canada for supremacy in world hockey, but still has some work to do if they ever want to catch up Morocco, one of three teams in Africa to have IIHF membership, in their case at the associate level, has grown the game significantly in their 13 years of membership Finally, Australia makes a return to top level hockey after almost 80 years away from the Olympic games, and 10 years since dropping from Division 1. Starting us off in Group A: Team Canada: One thing I wanted to do here for the hockey nations especially, is to get away from a hockey-centric look, so looking for some inspirations elsewhere, or from their football team. Didn't always happen, but it was something I wanted to do. For Canada, the '98 football kits played a heavy hand on the home and away uniforms, and the current football tops became intertwined with the infamous Sochi black alternate jersey. Uniform Details: C&C welcome!
  11. Am I the only one that gets vibes of 2007 from this season so far? No one team or teams that are separating early from the back as the "to beat" group? Feels like we could have upsets on a weekly basis? Just me?
  12. I don't know of anyone that jumps for joy when you mention the World Cup of Hockey as it currently exists. I feel like it's a good idea but, especially when NHLers weren't going to the Olympics and you'd get a shot at seeing the best players from those countries face off against each other (and it did give us Team North America, which was pretty cool to see, even if it was just for 6 total games). But NHLers seem to be gearing up for an Olympic return in 2026, I personally wonder why they're still trying to make the WCOH a thing. Now what does any of that have to do with what I'm about to show you? Honestly, probably not a whole lot. But it did get me thinking: what if there was a more "World Cup" of Hockey? What if hockey was a much more global game than it is now and more than 6-8 teams were included, and you had 32 of the best countries playing quadrennially for a chance at immortality? Obviously this sounds a lot like the FIFA World Cup, and where do you think I got the idea? This also goes back to my Idaho HS project, where I wish for more for those kids and the sport in general, and having the ability to conceptualize it and bring to life in a way is a sort of bonus. So I don't quite have all the details worked out 100%, in terms of how this would affect the existing IIHF world championship, but then I got to thinking, if there were more hockey playing nations around the world and not just in Europe and North America, there's likely be more regional based competitions, like the Gold Cup for CONCACAF, UEFA and the Euros, Africa Cup of Nations, etc. But who needs the finer details when I'm here to do uniform concepts? So for the event and purposes of having a location for the branding, the event will take place across Canada in 2028, chosen due to the country's history with the development of the sport we now know today. I didn't spend too much time on the branding, wanting to at least have a better looking trophy than the real WCOH has offered. The trophy took some inspiration from the existing IIHF World Championship trophies and the World Cup trophies. Without any qualifying tournaments to get us to 32 teams, I went with the "easy" route and used the IIHF and FIFA rankings to help and now we get into some of the "rules" if you wanna call them that: Top 12 teams from the IIHF & FIFA rankings comprise the 32 teams I'll be designing. While Russia and Belarus are still ranked high in the IIHF, with them still being banned from competition in real life, I maintained that status here. I allowed the 13-16 ranks to be more "designers choice", so those teams I cherry picked a little. IIHF Rankings supersede FIFA's (due to this being a hockey tournament), so teams like France actually tumble and Germany moves up. Groups were drawn in the same fashion as a FIFA World Cup: The 8 countries ranked 1-4 in the IIHF and FIFA were drawn in the first position, 5-8, so on and so forth Groups could have no more than 2 IIHF or FIFA teams in them, similar to FIFA's rule on two teams from the same confederation, save for UEFA. (My personal favorite) Teams will use their soccer/football team's uniform supplier, so for the IIHF teams, an opportunity for some to get away from Nike. Groups: Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D | Group E | Group F | Group G | Group H First teams will be up tomorrow or Monday! Hoping to have fun with this!
  13. RU SH I like the buffalo head but the Rush being split by it, not so much.
  14. Boise State adding a white version of the modern-retro Bronco helmet.
  15. Not a new uniform, but my alma mater installed artificial turf, replacing their longtime natural grass field. Wish they'd went with the block BK logo instead of the clip art logo they've transitioned to.
  16. I'm not super familiar with Florida football's aesthetic history, but I'd rather them use the blue pants sparingly and primarily use the white and orange.
  17. Last little bit of business for me to attend to, the whole reason these kids play: to win a championship. I originally wanted to go with a tournament just like Minnesota's, 8 teams down the middle, win and go to the right, lose and go to the left. But I ended up wanting to keep it a little similar to how Idaho's janky tournament is run now. 8 teams still make it, but are split into two groups, play 3 games a piece, top two from each group play in the semifinals, 3rd in the group play the consolation game, 4th, well, better luck next year. Group A: Group A was the less fun of the group, with BK clinching a spot in the semifinals with two early wins over Mountain Home and Moscow, but not home free, with a huge matchup with Idaho Falls still looming. Idaho Falls, still lurking behind state #1 BK, also dispatching Mountain Home and Moscow, but in the crucial third game for IF and BK, it was a slugfest that BK managed the single goal and top seed in the semifinals. Mountain Home was two goals away from stealing first place and a semifinals spot, but the puck bounced the wrong way twice, relegating Mountain Home to play for a consolation trophy Moscow, well, Moscow managed to get goals in all their games, but their opponents managed to score more in all their games too. Moscow gets sent home early to the Palouse. Group B: A much more exciting group play than Group A, with all teams each sharing a win and loss through their 2nd games. Burley, the 2nd seed in Group B to start, managed a semifinals spot with an early win over Pocatello, but dropped a shocker to Lewiston, but salvaged their weekend beating top seed in the group, Nampa to lock up a semis spot. Pocatello loses to Burley in the first game, but bounces back with a huge win over Nampa and in a pivotal game at the end of Group play, knocks off Lewiston in OT to join Burley as team #2 in the semifinals. Lewiston was a bounce the other way close to the semifinals, but Pocatello took that game from them. But Lewiston was able to upset Burley early but was set back in their first game by Nampa, which sends them to the consolation game against Mountain Home. Nampa, a favorite on paper, got a win in their first game but couldn't manage anything else after that. A close loss against Pocatello made things precarious and it was Burley that would put the nail in their coffin and send them home west on I84. Consolation Game: The Consolation Game turned out to be a good back and forth battle, with neither team taking a hold on the game and trading goals back and forth. In the end, Lewiston was able to get one more and took home the consolation trophy with a 5-4 victory. Semi Finals It's hard to call the top team in the regular season "cardiac kids", but the regular season doesn't matter when we get to the post season. Pocatello gives the wire to wire #1 team all they can handle, but BK is able to survive, needing a late regulation goal and the OT winner, less than 5 minutes into the extra frame. Idaho Falls and Burley squared off in a East-Central battle, but Burley was no match for IF. Down 3 early, they were able to make a decent comeback attempt, but an insurance marker early in the 3rd secured a group play rematch for Idaho Falls and BK. Third Place: Not the game they wanted to play in but a chance to finish the season off strong. Another eastern team for Burley to face and this one went about the same way as the first game. Pocatello jumped out to a 5-0 lead and appeared ready to coast, but Burley again made a run at a comeback but still fell way short, and Pocatello was able to take home 3rd. State Championship: The big game, ironically, between two teams that did have successful runs in high school hockey in Idaho. BK and Idaho Falls turned in one of the best games of the season. Both teams striking in the first period. A rather mundane 2nd period leads into an exciting 3rd period. Bk scores halfway through the period and seemed prepared to add one more on the powerplay, but in a turn of events that hits a little too close to home and my real life state championship game, a late regulation goal equalizes the game for Idaho Falls and sends it to overtime. The first half of overtime is back and forth, but Idaho Falls gets called for a penalty that would end the game 11 seconds later, on a tip drill goal that clinches the state tournament and championship for Bishop Kelly! Well, that's all I got for this series. I know it wasn't the most exciting for everyone, but it was fun for me to see one of my passion projects come to life, and getting a chance to imagine a better hockey experience for high school kids in Idaho. Thanks for following along if you did or just taking a peek at this project and we'll see you on the next one!
  18. 12. Thunder Ridge Titans - Est. 2018 - Idaho Falls, ID - Classification: 5A The last team up in the series, also one of the youngest, if not the youngest in the series. Thunder Ridge opened in 2018 as the 5th school in the Idaho Falls area, and thus far, the only one to not have a hockey team with their own name attached to it. They've also not managed a state championship in that time as well. But they're only 5 years old, gotta give them a shot. They do play on a stacked side of the state however, so the odds are against them there. Thunder Ridge Titans - Identity: Colors - Similar to Skyline, but a more muted blue and navy blue, with silver accents. Primary Logo - When Thunder Ridge opened, they unveiled a nice Zeus mark that was meant to serve as the primary logo, but with no access to a vector version of the logo or a clean enough image to trace for use here, I had to settle for the TR monogram that came with Zeus. Secondary Logo - Fear not, but I did keep Zeus's lightning bolt, now with a double circle outline. Wordmarks - Titans wordmark in the same font and style as the TR lockup. Jersey Fonts - The Lightning's old font worked well for a number style. Thunder Ridge Titans - Uniforms: Home - Away: Jerseys /Socks - Thunder Ridge's football team debuted wearing UCLA style uniforms, in their own colors, and I liked the triple stripe. So that became the main feature. The home and away uniforms are very classic in style, with smaller stripes around the ends of the sleeves. TR front and center. Equipment - Pants have a stripe running vertically and around the bottoms of the legs. Helmet is navy, gloves are light blue. Alternate: Jersey/Socks - Rather than a simple recolor of the home and aways, I opted for something much different and more off the wall. Borrowing the design from my Thunder redesign in the NBA series, a much less classic style uniform with a silver lightning bolt, followed by a line gradient of the lighter blue. Equipment - No changes. That's all for the teams! Now to the last state tournament: The High Country Conference seemed pretty well balanced before the first round pucks dropped: First Round: Madison rides a strong 2nd period, doubling up Hillcrest and adding 2 more in the 3rd to move on to the quarterfinals. A much closer game than fictional talking heads in the state would have guessed, but Century sneaks past Blackfoot in a tight game. Rigby takes down Thunder Ridge after a 4 goal 3rd period turns a 3-2 game into a 7-2 game. The lone upset in the first set of games, Highland falls to Bonneville after a natural hat trick in the 2nd blows the game wide open. Quarterfinals: Shelley entered the game as the top team in the conference, but undisciplined play in the 2nd period helps Madison continue their run with a 3-1 win. A crosstown rivalry is always heightened when there's playoff implications, and in this Pocatello showdown, it's the Thunder outlasting Century after a late 3rd period flurry of goals. Idaho Falls and Rigby meet for a well matched game, but Idaho Falls' early goals were too much for Rigby to overcome. Skyline gets a real test and almost went home early, after trailing for most of the game to Bonneville, but 2 goals back to back in the 3rd was enough to get Skyline through. Semifinals: Madison's run doesn't end in champagne (or sparkling juice for the high school kids), as Pocatello puts up 3 early and never looks back. While the Emotion Bowl ends with one student section painting the goal posts, hockey doesn't get that luxury but if they did, it would be Idaho Falls painting the posts orange, with a 4-2 win to face Pocatello in the championship. Championship: It was an evenly matched game, very defensive with neither team being able to muster more than 20 shots apiece. In this story, it's Idaho Falls earning their trip to Boise, with the game-winning goal coming half way through the first overtime period. The final color breakdown: We're seeing red, as 5 teams have red in some capacity. Shelley sees a two-fer: brown making its second appearance, and white being kicked to the curb. A lot less blue than conferences past: just three schools using it in a capacity. Purple and Green get some use. Well that's all for the teams/conferences. Just have the big dance and that's the wrap!
  19. Holding out hope for 2 new teams when they settle into home cities, then they could go to 6 teams in the playoffs with 10 total teams.
  20. 11. Skyline Grizzlies - Est. 1968 - Idaho Falls, ID - Classification: 4A The second half of the schools with an (technical) Idaho Falls address. Skyline was opened in 1968 to help alleviate Idaho Falls HS enrollment numbers but wouldn't actually see a student attend the physical building until 1970, due to delays in construction. So to help graduate students, a modified schedule was worked out where Idaho Falls students went to school in the morning and Skyline students went to school in the afternoon. Skyline forms the second half of the Emotion Bowl rivalry with Idaho Falls, which I touched on in Idaho Falls' post. For sports outside of hockey (mostly just football), BK and Skyline have gone in a similar trajectory, though Skyline has seen more success as of late, beating BK for the state championship in football 2016 and 2022. Skyline has won 3 straight titles starting in 2020, the first 4A team to do that since BK did it from 2013-2015. Skyline Hockey history/Personal story below: Skyline Grizzlies - Identity: Colors - Light blue, but not powder and navy. Primary Logo - So they took Montana's logo, added a Z to Griz and recolored it. And I kept it. Secondary Logo - S logo from their football helmets. Wordmarks - Split Grizz from the paw and added a new Skyline mark. Jersey Fonts - I liked LSU's skinny block and I can't remember the exact reason why. Skyline Grizzlies - Uniforms: Home - Away: Jerseys /Socks - The Skyline I played against wore Maple Leafs blanks, which was a good look IMO, but they wore the blue socks with both uniforms, which dragged the look down a little for me. The home whites are more navy dominant, owning to the navy yoke. double stripe, doubled again on the sleeves and hem. Primary logo on the chest. Away blues lose the shoulder yoke. Equipment - All navy, gloves with a lt blue cuff and pants have the same stripes. Alternate: Jersey/Socks - Not too dissimilar from the home and away jerseys. Biggest change outside of base color, is the stripe changes to a full triple stripe, adds a stripe to the shoulder area and the logo changes to the secondary S. Equipment - No changes. One team left and we can wrap this one up and put a bow on top!
  21. 10. Shelley Russets - Est. 1909(?) - Shelley, ID - Classification: 4A The smallest of the current 4A schools, based on the 2022-2024 enrollment projections, but what Shelley HS lacks in students, she makes up for in being unique. Shelley is known nationally for their nickname, the Russets, very much named after the potato variety. Adding to how cool that is, owning to the shape of the high school building, it received the nickname, "The Spud Cellar", and in the last little bit of potato related facts about Idaho's potato high school, the academic calendar has a 2 week break built into late September, early October because the majority of the enrollment helps with the potato harvest. Just Idaho Things. Because Shelley moved up so recently to 4A, BK has little to no modern history of competing with Shelley. Doesn't mean the Russets have no success or competitive drive, their football team dominating the 3A ranks in the early 2000s and 2010s, in addition to a very successful debate team and dance teams. Shelley Russets - Identity: Colors - The only high school to get a palette change. Shelley's current colors are red and black. Not very unique when it comes to teams around the state and in this conference. For more of a farm, country feel, I changed the team's colors to a dark brown, orange and vintage white. Primary Logo - Shelley's mascot is called King Russet and in another first, Shelley is the only school to have a hockey-specific logo, based on the Famous Idaho Potato, only this time he's a lot less happy and is ready to play, set in a roundel. Secondary Logo - Nothing crazy, just a block S. Wordmarks - Keeping things pretty classic, a drop shadowed Russets script. Jersey Fonts - Despite not having a super classic look, I used the Canadiens WC font, minus the faux stitching. Shelley Trojans - Uniforms: Made the first and only real mistake with my teams, I had Shelley as team #11 because I'm an idiot that can't alphabetize properly. Home - Away: Jerseys /Socks - With the vintage feel of all the other elements, vintage themed uniforms felt like a good way to go. These jerseys bear a certain amount of resemblance to the Rangers' Winter Classic jerseys from 2012, though the stripes are an adapted version of the football team's pant stripe. Roundel takes point on the chest, S on the shoulders. Equipment - All brown, though for a split second the pants had a matching stripe like the jerseys, but I thought it was too much with the stripes on the shoulders too. Alternate: Jersey/Socks - this jersey was inspired by my Portland NHL expansion team from my Nike series, which in turn were inspired by the Portland Rosebuds of the PCHA. Orange becomes the main color here, with the vintage white taking on the role of secondary here. Northwestern stripes on the sleeves and socks. Modified version of the stripe on the hem. Sublimated barberpole stripes on the sleeves, up to the shoulders. Russets script on the chest, number under that, with an added drop shadow. The contrasting nameplate was an accident, like it normally is with me, from changing colors of objects and bam, accidents create good things. Equipment - No changes. Just two teams left!
  22. Not paying 165 American Schillings for one though.
  23. Utah State's new navy jersey Pairs nicely with the white uniform:
  24. Definitely a valid argument. Idk, I feel like it takes the creativity out of uniforms, but maybe less of that is more these days. I agree on the pants needing stripes and the numbers don’t need the double outlines
  25. This might be better served for the Unpopular Opinions thread, but am I the only one that doesn't like when teams (this goes across all sports) go to a throwback design as is for their regular home and away uniforms? To me it feels like a cop out, like "we can't think of anything better so here's our old uniforms again"
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