chcarlson23

33 minutes ago, DTConcepts said:

 

Both of which are stupid names too.

I recently had a conversation with a friend where the Lakers came up. When I mentioned that they used to be the Minneapolis Lakers, because Minneapolis is the city of lakes, they said they had no clue, and always wondered why LA had such a terrible name…

I really wish Minne and Paul would have still been the sleeve patch, but that “dark blue blob” is very obviously Minnesota. 

2 hours ago, TrueYankee26 said:

Interesting. I would love to see what year these prototypes are from.. I am guessing it is no earlier than 2005-06 (see silver NHL logo)

Well that also has an adidas-style collar, so probably around the same time their current alternate went into production. Both use alternative NY logos, and are kinda just slightly different styles for the Isles

4 minutes ago, Pigskin12 said:

I could’ve sworn everyone on here hates gradients.

Nope. Only gradients for the sake of gradients…

I like A or C. The idea behind B is cool, big the flower covers up to much, so it doesn’t really read as an M underneath anymore. I feel like A could be a great one to use if you went with a sort of neo-1920’s vibe for the sweaters. 

So Minnesota has started considering a redesign of their state flag. There are a number of problems with the current flag, especially when it comes to the actual design. 

Minnesota Legislature considers state flag redesign again, but this time it might happen – Twin Cities

There was a flag designed in 1989, nicknamed the North Star flag, but I find the design to be a little lacking and it just doesn't have the right feel of a flag. It just doesn't feel like a memorable design, despite being miles better than the current flag. 

So I came up with a design that highlights the North Star better, and also calls back to the large Scandinavian population in Minnesota. 

I'm calling it the Norsk Star flag! It follows the design of the Nordic Cross flags, but is actually in the shape of a star, the North Star. And green, white, and blue are fitting colors for Minnesota.

25 minutes ago, CaliforniaGlowin said:

Uniforms won't even survive their first hit or slash

Guys will look like Lacrosse players out there with elbow pads exposed when they get slammed into the boards once…

Seriously though, I don’t expect much of a change in ON ICE quality right away, given that the article on NHL.com says they’ll still use the Quebec manufacturer. But the larger merchandise might really really suck. Buying a jersey as a fan might really suck, especially since we know what the fanatics replicas look like. 
 

My only hope is that Fanatics will change up the collars to look a little more traditional. I’m also hoping there’s no odd changes like Under Armors stupid half shoulder yokes, (See UMD hockey) or sleeve and tail stripes stopping halfway on the sides of the jersey a la Michigan hockey. 

I guess I’m confused as to what the Big City Greens is, and why there was a Winter Classic version of it?? Can anyone explain this? 

Why does everyone who’s made/designed major sport uniforms, feel the need to have toilet bowl collars? Like seriously, who signs off on those, saying they look good?? And why is it impossible for them to complete the circle on their uniform style? Just an obnoxious, weird, little, thing…

11 hours ago, DTConcepts said:

 An alleged prototype of an unused Minnesota Wild alternate jersey found its way to Twitter yesterday.

I hope the rumor mill is right and the Wild are dredging up the North Stars' brand, because this jersey is just not good. Except for the captain patch.

Somehow I don’t hate it. I can’t quite put it into words, but there’s definitely something alluring about it. The captain’s patch is also nice, and I do like that there’s the State of Hockey logo. 
 

But I’m very glad none of this made it past testing. I usually hate BFBS and this would have brought it black to the Wild’s regular sweaters which would have sucked. I’m much happier that the North Stars branding will be the alternate look instead. 

6 hours ago, BuckDancer said:

 

The Minnesota Wild have had the same problem but for much longer. 15 years without a matching road and home uniform since the 2007 reebok take over.

 

Over the past decade they have worn 9 uniforms including two faux backs, the rbk version of their original road, their current road, current home, two north stars RR's, winter classic and stadium series jersey. 

 

None of these jerseys have had the same striping pattern and logo as another expect their two RR's.

Their current home and road have the same logo, and have a striping pattern that lends itself to being a match between jerseys. There are quite a few teams who don’t have completely identical striping patterns.
 

The Hurricanes do it worse, because they’re home and roads feel like completely separate identities, (Minnesota was very guilty of this until Adidas took over) and to top it all of, they brought back their best sweater this year, but only as an alternate look. 

20 minutes ago, Mingjai said:

It’s funny, I refuse to use “Row the Boat” except when specifically referring to Coach Fleck himself: “Ol’ ‘Row-the-Boat’ should have gone for it on 4th down there…” 

I feel the same way. I hate the whole Row the Boat thing. I wish more people felt that way too haha
 

And people in Minnesota definitely use both the U of M and the U interchangeably for Minnesota. I feel like I use U of M when referencing it the first time to someone, but otherwise I’ll just say the “U”

And then of course there’s UMD, and then most of the other schools I’ve only ever heard by their location or full name, kinda like St. Cloud or St. Cloud State rather than some acronym. (Except for my alma mater UNW )

3 hours ago, Mingjai said:

I don’t really agree with you about nicknames, especially with all the great nicknames out there.

 

Maybe this falls under one of your exceptions, try living in Minnesota and telling people you’re going to the Minnesota game. You could be referring to the Vikings, Twins, Wild, Loons, Wolves, Linx, or any one of many University of Minnesota sports teams. So in the state of Minnesota it’s always the Gophers in general or Gopher hockey, Gopher football, etc., in particular.

I mean any area (which is going to be mostly large cities) that has numerous sports teams with the same regional identifier would have this. It would be the same for Chicago, Arizona, New York, Boston, etc. But in more rural or smaller market areas, the college name is probably used more that the mascot name. Saying you’re going to an Oregon game is easier to figure out vs saying you’re going to a Boston game. 

3 hours ago, Mingjai said:

I think you’re in the minority though in saying “Ski-U-Mah” to folks, though it might be increasing since the school has started using more in its branding. They school didn’t really use it as much in branding before when I was there in the 00s.

In Chicago, I get “Go Gophers” by at least a 10:1 ratio, and I almost exclusively say “Go Gophers” to fellow fans. I guess next time I get a Ski-U-Mah on the street, I’ll know it’s you! (Or PJ Fleck, but he’d say Row the Boat first… )

I would believe that I am I’ve just always liked saying it. 
 

And the next time I’m in Chicago I’ll wear my skating Gopher hat so you know it’s me 

2 hours ago, gosioux76 said:

 

That's interesting. I know the Ski-U-Mah thing goes back generations, but has it always been so widely used? I grew up two hours north of the Twin Cities, in central Minnesota, where we were obviously familiar with the Gophers but I don't think I ever heard Ski-U-Mah. I was a big fan of some of the late '80s, early '90s men's basketball teams and would watch their broadasts, and I don't ever recall the slogan being identified with the team in the way that it is today.

 

Could also be a proximity thing, where it was more common in the metro than outstate, I guess. Long story short, if I saw someone wearing U of Minnesota gear and was inclined to say something, it would be "Go Gophers" rather than Ski-U-Mah for the reasons I outline above. 

I’ve been going to Gopher hockey games and following along  since the late 2000’s and the saying has gotten more and more prevalent. It even took me a while to even figure out it was pronounced “Sky-U-Mah” rather than “Skee-U-Mah”. But it feels like it’s really ramped up in the last several years. They’ll flash it on signs and the scoreboard during hockey games, and the football team has even put it on their helmets. I’m not sure about any other sports usage of it, but I’ve heard it on radio ads, TV bits, and on social media as well. 

So Patrick Kane got dealt for two conditional picks, where Tanner Jeannot got moved for FIVE draft picks??

So who got fleeced more, the Blackhawks or the Lightning? What a ridiculous trade market…

10 hours ago, WestCoastBias said:

 

If you're passing someone on the street wearing Minnesota stuff do you tell them "SKI-U-MAH!" or "Go Gophers!"? I guess Texas would be "Hook 'Em!", missed that one. I'm gonna count 'Woo Pig!" basically as "Go {team nickname}!" though. 

 

 

As a Gophers fan and someone who’s lived my whole life in Minnesota up until a couple of months ago, yes, I do say Ski-U-Mah to anyone wearing Gophers stuff haha. I mean it’s part of the school fight song, “Rah Rah Rah for Ski-U-Mah” and the U uses it in a lot of branding. So most Gopher fans should know it, and even people who go to the U of M, who don’t care for sports are probably familiar with Ski-U-Mah. 

32 minutes ago, BBTV said:

I don't know how educators can teach kids not to steal, and to be creative, and then steal other people's work for their sports uniforms.

 

It's basically like "remember kids, stealing is bad, unless you don't have the budget to make it yourself".

I never understood this either. Especially since there are probably both staff and students at every high school, creative enough to come up with a logo that’s unique. Sure inspiration isn’t bad, like especially if you’re the Cardinals or the Eagles, you could already guess what style logo any given school might go with.
 

But there’s no reason for these schools to blatantly rip off a logo. There’s gotta be a kid in the art department could whip something up just as fast as going, “Oh that pro team has our name, their logo is ours now,” and then changing the colors. 
 

The other thing is that it could be a lazy athletic director or coach, and they could care less about education and academics, so they just plagiarize logos…

I would agree with the statement about the gloves above. The heritage could get away with the alternate’s gloves and work well. 
 

Overall this is a fantastic set and update for the Wild, while still really hitting home on the current neo-retro feel the Wild are going for! The only change I would make would be on the road’s sleeves. The green all the way down feels a little outta place, especially considering the rest of the stripes don’t have that, and look fantastic with out it. 

49 minutes ago, spartacat_12 said:

While this initially seemed like Weekes's typical, throw a bunch of stuff against the wall and see what sticks reporting strategy, Michael Russo (Wild beat writer) has confirmed that they will remain part of the rotation as an alternate. Minnesota will join Calgary in turning a reverse retro into a full-time third jersey.

Keeping it a third would be fantastic, because it’s a beautiful jersey. But so is their regular home and road, along with the forest green and red, so I hope that sticks around. If they were the real North Stars, I’d hope they’d make the change to the classic look full time, but the Wild identity is just too good to change from… 

I would love to see the schools you have in the Midwest!! But Big Canada is also very intriguing

I love the T formed by the shape of Tennessee! 

7 hours ago, EJaws said:

As someone who just graduated SCSU. YES YES YES! I was starting to feel like our team needed an update, especially our black 3rds. The 80s set we wore for homecoming in 2021 were awesome, so the home and roads are *chefs kiss*. I think the Alt reds could use a little work. I think the red jerseys the SCSU womens team would be a great look & show a little unity between the 2 teams. The White Alt looks good.

 

Bemidji has such an iconic look to me, so im glad to see the home & roads didnt change much. The beaver logo on the white alt is a nice change, but seeing gold & black on a BSU sweater feels sacrilegious. HOWEVER I think it does work. Reminds me of the Dallas Stars 1997/98-1998/99 Alts. For the green ALT is there a reason the script Bemidji is a different shade of green?

 

All in all a GREAT start. As a sucker for college hockey in MN, I can't wait to see what the other 4 schools look like. St Thomas is having an identity crisis, would love to see them drop black from their home and roads and embrace the purple!

Thanks so much for the feedback!! I do love the Huskies black alternate, and just how the logo pops against the black base. The striping just leaves so much to be desired, so I wanted something that was better! What would you change about the red jerseys? I’m rather proud of those ones haha, but I’d love to hear more about any tweaks for those! 
 

And for Bemidji, I think it might be the gold outline on the wordmark playing tricks, because it should be the same shade of green haha. 
 

And thank you so much!! I’ve really gotten into college hockey this year, as even though I just moved out of Minnesota, my Gophers are having a great year!! I am working on all of the Minnesota schools first, so MSU should be up soon! And St. Thomas has a long hockey history, so I’ve got a few ideas, but I will be dropping black from their look! (Fun fact though, my previous employer in Minnesota did all of the lettering for the St. Thomas jerseys!) 

17 hours ago, M4One said:

Don't even have to watch their games ever, but the Carolina Hurricanes continuing to wear red helmets with their white jerseys really bugs me.  

They look so bad and I can’t believe they continue to do so. I hope the NHL comes up with some sort of rule change for this…

Of all teams the Flyers don’t need a change… But if they do I hope it keeps the Flyers feel, with the sleeve length yoke. I actually really like the current shade of orange, and even the contrasting nameplate on the home sweater. (Mostly because it’s true to the throwback that way) It would be very disappointing if they  are just going to change to something generic. The Flyers honestly could have worn their set for the rest of time, like a lot of the O6 teams. 

I really like the pattern on the alternate, but maybe change the faux yoke to have an extra white outline, matching the striping pattern?? 
 

The faux yoke look would be a little better if it matched the rest of the stripes. Especially since the teal really fades into the black there. 

Next up is the Bemidji State Beavers! Another smaller Minnesota school, Bemidji hasn't a crazy amount of success at the D1 level, but always seems to hang around late in the season. 

I didn't change much about the Beavers current home and road, but I did give them colored shoulder patches to match the breezers. I have always like the simple green and white look for the Beavers. The classic script on the chest stays as well. For the alternates, I injected all sorts of color into them! The primary beaver logo has the gold and black, so I incorporated that into the striping. The shoulder patches are from the Beavers having a history of using the Minnesota shape with a star over Bemidji's location. I also then added a wordmark over the state. This finds its way to the  alternate fauxback. The striping is based off this jersey with an added logo and modern numbers. 

C&C appreciated!