9innings Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 Welcome to the OHA What if the Winter Classic was every week? What if hockey was played outdoors the way it is supposed to be? In 2009, I fell in love with idea of the Winter Classic. I found it intriguing that my favorite sport’s teams were able to play in the iconic venues of other sports. I loved the throwback sweaters and watched the 24/7 HBO show every year. I agree with most and was not a fan of the addition of the Stadium Series. I too felt that it watered down the event and made it less special. I thought it would be special if all the teams could wait their turn and feel honored when it comes to their city. With that said, in 2009 I went the other way. I thought a great concept series would be if every team played outside…every week. Therefore I present the Outdoor Hockey Association. The OHA's main logo is a face-off circle. The circle making the shape of an "O" and the face-off section forms an "H". Teams The OHA is composed of 24 franchises in North America. 12 franchises are from the United States and 12 are from Canada. There are no divisions, only two conferences (USA and CANADA). Geographically, the OHA is located in colder climates. The southern most city in the OHA is St. Louis. In the coming days I will unveil each team's logos, the reasoning for the identity, and uniforms. All of the identities are completed so this series should move rather quickly. For now...here is a sneak peak at the 24 franchises. Schedule The OHA plays a condensed schedule and more closely resembles an NFL schedule than that of the NHL. Each team plays a 17 game schedule. Each team plays each team in their country-based conference once. This is similar to a college football conference schedule. They then will play three teams from the west and three teams from the east of the other nation’s conference. The schedule begins the Sunday after Thanksgiving and the regular season concludes by the end of February. The playoffs are on the weekends in March. Every New Year’s Day the OHA celebrates hockey everywhere with the Indoor Classic. Venue The premise of the series is that the league has perfected the technology for outdoor hockey. The ice is always perfect and the stands are slightly heated. It is not something I really cared to worry about in this universe. The teams play in some of the most iconic venues in the country. The Series The season is currently underway. After I unveil all of the teams I will post the week by week results of the season up to that point and then update on the results moving forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDLions Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 Oh man I am excited about this! The team names and logos look unique and interesting too! Pumped to follow this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottyeagle Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 Looking forward to this! Any reason why Ottawa is the Wild Goose as opposed to Wild Geese? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9innings Posted January 24, 2019 Author Share Posted January 24, 2019 In general I tried hard to make the names and colors different than the typical identities in that particular city. Great question on Ottawa. I know it should be Geese, maybe I'll switch it by the time they come up in the rotation. I played hockey against a team called the Super Goose one time and thought it was oddly cool. That's the reason for it, but maybe it's better to be correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
appleclock Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 Every New Year’s Day they play an indoor classic! I love it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-mer Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 Kinda think you should have it be the Saskatchewan Sasquatch, I’m only partially joking. Excited to see this though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest darkpiranha Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 Wow. This looks great. I love the thought that's gone into this, and love that no one has yet ever used this as a league concept. Really looking forward to the unveiling of the identities. I know it should 'technically' be Geese, but there's nothing wrong with keeping it singular. I used to be dogmatic about pluralizing team names, but I've softened significantly over the years (thanks, soccer!) and think keeping it as just Goose would be totally okay. Like the Stanford Cardinal. I don't know how much historical backstory your teams and league will have (i.e., did this league just start, or are we in the 50th season or whatever?), but sometimes the story of why a team has an unusual nickname is fascinating and adds to the lore. Like, every Premiere League team has some sort of weird name that a marketing agency in 2019 would never have come up with, but because it's a traditional, historic name, you don't think twice about it. What even is Brighton and Hove Albion FC, anyway? Doesn't matter! It's THAT team. Are you doing jerseys and rinks and other stuff? Seems like the outdoor aesthetic would be fun to apply to all of that. Maybe everyone only wears toques instead of helmets. Kevlar toques. Anyway, bring it on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9innings Posted January 24, 2019 Author Share Posted January 24, 2019 Our tour of the OHA franchises will happen two teams at a time. The pairings are random. There is a 9 year history that will be unveiled a little later. Like I said yesterday, I tried to pick color schemes and identities that are unique to the city. 95% of the logos are my own. For the 5%, I will make sure to credit the artist or whoever. Here we go, welcome again to the OHA. First up is Boston and Seattle BOSTON FATHOMS SEATTLE SASQUATCH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jbadger9 Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 These are great! Seems very unique and I’m looking forward to what’s next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-mer Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 few thoughts on Boson: colors are good tribute/amalgamation of other teams in the city, and also the ship wheel has a slight nod to the Bruins' spokes, or at least could serve the same purpose. Also, that alternate logo, if flipped/rotated could make a cool alternate jersey logo similar to this year's Hurricanes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDLions Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 Ok the presentation here is awesome. Love the little touch of putting the logo with the other team logos for the area. Boston is nice, the logo is fun and the colors are a nice mix of local teams. Funny how those colors are mostly associated with Seattle and thats the other team you pair it with lol. Seattle is fantastic. Love the color scheme, that dark brown is beautiful. Really like the secondary logo too. My only minor complaint is that aside from the hem stripes and a slight thickness difference in the stripes, these two teams jerseys are very similar. Still an awesome start to this series! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raysox Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 Excellent start, both are very refreshing brands. If anything I'd say the Sasquatch's teeth are a little wrong since the head is flat, but the teeth have some perspective like it's at an angle. Also for what it's worth, Toronto Wolfpack are a Rugby League team @MichaelDanger19 | Dribbble Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTConcepts Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 The logos and overall identities are really well done. I can't wait to see what this series has in store. This is gonna be good, I can tell. "You ain't gonna learn what you don't wanna know..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9innings Posted January 25, 2019 Author Share Posted January 25, 2019 Thank you everyone for the good start. The spokes on the wheel is a nod to the Bruins and the Sasquatch are inspired by the Hershey Bears (one of my favorite teams and identities). I was unaware of the Toronto Wolf Pack rugby team but at this point it's who they are. Go Pack Go! Tonight, I present you two more American teams before heading north of the border. NEW YORK RINK RATS I think it would be fun to attempt to make the 'Rats "Mighty Ducks-ified". The jersey is inspired by the old Trenton Titans jersey. The yoke is meant to reflect the Bronx Bridge. WISCONSIN BELLCOWS The 'Cows are one of my favorite teams. The attempt was to marry the Devils and Redwings looks into one. The name came from the Wisconsin dairy industry as well as a nod to the Wisconsin Badgers football program's running back legacy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
appleclock Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 The octopus logo is based off some easily accessible clip art and so is the Sasquatch silhouette. You mentioned that not all the logos are your own, and that’s okay. Just give credit where it’s due, that’s all. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9innings Posted January 25, 2019 Author Share Posted January 25, 2019 Yes my apologies, my attributions are forthcoming. The Sasquatch silhouette can be found in a bunch of different places and there for didn't attribute. We shouldn't have any problems going forward as I already for the attributions ready to go. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest darkpiranha Posted January 26, 2019 Share Posted January 26, 2019 Love the pizza slice as the triangle for Rink Rats and the yoke. For the Bellcows, did you try the cow pattern on any of the places where it would have been color-appropriate? I can see it on the bottom of the sleeves and/or socks on both home and away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9innings Posted January 26, 2019 Author Share Posted January 26, 2019 I am totally with you on the cow pattern. My vision (which I am still working on) is that the cow pattern would look awesome on the goalie equipment so I didn't want to do too much. Will post once i make it work. Good idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9innings Posted January 27, 2019 Author Share Posted January 27, 2019 Next up are two of the most successful franchises. One is the dominant force of the Canadian Conference, the other is the lovable underdog that has claimed multiple titles. OTTAWA WILD GOOSE The Ottawa look is meant to be unique and different from that of NHL teams. Their look is inspired by Western Michigan's hockey program. The logo was inspired by YURI KARTASHEV, but is mostly original. EDMONTON SOURDOUGHS The 'Doughs are known for the gold helmets. Gold helmets are to pay homage to the Gold Rush that so many prospectors went north for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flames1fan Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 1 hour ago, 9innings said: Next up are two of the most successful franchises. One is the dominant force of the Canadian Conference, the other is the lovable underdog that has claimed multiple titles. OTTAWA WILD GOOSE The Ottawa look is meant to be unique and different from that of NHL teams. Their look is inspired by Western Michigan's hockey program. The logo was inspired by YURI KARTASHEV, but is mostly original. EDMONTON SOURDOUGHS The 'Doughs are known for the gold helmets. Gold helmets are to pay homage to the Gold Rush that so many prospectors went north for. How did you make the Ottawa text like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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