Elite Ice Hockey League (UK)

kiwi_canadian · February 17, 2014

As it has been a while since I posted something in here, I thought now would be a good time to finally do so. A couple years ago, I did a series of the Elite Ice Hockey League in the UK, but never posted it. I was never too happy with what I produced. I finally got around to overhauling that series using the Paint.NET program and the HJC's drag and drop templates. This has been a new thing for me as I'm more familiar with MS Paint and the ol' fill tool. Overall though, I've been very happy with what I am now producing with Paint.Net and I feel that the quality of my concepts has improved greatly (if not in creativity, then definitely in presentation)... Anywho, enough of that and onto the concepts!!!

First off, I'll post the Scottish and Welsh based clubs. Each team in the league has a home, away and Challenge Cup jersey:

Cardiff Devils:

The home and away set are based off of what they currently wear minus all the ads. The Challenge Cup jersey is sort of a redo of a past 3rd jersey they used. I personally love the contrast of the green and white on black as well as the Welsh dragon on the shoulder. The green is the green off off the Welsh flag. I know it is a cookie cutter template, but try to think logically when it comes to manufacturing these. Change the colour of an existing template and reproduce it. Yes it can lack creativity, but I also feel that sometimes, it can work with some teams.

Braehead Clan:

Onto the Scottish based clubs and first up the Braehead Clan. I've always had difficulty with these guys but I feel with this set it works. I based the home and away off of the LA Kings 3rd jersey from the early 2000's. With the Cup jersey, I know the contrast between the black and thin purple lines is hard to see but I do like the look and for 3rd/ Challenge Cup jersey, it works for what I want.

Dundee Stars:

Okay, yes a cookie cutter here but I do like the old All-Star game templates for Dundee, especially since they are named the Stars.

Fife Flyers:

Fife is one of the oldest clubs in the UK and in Europe being founded back in 1938. As such, I wanted to go with a more traditional looking jersey. Could be a bit bland, but like I said, I wanted a more traditional looking jersey for an older club.

Edinburgh Capitals:

My original MS Paint set had them in the Template with a 3rd jersey of the old Canucks maroon to blue fade. This set I feel is far better. The home and away are loosely based off of what they wear now and the Challenge Cup jersey was one of their 3rd jerseys from a few years ago.

I'll post the English based clubs in the coming days and will finish it off with the only Northern Irish club. (I want to redo that one as I think it has more potential than what I came up with) C & C as always. Enjoy!!

PackerFan98 · February 17, 2014

Lookin good

kiwi_canadian · February 19, 2014

Not a lot of response... Okay well I'll post the last of the teams for this series. I'll start with the teams that I have reintroduced back into the EIHL.

Manchester Phoenix:

I went with a classic Canadien's style jersey for the Phoenix. They have been in the Elite League before but I think due to financial difficulties, they've dropped fown the the English League. For the Chellenge Cup, I used the Coyotes 3rd template as I previously did in my old series and the logo is the head of the bird.

Basingstoke Bison:

One of my favorite teams from it's original colour scheme. (Since moving down a level, they have gone to black, white and red) I went back to the original Minnesota Wild colours that they used to have but kept their logo that they currently use. The CHallenge Cup jersey is based off of the Sabres 40th season jersey.

Newcastle Vipers:

Another financial victim, these guys played in the league for quite a few seasons. I tried to go with the pre edge Penguins design combined with what they used the wear.

London Lions:

One of my favorites. The London Lions were a team created by the former owner of the Red Wings as an idea to get a European farm league for the NHL. The team was created and toured around Europe back in the late 60's early 70's (I think). When the league never happened, they Folded. Anyways, I kept the team logo and based their jersey off of the Winter Classic jerseys from this season. (as they were owned by the Red Wings) The winged lion pays homage to the Wings with the same style as the winged wheel.

As I'm at work, I'll post the rest when I get home this evening. C & C as always

sparkychewbarky · February 19, 2014

Nice work kiwi.

Do us all a favour and do us up a new Clan logo please? :lol:

Their logo's gruesome.

I really like the Winged Lion and your choice of using the Detroit classic-inspired unis.

It'd be nice to have London back in the league.

The red Basingstoke sweater is a thing of beauty.

The elements on the sweater (numbers and logo) could be bigger however.

kiwi_canadian · February 20, 2014

Now that I'm home... The last of the existing English teams.

Conventry Blaze:

Personally I liked their logo prior to this as it worked well with the Penguins first WC jersey and the Panthers blue 3rd jersey. But I think the new logo does work well with a classic looking jersey.

Hull Stingrays:

One of my favorite 3rd jerseys with this. It is based off of the Worchester Sharks old 3rd jersey and for some reason I didn't mind the strips not going all the war around. Something about the black with the small bits of colour really makes the set pop out for me. As for the home and away, yes it is the Sens old 3rd template but I felt the lines matched up well with the stingray logo.

Nottingham Panthers:

Another older team with a fair amount of history. With the set, I didn't want to take away from that and kept the classic look.

Sheffield Steelers:

Think of those black BC Lions 3rd jerseys we saw this past season and this is what I went for with the Steelers Cup jersey. The Thrashers 3rd jersey template went well for what I was looking for in this jersey.

Belfast Giants:

The last team and one I had to redo. I kept elements with of their existing jersey but got rid of their phantom yoke. Did not like that one bit. For their Cup jersey, a bit of everything. Took some inspiration from the Kelowna Rockets 3rd and Colorado's 3rd and put it all together.

Anyways, that's it for the Elite Ice Hockey League. As always C & C please.

1clkgtramg · February 21, 2014

well this is awkward loool.. I was working on cleaning up the EIHL myself and then mash all the Western European teams into a super league so we would have NHL, KHL and EHL as the top pro leagues. But it appears you have beat me to it. Oh well

Some pretty good stuff going on there! I do like how you went with NHL links to some of the teams, I had a similar idea as well. I have to agree with fixing that Braehead logo lmfao!!

kiwi_canadian · February 21, 2014

That's the one thing I am not at all good at lol. Strait lines and colour combinations I can do... Logos, not so much. I do agree though, that logo is something else and not in a good way.

Thanks all for the positive comments.

Working on a redo of my old Champions Hockey League series, which will be reintroduced in Europe next season. I'm hoping the CHL chapion will play the Stanley Cup champion for the Victoria Cup again. I loved the fact that Zurich beat Chicago in the last one and I want to see more of these best on best games.

SuperLeafsFan · February 21, 2014

Edinburgh has to be my favourite. I really like that 3rd jersey, because of the way it flows with the actual Scottish flag. Good job on all of these though.