Manchester Monarchs scrap purple, swipe Kings jerseys

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Monarchs' home and road jerseys, 2014— // Photos from LA Kings Insider

The AHL's Manchester Monarchs lost a piece of their identity Wednesday. They scrapped the purple and gold from their color scheme and unveiled new home and road jerseys identical to those of their NHL affiliate, the Los Angeles Kings.

Perhaps they're just trying to capitalize on the Kings' recent Stanley Cup championships, but this is nevertheless a depressing development for a club that once had a truly unique look.

“These jerseys tie us to our parent club, the Kings,” said [Monarchs president Darren] Abbott. “The Monarchs have so many players that have gone on to play for the Kings and have helped them win Stanley Cup championships in Los Angeles that we wanted to bring their identity into our uniforms.”

I'm of the opinion players shouldn't be wearing NHL jerseys until they make the NHL, but obviously Abbott disagrees.

This is almost a literal representation of what I think when I see an AHLer wearing an NHL jersey.

This is almost a literal representation of what I think when I see an AHLer wearing an NHL jersey.

If you live in New Hampshire, the new sweaters will be available very soon.

The jerseys were unveiled at a press conference held at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Wednesday that introduced head coach Mike Stothers to Manchester. Fans will be able to purchase the new jerseys at the Monarchs' annual Summer Fan Fest ... on Saturday, July 26. 

For more photos from the unveiling, check out L.A. Kings Insider.

What do you think of the Monarchs switching to these jerseys? Be sure to vote in the poll.


Manchester Monarchs home and road jerseys, 2010—2014

FURTHER READING: Monarchs celebrate Kings' original 1996 third jersey · Feb 1, 2014

Is the NHL planning black and neon green All-Star jerseys?

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Reebok's NHL Spring 2015 apparel catalog has leaked online and it provides some fascinating insights into the aesthetics of the upcoming 2015 NHL All-Star Game.

The catalog shows black and neon green heavily featured on the T-shirt designs from a line styled after jerseys. All of the following images are pulled from that catalog.

We begin on page 94 where the Premier replica All-Star jerseys are noted. Unfortunately, the designs were not included when this catalog was last updated on May 29 — the date seen on the cover. So what can we glean from this page?

  • Delivery date is listed as Jan. 1, 2015 — the date of of the Winter Classic in Washington, D.C. Could the jerseys be unveiled at the NHL's signature New Year's Day event?
  • The codes "HA1-WHITE" and "HA2-BLACK" appear below the graphic. Might they suggest the colors of the two jerseys? The last time the NHL had a black versus white All-Star Game was 1993 — back when they used the old NHL shield and orange trim.
  • Speaking of trim, check out the bar at the top that reads "Men's Jerseys." Will neon green return to NHL ice for the first time since the Blue Jackets dropped it in 2007? Don't forget, this All-Star Game will be played in Columbus. Coincidence?

All I know is the appearance of neon green — or electric green as the Jackets referred to it — made several more appearances in the catalog.

If we skip down a few pages, we find that electric green used in several T-shirt designs.

Not only is there a green shirt in the batch, but the player numbers — which would be printed on the back — are black outlined in green.

It's hard not to see this as being pulled straight from the jerseys.

Also noteworthy is the new treatment for the All-Star version of the NHL shield. If it seems familiar, you're probably thinking about the chrome logos introduced last year for the teams that participated in the 2014 NHL Stadium Series.

But, wait there's more. More neon green, of course. 

Several other T-shirts include various alternate treatments for the logo — particularly in black, grey and green.

If you're still not sold on the idea that neon green is likely to be part of the NHL All-Star Game jerseys — you're probably part of a dwindling group.

Unless there's another reason for it that I'm failing to see.

Beyond the shirts are some headwear selections, including these hats.

0716-rbk15-124.jpg

If you're not interested in downloading the catalog yourself — or it's no longer available when you're reading this, I've grabbed some more T-shirt designs that use a ton of variations on the All-Star Game logo. You'll definitely have your pick if you end up buying one.

If you're looking at some of these treatments and thinking they look rather girly, it's probably because they're women's designs.

Anyway, there are definitely a lot of options here — male or female.

Have a favorite design? Let us know in the comments.

Lastly, I can't end this post without at least mentioning the IceHL — Icethetics' own fantasy hockey league. We have a team whose colors may seem quite familiar. 

To those who have wanted to see a North Carolina Nighthawks jersey produced, stay tuned. The new NHL All-Star uniforms may be right up your alley.

Designing the ’90s NHL, Part 3: Epilogue

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Before you dig in, first catch up on Part 1 and Part 2.

What began as a feature on an unused Flyers third jersey design took me in unexpected directions. Exchanging emails with Ken Loh over the weekend got me thinking a lot about the jerseys and logos the NHL introduced in the 1990s.

PUT SOME TEAL ON IT

The decade welcomed nine expansion teams, including a pair in 1993 — one of which was the Florida Panthers. To my surprise Ken and The Mednick Group also worked on proposals for them. These logos have never been seen outside that circle before today.

These designs reminded me of a Miami Herald article from 2010 by George Richards.

Bill Torrey said he had to fight with then-owner Marti Huizenga regarding the team's colors and uniforms back in 1993. Said she preferred the Marlins black-and-teal color scheme, which then, was all the rage.

That quote is finally validated visually with this work which demonstrates exactly how black and teal might have been used. But Ken admits he was not particularly proud of it. 

I’m actually really glad that never saw the light of day since I felt it was too cartoony. I much preferred the simpler, more emblematic approach which, [in my honest opinion], had better potential for a longer lifespan.
However, I was a lowly designer, pretty fresh out of school at the time and, despite my credentials of having come to the agency with the New England Patriots work under my belt, I didn’t really have much pull back then.

Ken opposed incorporating a hockey stick into the design. Above you can see an unfinished sketch he shared — a version of the panther without the stick.

Other concepts from the Panthers' logo design process can be found on display these days in the team's arena in Sunrise, Fla. On the wall are framed drawings of early sketches.

My thanks go to Drew Goldfarb and David Silverstone for providing the original photos.

SURVIVING THE ’90s

The Panthers aside, I starting thinking about how many new logos were introduced during that most design-challenged of decades. How many are still around? The period was notorious for trendy designs that lacked staying power. Is that a fair judgment?

So I went back. Back to black. When many of us think back hockey design trends of the '90s, we conjure a simple but derisive acronym: BFBS — black for black's sake. In 1989, four NHL teams wore black jerseys. A decade later that number had tripled — 12 out of 28 teams had a black sweater in their arsenal. Let's begin there.

Be sure to click through the logos and read the captions as they offer insight into the designs as well as the years they were introduced and subsequently jettisoned.

Teams like Coyotes, Kings and Sabres suffered through some unfortunate designs at that time. Others like the Lightning and Stars were just plain boring and lacking in any sense of style — good or bad. But don't start thinking the non-black jerseys were immune.

In fact, these were some of the worst offenders of the '90s. Look at them all. What do they have in common? Ken Loh said it. The hockey sticks. Only someone who isn't a hockey fan would do that to a team logo.

And while the Caps logo above may not have a stick — though the secondary mark sure did (a lousy puck, too) — I'd bet money those open claws once held a stick at some point during the design process. Kudos to whoever forced that eagle to release it.

I'm certainly making the '90s out to be like the Dark Ages of hockey logo design. But truthfully, it wasn't all bad. Some logos are still around — after a bit of nip and tuck.

Perhaps more fascinating were two of the last logos to come out of this decade. The Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets didn't play their first games until 2000, but their logos were absolutely products of the '90s — though they couldn't have been more different.

Have I warmed you enough yet to the idea that not everything produced in the 1990s was bad? Because it wasn't. There are a handful of '90s NHL logos I haven't mentioned here. You know what they are. I held them to the end for the catharsis.

Let's bring it full circle. Back to the Sunshine State.

See? There were some gems. Granted, the majority were flops. Of the 20 logos that debuted in the 1990s, 15 did not live to see drinking age (21, I mean). But the ones that did deserved to. Survival of the fittest, you might say.

But didn't I just berate the Sharks and Predators for being too intricate? Why do I suddenly love the Panthers logo? Look closely. The difference is in the details. For Florida, it adds to the animal ferocity. It adds to the design — rather than detracting from it.

The Hurricanes logo was designed by a copy writer and hides a hockey puck at its core. Cardinal sins? Maybe, but you try to do better. No one else has yet. And there's been ample opportunity. So I'm happy to see it entering its 18th year. Stick tap to Peter.

As for the Avs and Blues, well there's simply no way to improve upon perfection. Period.

I grew up in the '90s and it's sometimes hard for me to fathom that it was two decades ago. I still feel like a kid most days. Time flies. But here's the thing. I was the target audience for those trendy designs back then. And now I do this. So was it successful marketing after all?

You be the judge.

Designing the ’90s NHL, Part 2: Expansion & Relocation

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If you haven't read Part 1 yet, you should start there.

When we left off with NHL logo designer Ken Loh, it was the mid-1990s. His famed "Burger King" crest — a design he thought was dead — found its way onto a new Los Angeles third jersey. And a bold proposal for the Philadelphia Flyers fell flat.

REPLACING AN ICON

Then in 1997, the Hartford Whalers relocated. The loss of one of the greatest sports logos of all time put the pressure on The Mednick Group, as the NHL hired the agency to create a logo for the new Carolina Hurricanes — or was it "Hurricane"?

Obviously, these designs never made it to the NHL and the team ultimately went with the plural form of its name. But there's always a great story behind work like this. Ken writes: 

I wanted to make a historical nod to the Hartford Whalers since that’s where the team came from. I like teams to have history. The fans who grow up in cities around the world should have a long-standing connection to a franchise and its history.
The logo was intended to be the primary mark for the team, since it was a new franchise. At first glance, you’ll probably see “C” and “H” for Carolina Hurricane. But if you look more closely, you’ll notice that the overall “H” form has a “W” intertwined, being formed by the vertical anchor rod in the middle.
I actually wanted it to read more like “HW” than “CH.” Deep down, I was hoping the team wouldn’t move or change its name, but could adopt a variant of the HW emblem.

It's comforting to know that when it became necessary to replace the iconic Whalers logo, some of the people involved were desperately trying to find a way to let it live on.

In the end, it wasn't even a designer that created the logo the team ultimately selected. It was a copy writer at the firm named Peter Thornburgh.

"Ironic that a writer's design beat out a bunch of professional designers," Ken said, "but he had been honing his craft designing logos for his own fantasy football teams for years. Many of us are still in the same [league] together [25 years later]!"

When Peter created the Hurricanes logos, he already had the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves under his belt. And to think his original plan was a medical degree.

Makes you wonder where some of the talented designers behind The IceHL are headed.

GENERATING BUZZ

By this point, you may feel Ken's contributions to the NHL have been minimal. After all, his work on the Flyers fizzled. He lost out to a writer on the Hurricanes job. And his vision for the Kings all but vanished in a jersey that saw action in no more than a half-dozen games.

Kicked. Beaten. Down. But not out.

Ken's final project for the NHL would prove to be his most successful when, on Nov. 11, 1997, the owners of a new expansion franchise stood before reporters to announce its official name and logos. Meet the Columbus Blue Jackets by Ken Loh.

"I'd love to credit another designer, Van Duong, who worked with me on the Blue Jackets logo," Ken said. "He is one on the best designers I've ever worked with. He really helped put some of the finishing touches on Stinger and was also the main designer on the CB mark."

Ken said Van was also involved in developing designs for an NHL All-Star Game in the mid-90s.

While it's true "Stinger" and the Blue Jackets moniker didn't immediately win over many Columbus fans, Ken's work satisfied his client and will live on in the hockey history books. For seven seasons, the Jackets wore his blue, red and electric green marks before the bold fashion statements of the '90s were slowly purged from the NHL.

"I am a traditionalist when it comes to sports and logo design," Ken said. "I was being pushed to develop marks that had more appeal for kids, while I attempted to maintain a stronger sense of tradition and professionalism.

"I felt some of the direction the designers were being given at the time was more appropriate for school or camp teams, and didn’t have the lasting appeal that pro franchises — or even collegiate ones — should maintain.

"I am happy to see that Flying Elvis has stood the test of time though. Twenty years later, it doesn’t feel old yet."

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Ken Loh doesn't make sports logos anymore, but his design sensibilities have been employed by great companies. After spending time at Yahoo! and Oakley, he is now a driving force behind Apple's online shopping experience. Find him on Twitter at @kloh.

Scott Mednick, founder of The Mednick Group, moved on to the Hollywood film industry. His credits include Where The Wild Things Are, 300 and the upcoming reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Find him on Twitter at @ScottMednick.

Finally, I know I promised never-before-seen logos Ken designed for another NHL expansion team. However, I now realize they're better suited to the third and final chapter of this story. You won't want to miss that. Stay tuned!

CONTINUE READING: Part 3: Epilogue

Designing the ’90s NHL, Part 1: Unfamiliar Flyers

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Within a matter of months, the Philadelphia Flyers will reveal to the world a new third jersey. The design is a secret that's been well-kept so far. Today, we take a break from the speculation for a look back at a third jersey that never happened.

Designed by Ken Loh, The Mednick Group, 1995

Designed by Ken Loh, The Mednick Group, 1995

You may think it impossible that the Flyers ever considered making this a part of their otherwise unblemished record of classic hockey sweaters. But it was 1995 and the NHL wanted to be... bolder. Let me explain.

STARTING WITH A BANG

In 1992, Ken Loh was in his final year at Cal State Long Beach, working toward a degree in visual communications. He was intern at the Evenson Design Group in Culver City when the firm was hired by the NFL to design some new team logos.

He had an opportunity most design students only dream about as he went to work designing a new logo for the New England Patriots. Two decades on, you know it well.

New England Patriots, 1993—

New England Patriots, 1993—

If that's not an epic way to kick off a career, I don't know what is. This logo helped earn Ken his next job, one that would see him tackling the NHL.

SHIFTING TO HOCKEY

Ken's talents caught the eye of Pats fan and Boston native Scott Mednick — principal of The Mednick Group, another California design agency.

"He hired me partially due to the Patriots work," Ken said, "but also because his firm was interested in pursuing more sports work for various leagues. He had contacts at the NHL, so that’s when my work with the NHL started."

One of Ken's first projects involved designing a new logo for the Los Angeles Kings in 1993. It did not go on to become as well known, but it nevertheless found a special place in hockey jersey history.

Designed by Ken Loh, The Mednick Group, 1993

Designed by Ken Loh, The Mednick Group, 1993

The Kings elected not move forward with the rebrand, but the logo was unearthed a couple years later when the NHL was introducing its third jersey program around the league. On Jan. 27, 1996, the Kings took the ice wearing an altered version with a purple beard.

"To be honest, I always hated how the Burger King ended up with a purple beard," Ken said.  "Felt too cartoony to me, whereas my original design before it got applied to the third jersey program — with the silver/black/gold motif — was intended to be more serious and regal."

FURTHER READING: The Rise of the Burger King · The Royal Half · Jan 27, 2011

As the NHL entered the wacky world of '90s third jerseys, Ken and The Mednick Group weren't solely focused on the Kings, of course. They went to work on another team as well.

A NEW WAY TO FLY

And so brings us to the reason behind today's post. In 1995, Ken and The Mednick Group focused their talents on the Philadelphia Flyers — one of a handful of teams set to debut an alternate jersey during the 1995-96 season.

Fueling the NHL's desire for unorthodox new sweaters was an advance in manufacturing technology which provided for the use of color gradients and oversized graphics. Hockey jerseys would never be the same again. Or would they?

Ken created a new alternate logo for the Flyers along with a couple of third jersey options. Here's what he told me about the process:

The idea was to break the mold and be less traditional with the designs. The league ... wanted us to push the envelope, which is probably why there were some pretty garish patterns and gradients being used for other third jerseys around the league. Personally, I was never a fan of that approach so I tended to stick with solid colors in my designs.
While the brief was to redesign the jersey, we were encouraged to come up with new, alternate treatments for secondary logos and wordmarks. There wasn’t really any expectation that any of the artwork we designed would replace any of the existing team logos or identities at that time.
I don’t really remember any specifics around the use of teal, but as I noted, we were encouraged to experiment with “bold” statements so I imagine that was part of where that came from.

Once he finished with the design work, Ken wasn't part of the conversation between the firm and the team. So he's not sure how the Flyers felt about the design or the specific reason it was rejected. But I'm sure many of you will have your theories.

For me, it's exactly what a third jersey should be. It introduced an alternate color, a special logo and most of all, it was a unique design. Looking back, the style was very '90s and it probably wouldn't have lasted long. But the short ride would've been worth it.

Ultimately, the Flyers did not introduce a third jersey during that season. But two years later came the debut of the black third jersey, a simple recoloring of their existing sweaters.

In all, five teams debuted third jerseys that first year. And it was another product of The Mednick Group that would go to be the longest tenured third jersey in NHL history. Ken's friend and co-worker Tom Thornton designed the Boston Bruins' yellow sweater.

The NHL's original class of third jerseys, 1996

"For me, the Bruins third jersey was one of the better ones," Ken said, "due to its more subtle use of angular lines and solid colors."

That sweater debuted during the 1995-96 season and was worn every subsequent year until the Reebok jersey takeover in 2007 when the Bruins underwent their own rebranding.

Two more big NHL projects still awaited Ken Loh after the third jerseys. It involved developing new identities for a pair of new teams. In Part 2, we'll take a look at those plus some never-before-seen logo designs for another expansion team.

CONTINUE READING: Part 2: Expansion & Relocation