World Division A jerseys unveiled!

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Branding for the first four teams in the IceHL World has been set! Today, we take a look the winning logos and jerseys together. Enjoy.

Distinctive jerseys designed by Dylan Alexander will represent the Moscow Cosmonauts. This marks Dylan's first winning entry in the IceHL Project.

In a series of landslide victories, newcomer Eric Westhaver handily won over IceHL voters with his Osaka Samurai jersey set, which was strongly inspired by the team's logo design.

The second set of jerseys in Quebec Armada history come from yet another first time IceHL design contest winner, Christian Legault. Christian took a progressive approach to designing the two jerseys with a appropriately nautical theme.

Finally, Daniel Otters became the second IceHL designer to create the winning logos and uniforms for a team with his Stockholm Hammers victory. Matt McElroy became the first to do so last summer with his Philadelphia Aces branding.

Congratulations all around! Now we get to do all this one more time with the final four teams in the IceHL World before the new season gets underway.

Armada Jersey Voting: Final Round

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The fifth and final round of the Quebec Armada jersey bracket is here. Congratulations to Jake Miller and Christian Legault on making it all the way to the end!

This round ends Tuesday night. Happy voting!

The winning design will be announced after all Division A jersey brackets have closed.

Armada Jersey Voting: Round 4

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It's time to move on to Round 4 of the Quebec Armada jersey bracket! Congratulations to Alan John Herbert, Jake Miller, Christian Legault and Matt McElroy for moving on!

The Armada bracket opens with 23 submissions and we're now down to our final 4. Before you vote, check out the remaining entries below.

Jersey Submissions

This round ends Sunday night. Happy voting!

Check back Monday for the final vote!

Armada Jersey Voting: Round 3

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It's time to move on to Round 3 of the Quebec Armada jersey bracket! Congratulations to Alan John Herbert, David Kerr, Jared Pozzobon, Jake Miller, Brandon Cockeram, Christian Legault, Matt McElroy and Jon Wold for advancing!

The Armada bracket opened with 23 submissions and we're now down to 8. Before you vote, check out the remaining entries below.

Jersey Submissions

This round ends Friday night. Happy voting!

Check back Saturday for Round 4 polls!

Armada Jersey Voting: Round 2

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It's time to move on to Round 2 of the Quebec Armada jersey bracket! Congratulations to Colin Magee, Duncan Lyle, Jared Pozzobon, Eric Westhaver, Magnus Bjork, Christian Legault and Matt McElroy on advancing!

The Armada bracket opens with 23 submissions and we're now down to 16. Before you vote, check out the remaining entries below.

Jersey Submissions

This round ends Wednesday night. Happy voting!

quebec-jersey-2g.png

Check back Thursday for Round 3 polls!

Armada Jersey Voting: Round 1

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The polls will be coming fast and furious for the next couple of weeks. Today, we start the process of picking a uniform design for the Quebec Armada!

The Armada bracket opens with 23 submissions. Because we have so many rounds and so many teams to cover, I'm cutting back the length of each round to just two days, instead of three. I don't want to drag this out. Before you vote check out all the entries.

Jersey Submissions

Round 1 polls close Monday night. Happy voting!

Check back Tuesday for Round 2 polls!

IceHL World: Division A Logos Revealed!

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It's time to reveal the winning logos for the first group of teams in the IceHL World!

MOSCOW COSMONAUTS · Logos by Matt McElroy

OSAKA SAMURAI · Logos by Colin Magee

STOCKHOLM HAMMERS · Logos by Daniel Otters

QUEBEC ARMADA · Logos by Craig C. Wheeler (2008)

Voters previously voted to carry over the Armada branding from the IceHL East, but the team will need new jerseys as a member of the IceHL World. Jersey submissions for all four of these teams will begin on Thursday. Look for a new post containing the Jersey Design Kit.

How you can #SaveTheArmada

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With their loss to the Chicago Hitmen in the final week of the IceHL East postseason, the Quebec Armada secure last place in the 2013-14 season. The rules set out last month say they will now be relocated and shifted to the IceHL West.

I say not so fast.

Like many IceHL fans, I love the Armada identity and would hate to see it erased from our league without the input of the community. We're all about making group decisions here, but the plan to correct the conference imbalance bypassed voters entirely to protect the GMs.

It was the right way to play it, but now you should get the chance to weigh in on whether we really lose the Quebec Armada.

How?

As you know, we're launching the IceHL World this summer — the third IceHL conference and one that will span the globe. Should you choose to keep the Armada around, they would become a member of this new conference, representing Canada, and play against international opponents.

In the bracket to select the IceHL World nations, Group 1 was just unveiled today. It includes Canada, Iceland, Brazil and Argentina.

Nation voting will begin Sun., April 27. If the Armada are to have a shot at survival, voters must select Canada to come out of Group 1. Then a subsequent vote will determine whether we move forward with the name selection process or simply use the Quebec Armada branding for the new Canadian franchise.

Any questions? Please ask!

Quebec Armada Identity Tweaked

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I'm really bummed to have to write another one of these posts, but it must be done. Last week, the Mariners logos had to be changed when it was revealed the trident was identical to the one found on the national flag of Barbados.

Shortly after that, it was brought to my attention we have a similar issue with the identity of the Quebec Armada. As you can see in the graphic below, the fleur-de-lis featured in the secondary marks was pulled directly from a clipart design.

Unlike the Mariners situation, the "borrowed" artwork is not the basis for the Armada's primary logo, nor either of the secondary logos. So the overall identity of the team will not be changed. However, any use of this fleur-de-lis in team branding must be removed. Therefore we'll abandon the logo marked "left shoulder" above and keep the "right shoulder" mark without the violating symbol.

Updated jersey designs for Armada; original design by Alex Gerwitz

The fleur-de-lis also appeared on the jersey in a fashion not dissimilar from how it was used on the old Quebec Nordiques jersey. For that reason alone, I'm more than happy to have it removed from the jerseys. What you see above is the official, updated look of the Quebec Armada uniforms.

I've been unable to contact the designer of the Armada's logos, Craig Wheeler, for a few years now, so I've had to make these changes without consulting him in any way.

On a personal note, I'm glad to see this symbol removed. While I don't deny the significance of the fleur-de-lis to Quebec (it's all over the provincial flag for one thing), it always felt to me like a furtive effort to tie the Armada's identity to that of the Nordiques. And as I've said repeatedly, I really do not want any connections between the IceHL and NHL. That would sort of defeat the purpose.

Finally, there's the question of the next RinkGear jersey. With the Mariners possibly out due to the forced rebrand, we were looking to the runner-up, the Armada. I'm calling it the Second Jersey Curse. The universe is conspiring to keep a second IceHL/RinkGear jersey from happening.

Moving forward, I'll be in touch with RinkGear to see how they'd like to proceed. We may pick one of these two. We may hold another series of polls. Or RinkGear may just want to pick another IceHL jersey design all on their own. I wouldn't be opposed to that.

I'll keep you all posted on what's decided. But for now, of course, that second jersey is in limbo.