0367: Reviving the Metropolitans

Here's a fun one. We continue our theme this week of reviving old hockey franchises. The PCHA's Seattle Metropolitans have the distinction of being the first American hockey team to win the Stanley Cup. So why has it been nearly a century and the Jet City is still without an NHL franchise? Justin Nahhas puts forth this uniform for the day pro hockey finally returns to Seattle.

By the way, fun fact: The first post of the Concepts page relaunch was Feb. 19, 2012 — and featured Ryan Haslett's Seattle Metros. Coincidence? Of course not.

Update on 2013-02-20 08:50 by Chris

Justin read through your feedback and made some revisions to his Seattle jerseys — which include a new primary logo for the home and road sweaters.

0366: Reviving the Americans

As we embark on our second year of concept posts, I've got a new theme for this week. We're going to be looking at reviving old hockey franchises. Imagine we live in an alternate universe where it was the New York Americans that emerged as the Big Apple's dominant NHL franchise. Imagine the Rangers merged with the Americans and adopted their name 70 years ago. That's what Matt McElroy has done with today's concept.

0365: Shane O'Beautys Hockey Club

First, Happy 1st Birthday to the new Icethetics concepts page! Today marks a full year since the re-launch of the page and the addition of daily concept posts.

Last weekend, we started a new concept series called Beer League Sundays. After that post, Max Young wrote in and asked to have his beer league team featured on the page. And it was too good to pass up.

I'm just emailing in response to your call for submissions for beer league concepts. I've attached the home and away jerseys I designed for my beer league roller hockey team 'Shane O'Beautys Hockey Club' (named after all around beaut Shane O'Brien). The dark jerseys are our home jerseys from last season (I've also attached a team photo to show the jerseys in action) while the light jerseys are our new away kits for our second season.

I'm a big fan of the site and it would be awesome if these could get on there.

What do you guys think? Let the O'Beautys know by rating their jersey designs. And if you've designed one for your team that you'd like to see featured, send it along.

0364: Waddell's Winter Classic, Part 14

The Waddell brothers' Winter Classic series is nearly complete. After 26 teams, we're down to the final four. Today, I've opted to share their fauxback creations for the Buffalo Sabres and Phoenix Coyotes.

That leaves only the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers — the two teams that met up for the real outdoor NHL game in 2010. Check back next week to see the big finale of the Waddells' fun Winter Classic series.

0363: The IceHL's Winter Classic

Today is Friday, but it is not a Freak Out Friday. At least not in my mind.

Today the subject is our very own fantasy hockey league, the IceHL. Frequent concept contributor Bryan Dyck offers his take on what a couple of IceHL Winter Classic style jerseys might look like. He pits the Milwaukee Lagers against the Portland Pioneers for the big game and has design an excellent pair of jerseys.

I'm so impressed by this concept that it will have a place in the IceHL's 2013 Yearbook this summer. I'm impressed because Bryan has managed to design jerseys that truly feel like they could be part of these fictional teams' long histories. As if they're right out of the 1940s and 50s. And they make the existing official jersey designs feel like the natural evolution of a team's branding. Superbly executed, if you ask me. Well done, Bryan!

I would've included this in a Winter Classic Weekend post, but I couldn't wait to share it and the Waddell brothers have the floor for the next two Saturdays.