Orange dominates minor league special event jerseys

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On Wednesday, the ECHL's Orlando Solar Bears unveiled the jersey they will wear when they host the 2015 ECHL All-Star Classic on Wed., Jan. 21. And they're very orange!

The jersey design is based on the team's existing primary uniforms with some colors swapped and some All-Star insignia added. The uniform is a little bright, but it's a nice homage to their home in Orange County.

The Solar Bears' opponent — the ECHL All-Star Team — will wear a white uniform that was first revealed last December following a fan jersey design contest, won by Jordan Roberts.

Meanwhile in the AHL, the Syracuse Crunch will host a stadium game at the 49,000-seat Carrier Dome on Sat., Nov. 22. And this is the special jersey they plan to wear.

The sweater, revealed on Oct. 4, features orange trim in honor of Syracuse University, where the covered stadium is located — and basically the center of the universe for locals.

If you're thinking the jersey looks a lot like the monstrosity introduced in 2007 by the Edmonton Oilers — you're not wrong. It's the same template but with classic Oilers colors, essentially. And good lord, all that piping. You don't need me to tell you it's pretty weak.

The Comets will wear their standard white jerseys for the game.

ECHL selects winning fan-designed All-Star jersey

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I recently came upon a story that's been out there a very long time — that I apparently never followed up on. Last December, the ECHL announced the winner of its 2015 All-Star Classic jersey design contest.

The contest began in early December and the winner was named the day before Christmas Eve. It turns out Jordan Roberts was the creator of the winning look.

One of the finalists was frequent Icethetics and IceHL concept contributor Matt McElroy. He created Option C in the graphic above.

The 2015 ECHL All-Star Classic, hosted by the Orlando Solar Bears, will take place at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla. on Jan. 21, 2015.

The game will feature a showdown between the host team and the ECHL All-Stars. The Solar Bears' All-Star Classic jersey has not yet been released.

What do you think of the winning design? And what do you think the Solar Bears will do?

AHL all-stars meet Swedish club amidst jersey medley

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League introduces new format, many jerseys

On Wednesday night, the AHL's best players will face off against Färjestad BK of the Swedish Hockey League in the uniquely formatted 2014 AHL All-Star Classic. The St. John's IceCaps are hosting this year's festivities.

Now I have to level with you. I thought this was going to be a quick and easy post. Show you a couple photos of the teams' jerseys and move on. Oh yeah sure, if it were only so simple. Folks, to my surprise, the AHL has given us six different sweaters to discuss in relation to All-Star Week in St. John's.

So settle in.

Morning skate

It all started Tuesday morning at practice. The AHL All-Stars wore jerseys that looked like they could very well be game uniforms. Half the players wore white while the other half wore blue. But it was just practice.

Skills Competition (AHL All-Stars)

Tuesday night then brought the Skills Competition which pitted the All-Stars against the SHL's Färjestad BK — we'll get to their jerseys next. The AHLers wore blue versions of the game jersey.

Skills Competition (Färjestad BK)

Meanwhile, Färjestad sported these white Reebok Edge ad-free (mostly) versions of their uniforms. It's pretty sharp compared to what they usually wear. (I'll get to that.)

AHL 2014 All-Star Classic

Finally we get to the actual game jerseys for Wednesday. The AHLers will don white as Färjestad BK wear green. 

The AHL All-Stars' jersey utilizes the very first Reebok Edge template, which was introduced at the 2007 NHL All-Star Game in Dallas. It's an awful look in my mind — and I usually like modern jersey styles — but it continues to survive thanks to the AHL.

Meanwhile, knowing what little I do about European hockey, I expected Färjestad to have ridiculous jerseys. But in fact, they came out on top here. This is the kind of classic hockey sweater I was anticipating when the Dallas Stars rebranded themselves over the summer.

Too bad Färjestad only wears them for special events.

Färjestad BK (SHL)

This post would be incomplete without a quick look at what Färjestad normally wears. And as you'd expect, it's covered in advertising.

Mark my words. If the NHL ever allows this, I'm shutting down Icethetics.

In case this is the first you're hearing of a European team coming to North America for an AHL All-Star Game, allow me to wrap up with some brief background on Färjestad BK, who hail from Karlstad, Sweden. They've been around a while. They were founded in 1932 and have won four Swedish league championships in the past 12 years, most recently in 2011.

Currently, Färjestad's roster includes one American and one Canadian. It's also without three of its Norwegian-born stars — Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, Martin Roymark and Anders Bastiansen — who are suiting up in Sochi this week. Like the NHL, the SHL is taking a break for the Olympics. At this point, teams have played 49 of their 55 games. Färjestad is 23-26 and in 8th place out of 12 teams.

If all this talk about the AHL All-Star Classic has you eager to watch the game, it'll air tape delayed on NHL Network and live on several other regional sports networks. Click here to see if it's available in your area.

ECHL Opens All-Star Jersey Voting

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Three finalists selected; voting ends Monday

Polls have officially opened on the 2015 ECHL All-Star Classic jersey design contest hosted by the Orlando Solar Bears. Last week, the Solar Bears began accepting submissions from fans. Today, the three finalists were revealed as voting began. Take a look at the options presented to voters.

Image from Orlando Solar Bears

According to the press release, the Solar Bears received more than a hundred entries and the finalists were selected by "a group made up of individuals from the ECHL, CCM, the Joe Bosack Design Co. and the Orlando Solar Bears."

Polls close Mon., Dec. 23 at noon ET so VOTE NOW!

Icethetics contributor's design among finalists

Unfortunately, the Solar Bears elected not to include the designers' names with their entries in the poll of finalists. However, we do know "C" was designed by frequent Icethetics concept contributor Matt McElroy, who tweeted about it earlier today. It also showcases his IceBorn concept template, which is featured here on Icethetics. Good luck to Matt!

For a look at some other all-star jersey submissions which were not among the finalists, check out yesterday's post on the Concepts page.

What do you think of the finalists? And which one will you be voting for?

ECHL Hosts All-Star Design Contest

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League accepting fan jersey submissions for 2015 event

Feel like designing a couple of hockey jerseys this weekend?

Players participating in the 2015 ECHL All-Star Classic could be wearing uniforms designed by you! This week, the ECHL and the Orlando Solar Bears (the 2015 All-Star host) announced a jersey design contest for the big event.

They are accepting submissions from fans until next Friday, Dec. 13. Three finalists will be selected and posted to the Solar Bears' Facebook page the following week, when the designs will be put to a public vote. Voting runs Wed., Dec. 18 through Mon., Dec. 23.

All finalists will receive autographed replica jerseys. The grand prize winner gets a game-worn jersey and, of course, the opportunity to see his design in action. The winning jersey will be worn by the ECHL All-Stars team, which will face the Solar Bears.

If you're interested in participating, you can find more information and rules for entering on the ECHL's official website. That link also includes a handful of official all-star logos you can download to include in your design. I know we have a lot of younger readers here, but you must be 18 or older to enter.

Also, feel free to send your submissions to me as well and I'll put together a post on the Concepts page.

Finally, in case you're wondering, there will not be an ECHL All-Star game this season. According to the league, there were no bids to host. The first time league skipped the event was 1993. Prior to that, it had been held annually since 1993.

Last year, the Colorado Eagles hosted. In 2011, it was the Bakersfield Condors.

If you need a jersey template, try our new Templates page. Good luck!