Time has come to make our final decisions! Which logos do you think should represent the four new IceHL World expansion teams? Happy voting!

Auckland Rockhoppers

Helsinki Lynx

Munich Machine

Seoul Express

Now, some housekeeping for those who have been curious. 

• Results of these polls will not necessarily determine the winning designs. Don't forget about the IceHL Design Council and how this all works now. The winners of the polls earn two votes out of the total of seven which make up the Design Council.
• This weekend, after the Design Council has weighed in and these polls have closed, the winners will be announced.
• Concerned about color repetition? Fear not. If any of the winning logos use a color palette that's already common in the IceHL, the Design Council will work with the artist to fix that before we lock in the final design.
• We'll also work with designers to remove any non-English writing contained within a logo. For as much as we're trying to build on an "international league," the fact is this is a fantasy league very much based in North America with all English-speaking participants.
• Any other questions? Feel free to ask.

UPDATE · Aug 6 · Hey guys. Wow. I have to admit I'm surprised by the strong and vocal reactions to one of the housekeeping items above. But since you guys are so passionate about this, I thought I'd go into more detail than a bullet point permits.

Let me start by saying you are welcome to disagree with me. What follows is not an attempt to convince you that you should change your opinion. It's simply the way I'm choosing to operate the IceHL right now. I apologize to those who are opposed and appreciate your support and interest in the league.

Sometimes commissioners have to make unpopular decisions. So long as I don't become the next Gary Bettman, right! But seriously though, this isn't terribly complicated, so I'll explain.

First, I oversimplified on two points in my haste to quickly express a thought. While it's not true "all" participants in the IceHL are native English speakers, the vast majority are. So let's leave that point alone. I also incorrectly said we'd "remove any non-English writing" when that's not what I meant.

As has been pointed out, Honu and Olympiques are not English words yet they are names of IceHL teams. But English speakers understand them and they're written in the Latin/Roman alphabet. As for the Cosmonauts' Ice Classic Series jersey, most English-speakers recognize Moscow when written in Cyrillic. Try not to think of this as some new rule that will have to be followed to the letter. For one thing, I never called it a rule.

The error I made was in attempting to generalize so as not to appear to be picking on Lexi Dever's design. The truth is, sometimes I look at things like this on a case-by-case basis, and while I am singling out this design, it's not because of any bias for or against it.

Personally, I love the unique cultural touch in Lexi's secondary logo. But I don't read Korean so I can't tell you what it says. So what? Well, as the guy in charge of this league, I am ultimately responsible for all parts of it. I am impressed by the amount of research Lexi says was put into this as not every designer would go that extra mile. This was not made clear to me prior to the comment below.

But if somehow it does not say what Lexi tells me it says, I'm not comfortable saying to someone, "well the designer told me it was accurate."

Again I apologize if my reasoning seems flimsy. You don't have to agree, you don't even have to accept it. But that is the way it is right now. If you were in my shoes you might feel differently. Or maybe you wouldn't. We all have our reasons.

Lastly, while I appreciate some of you defending my decision by saying "it's Chris's league so he can do what he wants" — I do not agree with that sentiment. I may have created the league, but I feel like it really belongs to this community. And I am the simply steward of it. 

At the end of the day, if the majority of the community wants to see Korean text in a Seoul Express logo, I'm game. But I will need absolutely irrefutable proof that it says what it's supposed to say. Not simply someone's word or a website translation.

I'm sure you'll find faults in my logic here, but just try to understand that this isn't a one-size-fits-all type of thing. I know that's tough to accept. We all want to know where the boundaries are — probably so we can push them — but ultimately, I am responsible for all of this. I hope you can understand even if you still disagree.

(Though I am starting to wonder if it was a mistake to expand the league internationally.)