December 23, 2008

Stolen Jerseys on YouTube

So I was on YouTube today and just by chance I came across this video.

Some ass, made this on November 28th, 2008. He has taken some of the worst jerseys that I have created and was trying to pass them off as the upcoming set of third jerseys. If you look at the comments you can see that most people are not impressed with his crappy video.

Just another reason why you should never take credit for something you didn't do!

You can see those terrible jerseys in posts HERE, HERE , HERE , and HERE.

I guess I should start water-marking my jerseys!

December 20, 2008

Sundin to Vancouver

With Mats Sundin signing in Vancouver many fans in Toronto are quite upset about the whole situation. Many fans believe that if Mats Sundin loved the Maple Leafs, as he said, then he should have waived his no-trade clause at the 2008 trade deadline so the Leafs could have started building for the future. He elected not to waive his no-rade clause, citing that he did not want to be a "rental player", as it wouldn't feel right. He also said something along the lines of, at that time he didn't see himself wearing any other sweater.

At the time, I thought it was honourable of him to want to stay in Toronto. He wasn't obligated to waive his no-trade, he had it put in so he wouldn't have to join a new team. Now, with his signing in Vancouver everything he said previously has been contradicted.

The Leafs have now lost one of their best players of all time for no players in return. If he knew at the end of last year that he was A) not returning to the league or most importantly B) not returning to the Maple Leafs then it appears he was looking out for himself and really did not care about the well being of the Toronto Maple Leafs as he had previoulsy stated.

As far as signing a one year contract with a new team in the middle of the season...that sounds like a rental player to me! He always said it was never about the money, yet he would never think about lowering his salary expectations to join a team with less cap space and a better chance at the Cup than Vancouver.

When the Canucks visit Toronto on February 21, 2009 I won't feel comfortable booing Mats Sundin, but I definately won't cheer him. And as far as what comes out of his mouth, it's now very hard to believe anything he says. I believe he just says what people want to hear and does whatever he wants to do without thinking about what he said he was going to do.

December 14, 2008

Jersey Posts

I've done some more jersey concepts and here they are.

We start with the Boston Bruins who could of done a yellow third jersey this season, but instead went black. So I went yellow for them.

Edmonton had a great third jersey a few seasons ago, here is a white version.

There are rumours in Pittsburgh that when they move to their new stadium they will permanently go to the powder blue and white colours. I like the gold and black but with the powder blue design.

Minnesota will most likely have a new alternate sweater next season that will be green. Here's my offering.

Nashville needs a complete overhaul. Logo, colours, city...everything. Here's an option.

and a road sweater.

Canada might not be able to use their logo at the Olympics because of some rule that the IOC has ignored up until now. So I came up with this.

And a white version.

That was fun.

December 13, 2008

Logos, Patches and Corrections

I was thinking about stupid things that really mean nothing yet would be kind of cool to see in the NHL.

An example is the Detroit Red Wings. Seeing as they won the Stanley Cup last season, all throughout this season they should be allowed to wear the Stanley Cup patch on their jersey. That goes for any team that wins the Cup.

Another thing that I was thinking about was the sale of the Vintage jerseys by CCM. I was wondering if they were perfectly accurate or if slight changes were made. So I started to look around and noticed a slight difference in the Toronto Maple Leafs jerseys.

The shoulder patch on the newly produced jerseys is a maple leaf from the Canadian flag. If you look at the original jersey from the 80's you'll see that the shoulder patch is just a blank version of the Toronto Maple Leaf.

Also, I see people at Leaf games who have gotten their jerseys numbered and it has the incorrect font on it. Maybe it was for cost reasons? Or maybe those people don't care. As far as I'm concerned I want my $175 jersey to be as authentic as possible.

I wanted to know who some of the culprits making these awful jerseys were. I was surprised to find out that shop.nhl.com was! Take a look.

Well I'm out of breath and I don't have anymore pointless crap to complain about.

December 5, 2008

Tell Me About the Toronto Maple Leafs

At the end of a long January school day, my friends and I would run down to the frozen pond. Sticks and pucks in hand, it was our traditional after school hockey game. We never missed one, no matter how cold it was.

As we would run down to the ice, everyone would yell out their favourite team,

“Lets be the Boston Bruins!”

Another would yell, “Lets be the Edmonton Oilers”

“I want to be the Montreal Canadiens!” another would bellow.

This would continue day after day. It seemed like we would never get tired. We played for hours as the Canadiens, or as the Oilers, or as the Boston Bruins. Someone would be Maurice Richard. Another boy would be Wayne Gretzky. Another, Booby Orr.

One day a good friend of mine asked, “What team do you want to be?”

I thought about it for a while. Nothing came to me. I did not know who my favourite team was! All I knew were the teams we played as on the pond after school. Sure, it was fun to be those teams, but it didn’t feel quite right.

“I don’t know who I want to be.” I said.

“Choose your favourite team!”

“I don’t know who my favourite team is.”

“You need a favourite team to be a hockey player.” the boy instructed.

I walked home that night determined to know who my favourite team was. After dinner, Grandpa was sitting at the fire place watching the flames dance and crack.

“Grandpa?” I asked.

“Yes?”

“Who is my favourite team?”

“Well, what team do you like the most? What team do you want to go all the way and win the Stanley Cup?”

“I don’t know. My friends say Montreal win will, or Edmonton will win, but I don’t believe them”, I told him.

“Who do you think will win then?” Grandpa asked.

“I don’t know any other teams.” I said

He turned to his side table where his newspapers laid. After fumbling through some of the papers, he folded the page and showed me a picture. There it was! My favourite team. Clad in blue and white, simple and refined. The bold white maple leaf crest stood out like a badge of honour.

“Who are they?” I asked, almost stunned.

“Those are the Toronto Maple Leafs!” he exclaimed as a smile came to his face. A smile unlike any other I had seen before.

“Tell me about the Maple Leafs.”

“I asked my dad the very same question when I was your age. He told me about players like Charlie Conacher, Joe Primeau, and Busher Jackson. They were known as the Kid Line. No one could stop them,” he told me. He was getting far too excited for someone his age. He continued, “ Conn Smythe owned the team and he built the greatest rink anyone has ever seen. He called it Maple Leaf Gardens. Our very first year there we won the Stanley Cup!”

“Wow.” I was stunned.

I was thrilled to know who my favourite team was, but I needed to know more. Grandpa had said that his dad told him about the Kid Line and Maple Leaf Gardens. There had to be more. I decided to ask my dad for more stories about my new favourite team.

“Dad, tell me about the Maple Leafs”

“I asked Grandpa the same question when I was your age. Do you know what he told me?” The smile was appearing on his face as well.

“About the Kid Line and Conn Smythe and Maple Leaf Gardens?”

“Yes, but also about Ted Kennedy who wore number 9, and number 10, worn by Syl Apps, Our goalie wore number 1, Turk Broda. He could stop anything. Televison was invented and everyone would gather around to watch the Maple Leafs and listen to Foster Hewitt call the play-by-play. Grandpa also told me about the Detroit Red Wings, who needed to beat us only one more time to win the Cup, but we didn’t lose another game. In fact, we won four straight to win the Stanley Cup! Kennedy, Apps and Broda helped us win 3 Stanley Cups in a row during the 1940’s. In 1951, Bill Barilko scored in overtime to win another Stanley Cup. Maple Leaf Gardens was so loud Grandpa thought the roof was going to burst off! Bill Barilko would die in a plane crash that summer. The Leafs wouldn’t… go ask your big brother about the Maple Leafs.”

So I picked up the phone and called my brother.

He picked up, “Hello?”

“Tell me about the Maple Leafs” I said.

“I asked Dad the same question when I was about your age.”

“And he told you about the Kid Line, Maple Leaf Gardens, Ted Kennedy, and Bill Barilko right?”

“Yes”

“What happened to Bill Barilko?” I asked.

“He died in a plane crash after that Stanley Cup, and the Leafs did not win again until 1962. That was the first of three in a row! We were coached by a man in a funny hat named Punch Imlach.” I could hear the excitement building in his voice. “Our captain wore number 10, George Armstrong. We had a big tall defenseman named Tim Horton. In goal was a man nicknamed “The China Wall”, but most people called him Johnny Bower. Bobby Baun broke his ankle, but still scored a goal to help win the 1964 Stanley Cup. Our top scorer was The Big M, his name is Frank Mahovlich. In 1961 he nearly scored 50 goals!”

“What else?” I asked, wanting to know all.

“1967”

“What happened in 1967?” my brother had me hooked.

“In 1967 we won the Stanley Cup for the 11th time! It was the last time that the NHL would have only 6 teams. Canada turned 100 years old that year!”

“Wow. Tell me more”

“We played the Montreal Canadiens in the finals. Everyone thought our team was too old to win the Stanley Cup, but we proved them wrong. In the final game, with Montreal’s net empty. Punch Imlach put all of our old players on the ice. We won the faceoff. We passed the puck to captain George Armstrong, and he shot it into the empty net. The crowd went crazy! When the final bell rang the Cup was presented to the Maple Leafs at centre ice.”

“Wow, I want to be a Toronto Maple Leaf!”

And I still do. Even today, as I sit here as an old man in front of the fire place and I watch the flames dance and crack. Even though the equipment may change, the jersey may change, and the players may change. What never changes is the blue and white maple leaf.

These days, I can sit down with my grandchildren and tell them about Conacher, Kennedy, Armstrong, Maple Leaf Gardens and the Stanley Cup but, I also get to tell them about Darryl Sittler’s 10 point game. About Rick Vaive who was the first 50 goal scorer the Leafs ever had! I tell them about Wendel Clark, who would deliver a crushing check at one end of the ice then come down and score at the other with one quickest shots you have ever seen. I get to tell them about Doug Gilmour who brought the passion for the Maple Leafs back to Toronto. And I get to tell them about the Maple Leafs’ new home, the Air Canada Centre. It’s the best arena in the league I tell them.

Now when someone asks me who my favourite team is, I can tell them without a second thought…

The Toronto Maple Leafs.

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