There were some tight votes in Round One, but only one big surprise if you ask me; Edmonton beating Everett. We’ve gone from 22 teams down to 16. Getting trounced in the first round were the Kelowna Rockets, Brandon Wheat Kings, Calgary Hitmen, Regina Pats, Everett Silvertips, and Kootenay Ice. The ten teams that got a first round bye will now face matchups. This week we’ll see four teams of those ten and in the coming weeks we’ll see the teams that won in the first round get into their second matchups.
First Round Results
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Matchup No. 7
Prince Albert Raiders vs Kamloops Blazers
Prince Albert Raiders
photos courtesy of raiderhockey.com
MT – Prince Albert has sported the green since their inception into the WHL in 1982, although they started with the additional yellow which has now turned to gold. If you look at the Raiders timeline of jerseys it sure seems to follow a very similar path to that of the Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars. Both franchises started with green & yellow, eventually added black to the mix, then dropped the yellow. Something tells me that Mike Modano’s favourite colour must be green. I like the colour scheme, green is far too underutilized in sports. The Raiders have had some “interesting” logos throughout their history with the two most recent ones being far and away their best. They changed from the pirate biting the sword to the sword & PA shield in 2013. They dawn quite different lines on their jersey from most other teams. It’s quite noticeable on the white jersey how the green lines almost form a box down the sides and across the bottom, on the green jersey the black blends into the pants and makes it less dominating. I really think these were a big upgrade for Prince Albert in 2013 along with the logo change.
Kamloops Blazers
photo courtesy of blazerhockey.com
MT – A franchise that’s been a few places the one thing that’s remained the same for the last 30 years is the logo. Named the Junior Oilers when they moved from New Westminster to Kamloops in 1981 that changed to the Blazers in 1984. They started with a goofy wordmark logo but changed to the well known B with the flame in 1987. Minor change in the colour of the blue in 2005, then dropped the “Kamloops” from inside the B in 2015. As in the case of Prince Albert, they’ve pretty much followed the path of an NHL team in the Oilers with the blue and orange colour scheme. Straight forward in their jersey lines, no odd piping and no shoulder yokes, they stick with simple elbow and waist stripes. The addition of the shoulder patch with two mountains and two rivers (which I really thought would appear as a main logo for a 3rd jersey this year) really says Kamloops. As this is my home team, I’ll probably pass on voting in this matchup as I’d probably be too biased.
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Matchup No. 7
Saskatoon Blades vs Vancouver Giants
Saskatoon Blades
photos courtesy of saskatoonblades.com
MT – Blue on blue for the only team from the original WCHL to never have relocated or left the league. They incorporated yellow/gold into their colour scheme up until 2004 and have brought it back with their 3rd jerseys, but I think they should bring it back permanently. The logo gives me so many mixed emotions though. So it’s a skate with a giant SB blade, or a SB blade sword with a skate handle? That being said it sure beats the angry yellow combine harvester they had in the early 2000’s. I do prefer their original logo, which they use as a shoulder patch now. Something to be said about simplicity. I don’t like the piping on the jersey. It’s barely noticeable on the white jersey, however on the blue jersey the white & blue stripes cut through the CCM & WHL logos and just makes it look awkward.
Vancouver Giants
photos courtesy of vancouvergiants.com
MT – They play in Langley now, shouldn’t we call them the Langley Giants? Black, silver, and red (although I think I’d call it maroon) for the Giants. Nothing fancy about the colour scheme, however I will give them credit for using the red jersey as their dark jersey, and having the black jersey considered their 3rd jersey, even though they seem to wear both quite regularly. The logo has remained the same since coming into the league 15 years ago, as have their jerseys for the most part. The only minor changes to the jerseys in this time has come when the jersey manufacturer has changed from RBK to Reebok to CCM. The “Vancouver” wordmark above the logo is entirely unnecessary, although it actually doesn’t appear on the jersey, but does on their official logo. The shield actually forms a G around the giants shoulder (be honest, how many of you actually noticed that?) and normally I’m not a fan of sticks in logos, but this one just seems to fit right, almost as if the giant is carrying an axe.
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