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Kyamprac · 07-15-2020, 06:31 PM

As a new player to the league, I am still kind of learning about each team in terms of its accolades, whether or not it has a good locker room environment, whether I would actually get some decent ice time there, and other things that are probably important to learn about when one ponders about where the upcoming draft might take them. The scouting process has been great in helping me do that (I’m learning as much about you as you are about me!), however I still have some work to do to really get to know my options.

Having said all of that, I have had a chance to take a good look at probably the first most noticeable thing on the forums - every SMJHL team’s branding scheme. If I could pick a team to be drafted to based almost entirely on their branding, I’d probably order my destinations of interest as follows. Disclaimer: Before you proceed, please keep in mind I know virtually nothing about most of these teams and that this is mostly based on whether I think you use pretty colours and pictures… so please do not take anything personally here.

1. Quebec City Citadelles

As someone who loves owls and just birds generally (I mean really, look at my profile picture), it is literally impossible for me to not put the newly minted Quebec City Citadelles at the top of my list. I am not ashamed to admit I audibly gasped with excitement when I saw Quebec’s logo. What made me even happier about the whole thing is the fact that they are a Canadian team (albeit an eastern one), giving them the edge over other teams on my top draft destination list.

2. Nevada Battleborn

Apparently I have a thing for expansion teams, because my second priority destination would probably be the Nevada Battleborn. The name of the team is awesome in and of itself, but Noka and his team also designed a really slick looking logo and a clean blue and gold jersey that I would be proud to wear out on the ice (or even just at home as a spectator). As a bonus, I just think it would be kind of cool to grow with a team that is as new to the league as I am.

3. Carolina Kraken Kraken

Before I knew about the up and coming expansion teams, the Kraken were at the top of my aesthetic-focused destination list. Having a unique and just overall awesome theme, Carolina really popped out to me when I first joined the forums. They also managed to pull off a really nice orange and black uniform without looking like last year’s Halloween decoration, which can be hard to do. From what I have heard, these guys also have a pretty great locker room environment too – I would love to confirm that first-hand.

4. Colorado Raptors Raptors

After looking at Colorado’s team information page, I got curious and did a bit of googling about Colorado generally and learned there is a town called Dinosaur there, which is pretty awesome. Anyways, aside from the fact that dinosaurs are amazing and basically non-feathered (or maybe feathered?) birds, these guys made it to number four on my destination list for their branding. I love the yellow and blue colour combination and think the Raptor looks pretty sweet. It wasn’t quite enough to get above the Kraken, though, because it took me a while to get the Toronto Raptors out of my head when I saw it and who really cares about basketball, anyways.

5. Detroit Falcons Falcons

Some might be surprised that the Detroit Falcons fell to fifth on my list given my initial excitement about a bird logo. Don’t get me wrong, I love the logo they have chosen here. It is a clean and simple design, just maybe a little too simple in comparison to the teams I selected above. Having said all of that, I love the red and white and aesthetically this is the closest I would probably get to playing for a Canadian team without being on one… so that’s kind of a bonus?

6. Kelowna Knights Knights

The Kelowna Knights branding looks really cool in probably the most traditional way possible. This is a team I could easily envision skating around on the ice in real life, let alone in the SMJHL. I love the green and gold colour scheme and while I appreciate the clean look of the primary logo, I probably enjoy their alternate design even more. Kelowna is a beautiful city and a fun party town too, so they get some extra kudos for location selection.

7. St. Louis Scarecrows

The St. Louis Scarecrows will forever hold a special place in my heart for being the only team to contact me / pick me up as a brand new DFA. Having said that, they fall a little lower on my aesthetic destination list because the branding is quite simply not my favorite. I think the logo is designed really well and I appreciate the colour scheme over some of the others, it is just not really my favorite branding at the end of the day. If it was a legit crow instead of a scarecrow I would probably be all over it, though (birds again, I know I have a problem.. don’t worry about it).

8. Anaheim Outlaws Outlaws

To be completely honest, when I first saw the Anaheim Outlaws logo I was not quite sure if it was a dog with long floppy ears, a bunny, or a kangaroo. Despite that, I don’t mind this new take on an Outlaws team and I did manage to clear up the confusion after I found their bugs bunny mascot, Outlungus (as a somewhat related aside - more teams should share their mascots on the info page!). I’m giving them some benefit of the doubt here too, as I haven’t seen their jersey mockups and think the colour scheme would probably look pretty decent.

9. Newfoundland Berserkers

A Newfoundland team is just a unique and really cool idea, so the Berserkers were among the first teams I checked out when I joined the forum. I thought the logo design was really well done (although it shattered my hopes for a more goofy newfie theme) and figured the colours would make for a really slick jersey design. Unfortunately, however, their jersey mocks just fall short for me and I just did not find the blood drippy arms appealing at all. Maybe this is just the girly side of me coming out, but I think they should have just left that part of the design to the alternate. I would still wear it proudly if I got drafted though, and I imagine all the Screech would be a big bonus to joining the team (and help me forget about the sleeves).

10. Vancouver Whalers Whalers

Being a Canadian team I probably would have ranked the Whalers a bit higher on any other day. Two things stopped me from an aesthetic perspective, however. First, this looks too much like a Vancouver Canucks logo for me to really be able to enjoy it (fair, they’re legitimately in Vancouver.. I can’t really complain I guess), and second, I just keep thinking they should be located in Connecticut. Still, I give the Whalers a bonus over some other teams because I really appreciated hearing from their GM and I would still be happy to play for them.

11. Anchorage Armada Armada

My first impression of the Anchorage Armada was a good one – the logo they’ve got in the team banner is awesome and the history nerd in me was kind of geeking out over it. The reason I rank them low on my aesthetic destination list, though, is the jerseys. I appreciate the effort that went into their design and I’m sure they appeal to a lot of different people, but the yellow stripes were just a deal breaker for me. If Anchorage had kept it to the blue and silver they’d probably be way higher on my list. But again, I would wear it loud and proud if they were to pick me and probably defend those cringey yellow stripes to the bitter end.

12. Maine Timber Timber

The Maine Timber were probably the just the least impressionable team for me overall from an aesthetic perspective. While I don’t mind the green kind of foresty motif they have going on, I feel like they missed an opportunity here and could have gone with a cool lumberjack logo or something (even if only as an alternate). I also had a really hard time accepting the brown home jerseys, but I digress. I would still happily skate around looking like a potted plant if the Timber were to draft me.

So that’s that – if you made it this far, I’m sorry and hope you soon find something more exciting to do than read my subjective commentary about logos and colours. I also hope I didn’t offend anyone here and totally tank my draft stock – this all just in fun ? I look forward to learning more tangible things about each team soon and would honestly be happy to be drafted to any of these teams.

-Kya

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