Oh Crystal Ball (VHLM Expansion)

[K1NG LINUS 145]

6 hours ago, Abaddon said:

The Alaska Bullworms

Colors: blue and pink

It's a great reference, and a unique mascot.

I second the Alaska Bullworms, Alaska should have a team. Maybe not with pink AND blue though.

Edited March 17, 2019 by K1NG LINUS

[Abaddon 37]

11 minutes ago, K1NG LINUS said:

I second the Alaska Bullworms, Alaska should have a team. Maybe not with pink AND blue though.

 

 

It could work

[K1NG LINUS 145]

10 minutes ago, Abaddon said:

 

 

It could work

Oh god, it's so ugly it's cute. I stand corrected. 

[uphillmoss 134]

I have two ideas for a team located in the greatest city on earth. NOLA(New Orleans, Louisiana). While they are very close to Houston, I don’t feel like this would be a problem financially. New Orleans sports fans are some of the most diehard people on the planet (Just look at how they reacted to the nfc championship). They also (speaking from expirence here) hate any team from Texas. This would set up an incredible rivalry with Houston. These are just some of the many reasons why New Orleans deserves a team. Now let’s discuss what the team should be called.

The New Orleans Shoresman: New Orleans has always been important in the shipping industry. It is located at the spot where the Mississippi River feeds into the Gulf of Mexico. This location allows for goods to be easily shipped down the Mississippi, then sent out to the rest of the world. This is the sole reason that Lousiana, and the rest of the mid west, became part of the United States. It’s economic importance convinced Thomas Jefferson to purchase the region from France. This isn’t the only impact the coastal Industry of NOLA has influenced the country. In WW2, NOLA was one of the largest producers of Naval ships. In fact, without the help of NOLA, D-Day would have never been possible. This influence has continued to this day, as the city has one of the busiest ports in the country. So why not pay homage to the men and women who made all this possible. The colors would be Gold and Light Blue. Gold is a staple of New Orleans, being present in every sports team in the city. It is also a primary Mardi Gras color. This color represents the city. The blue would be a shade that represents the sea. It helps represent the city’s ports. 

New Orleans Skulls: New Orleans has a famous culture of voodoo. It is an integral part of the city. The skull is one of the main symbols of voodoo. The team would also be able to run an incredible marketing campaign with the New Orleans VooDoo, a local soccer team. The colors of the team would be Black, Purple, and gold. The Black and Purple represent the VooDoo culture, and the gold represents the city its self. 

I feel like both of these team ideas represent NOLA’s unique culture. I think that New Orleans would be a perfect location for a new team, however I understand if the league feels that it is too close to Houston.

 

[RunnerBert11 57]

After taking some time to look at the map and consider some possible locations and the possibility of geographical rivalries and different areas of NA that would make for a good home for a VHLM team I've come up with the following teams.

 

Ketchikan (AK) Yetis I think AK could use a VHLM team and with a team stepping into AK it would most likely create a natural rivalry with the neighboring Yukon Rush. I think a Yeti would make a great minor league mascot and totally fits in with the whole minor league vibe and is relevant to AK. It also seems to fit well into the current team theme we have going on with the VHLM. For a logo we could do a large Yeti head with like a growling looking face and messy fair or a hockey helmet or you could do a yeti on top of a mountain, similar to King Kong on top of the Empire State Building. I'm thinking the color scheme would welcome a cool/ice blue color, something similar to Milwaukee Admirals or even slightly darker, then top that off with some black and white trim, possibly some grey to add variety to the blue to give an ice north vibe. Something I would think the experts at True North Gear could help me work out and put together.

 

This could work for Yetis or Squatches, with some name and color tweaking

Color scheme I was thinking, I like the shield/badge idea, but not overly wild about the yeti look in this particular logo

 Could do a hockey theme yeti or a yeti head, I like 3rd most

 

 

 

 

 

Seattle (WA) Sas"Squatches" or Reign Looking at the current layout and disbursement of VHLM teams the pacific northwest seems to be lacking especially when you consider how many professional sports teams across all different sports consider WA home. The mascot almost seems like a no-brainer considering the sheer amount of "big-foot" sighting claims there are centered around this area. It's similar to the Yeti's idea and if we were to pick one it would probably mean the other would need to be reworked or tweaked to avoid mascots being too similar. Since the Pacific northwest is home to many lush evergreen & coniferous forests naturally a dark forest green and brown color scheme would work well. It could be supplemented with white or black for home and away jerseys to add some more dimension. I think the traditional "big-foot" sighting scene would make for a great logo or you could always do something similar to the Yeti idea and do a close up of a Squatch face with a growling or mean. The Reign idea comes from the fact that WA and OR get a ton of rain, we could still use the sasquatch logo and idea, but the team could be called the reign, which I think would play nicely with the idea behind the MN Storm team name, since the name is more of a metaphoric storm or reign in this situation.

More Cartoony looking idea, could replace lighter green with brown.

 

Simplistic Logo w/ squatch hiding in the trees 

Cool logo idea with the color scheme I was thinking about

 

Coos Bay (OR) Coons / Beaverton (OR) Bandits Thinking along the same lines as the Seattle Squatches, where the NW corner or the US could use a team. Something about the idea of using a mischievous bandit looking raccoon for a mascot just seems like a great idea to me and seems like it would fit into this leagues mascots nicely. The colors could be black, brown and white and the jerseys could showcase some black and brown ringed socks like a coons tail and possibly even the arms of the jersey or the jersey itself. I almost get an image of Mario from NES  Super Mario 3 with the raccoon flying suit when I start picturing this jersey cruising on the ice!

 

St. Louis (MO) Buffalo/Bison or Sting Another great sports city and area that would certainly welcome a minor league hockey team. They're not encroaching on any other teams turf, but certainly close enough to MN or Houston to create a rivalry sooner than later. I like the idea of a Buffalo/Bison mascot for a Missouri team considering the history of the animal to that area and the push of settlers across that area. My only hesitation with a Buffalo/Bison is it is pretty similar to the Houston Bulls mascot, which makes me like the idea less. No fear though, my backup St. Louis mascot, which would be somewhat similar to the Coos Bay Coons would be for a team to be the St. Louis Sting. The name in itself is a nice alliteration and roles of the tongue naturally and the color scheme is obvious with rich yellow, black & white. It would be similar to the Coos Bay Coons when it comes to jersey style with a yellow and black strip theme to look like an angry bee, which would be the mascot. Something pretty similar to the Georgia Tech Stinger mascot.

 This could be cool if I swapped out wasp with sting or St. Louis

 

 

[BOOM 8,808]

I'd recreate to play for the Raccoons. 

[K1NG LINUS 145]

2 hours ago, RunnerBert11 said:

 

 

Coos Bay (OR) Coons / Beaverton (OR) Bandits Thinking along the same lines as the Seattle Squatches, where the NW corner or the US could use a team. Something about the idea of using a mischievous bandit looking raccoon for a mascot just seems like a great idea to me and seems like it would fit into this leagues mascots nicely. The colors could be black, brown and white and the jerseys could showcase some black and brown ringed socks like a coons tail and possibly even the arms of the jersey or the jersey itself. I almost get an image of Mario from NES  Super Mario 3 with the raccoon flying suit when I start picturing this jersey cruising on the ice!

 

 

I'm liking the Coos Bay Coons. Gray black and white jerseys and team colors would look nice with it.

Edited March 17, 2019 by K1NG LINUS

[efiug 320]

On 3/16/2019 at 6:54 PM, K1NG LINUS said:

1. Atlanta Osprey

To pick up all the poor Atlanta Thrashers refugees, it's gotta be in Atlanta. Naming it The Osprey keeps the bird theme and provides a choice between making the mascot a badass bird, or a fucking attack helicopter. Colors could be old Thrashers colors, or switch to army green to go with the military theme. 

I love this idea so much. I could definitely imagine it working. Maybe Thrashers colours with an army green alt to incorporate both. (though I'm biased because i think the thrashers had the best colour scheme in the league)

[Banackock 8,107]

26 minutes ago, efiug said:

I love this idea so much. I could definitely imagine it working. Maybe Thrashers colours with an army green alt to incorporate both. (though I'm biased because i think the thrashers had the best colour scheme in the league)

They were sweet. I also really like the Coyotes jerseys back in the day (or their current throwback ones). 

[efiug 320]

the coyotes alternate that was green with desert-scape is one of my favourite jerseys

[SirRupertBarnes 220]

@Plate and I love to create hockey teams as it’s sort of a tradition to create an entire new league in the NHL games every year. The team we are proposing to join the VHLM would be the Oklahoma Stampede (nicknamed the Stampeders). Looking at the map it does help spread out teams but would also give a good rival to Houston being in the mid-west. The stampede is a perfect description of a group coming together for one common goal. It speaks with ferocity and you do not want to get in the way of their force. The basic logo is an aggressive looking deer from NHL 19 but this is our idea for a general look for the team. The four colours in the logo all being incorporated into the teams colours gives it great detail but still overall a clean look.

[diamond_ace 3,112]

Hockey is a cold sport, everyone knows that, so with all the complaints (and rightfully so) about putting teams in Florida and other southern markets, the only logical thing to do is to go way too far correcting it in the opposite direction. Which brings me to my latest and greatest expansion idea: the Alert Auroras. Stationed in Alert, Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, the Auroras would hone their craft in the northernmost permanently inhabited place in the world. Mostly, Alert is used for Canadian military and science data collection, with a small permanent population but a good influx of temporary inhabitants. While you're in Alert, there's not a lot else to do, so why not come out and catch an Auroras game? The crowd size on sheer numbers would never be something to boast about in a place with a population of only 62, but if you frame the numbers a different way and base it on the percentage of inhabitants who would buy tickets, no other team would come close. Alert would almost always have 100% of the citizens attend Auroras games because it's a barely inhabited town with no real social events to speak of.