VHL Reverse Retro, Part 1: European Conference

[solas 1,951]

VHL REVERSE RETRO, PART ONE: EUROPEAN CONFERENCE

The VHL doesn’t have much of a history with jerseys.  As is the case with many sim leagues, teams don’t have official uniform designs due to the sim’s text-based nature.  The closest we get to “seeing” our players or teams is in forum signatures, player cards, or the images selected for media spots.  Occasionally you’ll see some more graphically-inclined GMs post “official” jersey designs, or creative members posting their own ideas for what VHL jerseys would look like.

 

As someone who holds an interest in jersey design, I’ve always thought about trying my hand at some kind of VHL jersey design but never really went through with it.  But recently, I was inspired to give it a try.  With the NHL’s Reverse Retro promotion recently happening in real life, I figured that would be a good launching pad to work from considering the VHL’s long and storied history.  So I’ve decided to make reverse retro jerseys for most of the league’s teams.  Most?  Yes, most.  Unfortunately for the purposes of this project, there is a decent number of teams in the VHL that have not been around for nearly as long as the others.  As a result, six teams will be excluded from this series (three in each conference) - Chicago, DC, London, Los Angeles, Prague, and Warsaw.  I may attempt some different kind of designs for these teams later, but for a Reverse Retro project there just isn’t enough to work from.

 

For this project, I also want to define “reverse retro”.  The NHL described their promotion as “throwback jerseys with modern twists” and that’s pretty similar to what I want to do here.  Of course, the lack of historical uniform designs in the VHL means I can’t necessarily make throwback jerseys - there aren’t really any old jerseys to throw back to.  Instead, I’m going to make jerseys inspired by VHL history in some way, but with a twist that would make them fit into what I would imagine each team’s current jersey set would be (they are still alternate jerseys).  Most of them are based on my interpretation of what the teams likely would’ve been wearing in the past, while others are a combination of multiple influences from the past.

 

Before I get into the designs, I’d also like to give a shoutout to two people:
@Sonnet, for both his “VHL Jersey Initiative” series of media spots as well as the incredibly useful SVG versions of the current VHL logos.
@Flames1Fan, for his recent jersey designs - in particular, the Stockholm Vikings jerseys which were my inspiration for this series.

 

Now, let’s get into the designs!

 

HC DAVOS DYNAMO

While Davos hasn’t necessarily had much recent success, they are still one of the league’s most historic franchises ever since they moved to Davos in Season 11.  The team went on to win multiple cups in each of the next three decades: two in the 10s, three in the 20s, three in the 30s.  The iconic and unique purple and black color scheme has stayed unchanged since the beginning - so naturally this jersey had to stick with it.  The logo on the front, designed by @Koradek, was put in place back in the early 20s when the league was starting to focus on having original logos for each team.  Five cups were won wearing that logo before it was changed to the current one.  On the shoulder is the original Davos logo, which I know is stolen but I just don’t know where from.

 

For the sake of media spots and signatures, members would often use the Los Angeles Kings as a base for the Dynamo.  As a result, I imagine the Dynamo jerseys probably would’ve been very similar around that time, with the team mainly wearing black during that era.  Which is why I’ve made this jersey purple, in order to fit the “reverse retro” theme of adding a twist to a throwback.

 

The jerseys are black down the shoulders and arms, in order to create a nice balance of black and purple.  The Avs-inspired mountain stripe on the hem comes from the mountains that have always been in the team’s logo - a reference to the Swiss Alps.  The design also incorporates the silver from the old logos in order to both differentiate this jersey from the team’s current identity and to match the logos used.  The gradient I’ve used on the back numbers is meant to represent a metallic silver fabric - think the gold worn by Vegas in the NHL.

 

The name and number are in reference to Anton Brekker @DGFX., a hall of fame forward who spent seven seasons in Davos, where he won three cups and was captain of the back-to-back championship teams in Seasons 24 and 25.

 

HELSINKI TITANS

Helsinki is another one of the league’s most historic teams, having been in the Finnish capital since Season 1 and being known as the Titans since Season 2.  So like Davos, there aren’t going to be many drastic changes in color or logo here.  In fact, if you didn’t look too closely at this design you’d probably think I’ve just used the same logo as their current one.  This is actually the team’s older logo, designed by Koradek (sensing a theme here?).  It was used by the team from the 20s to the 50s - a period during which the team found a large amount of success and was home to many well-known, successful members.  

 

Like with Davos, I’ve designed this jersey to try and differentiate it from the team’s current identity.  Unlike with Davos, I’ve actually got uniforms to work with here.  Based on Sonnet’s media spot from just over a year ago, the team’s normal uniforms would be a lighter blue, with navy and silver as the accent colors.  So to complement that, the reverse retro jersey is navy, with the cream from the old logo used as an accent.  The stripes on the arms and waist come from the crest of the helmet in the logo and are used to add a little bit of uniqueness to what is a fairly traditional jersey.

 

The name and number are in reference to Ethan Osborne @STZ, who was selected first overall by the Titans in Season 30 before spending six of his seven VHL seasons in Helsinki during the team’s #caphell era, captaining the team to a Continental Cup in Season 34.

 

MALMO NIGHTHAWKS

Surprise!  Despite being a part of the VHL for less than ten seasons and having the same logo for the whole time, the Malmo Nighthawks still have some history to work with - even if it isn’t technically their history.  As a country, Sweden has been represented in the VHL in the past.  The most notable of these representatives is the infamous Vasteras Iron Eagles (a.k.a. Vasteras IK), a team beloved by some and hated by others, and also used as the main inspiration for this reverse retro design.

 

I’ve also got home and away uniforms to work from, again thanks to Sonnet.  In this case, I’ve tried to keep a relatively similar design so it isn’t completely out of place stylistically, but as you can tell the colors have been changed dramatically. The blue and green Nighthawks logo has been recolored to match the Iron Eagles, whose logo is featured on the shoulders.  While Vasteras likely would’ve worn black (the Penguins and Bruins were both common choices for representatives), this jersey is yellow both to fit the theme of this series and for the sake of uniqueness.  You might notice one more aspect, though - red accents have been added on the sleeves, waist, and shoulders in a tribute to another Swedish VHL team.  The Stockholm Vikings, who moved from Vasteras in Season 41, kept the yellow and black but added red to their color scheme before being contracted from the VHL during the “dark ages” of the 50s.

 

The name and number are in reference to Scotty Campbell @scotty, quite possibly the best player to ever play in the VHL.  While Campbell only played for Vasteras for three seasons, he was captain for the team’s historic Season 1 Continental Cup win and found great success with the team.

 

MOSCOW MENACE

Red, you ask?  Yes, red.  I promise I have a reason for this.  Moscow is in a similar boat to Malmo, with a decent amount of history from other teams to work with despite having been in the league for only a short period of time.  It’s not nearly as much as our previous team, however.  Russia’s under-representation in the VHL was a topic of conversation for a long time until the Menace joined as an expansion team in Season 65.  The Avangard Havoc, despite their name, played in Omsk as the league’s first Russian team, and after the Havoc moved to Davos the country wouldn’t have a representative until the Moscow Red Wolves joined the VHLM in Season 37.  

 

Other than being the only two teams to play in Russia, the Havoc and Red Wolves have another common thread: their color schemes.  Both teams wore red, black, and silver, which is the color scheme for this jersey.  I’ve tried to take more of an influence from the Red Wolves in this case, however, as they played in the same city as the Menace.  Unfortunately, there was a jersey design made by the team’s original GM but the image has been lost so I was unable to use it for inspiration.  Instead, I’ve tried to imagine something like what a Red Wolves jersey would have looked like, except with a Menace logo.  The number font and style is influenced by the wordmark that was a part of @boubabi's design, while the striping is just me trying to come up with something unique that would fit the team.

 

The name is in reference to Sandro Clegane @JardyB10, a hall of fame goaltender who played for the Red Wolves in the VHLM where he won a Devereux Trophy (top goalie) and a Rift Trophy (playoff MVP).  The number, 45, is a reference to the season when the Red Wolves won the Founder’s Cup.

 

RIGA REIGN

Riga is one of the teams that has stuck with their current logo the longest - another Koradek design from the 20s, but this time one that has lasted to the present.  As a result, one has to dig back a bit further in order to pick a throwback logo for this jersey.  While I remember the team having a short-lived dragon head logo, the only other logo that the team used for a significant amount of time and found success with was unfortunately stolen from the ECHL’s Ontario Reign (who have since become the Kings’ AHL affiliate).  This was the team’s original logo after they moved from Stockholm to Riga in Season 9, and was also the logo worn when the franchise won its first ever cup in Season 10.  

 

Given that the Reign were the only team in the VHL to use orange until Warsaw joined, I imagine that Riga’s home jersey is probably orange.  So I’ve decided to choose navy as the main color for this uniform, and have relegated orange to third on the hierarchy of colors behind white.  The font for the numbers is inspired by the wordmark on the Ontario Reign’s main logo from that era, because if the logo is stolen I might as well use what I can to make things look more consistent.  I’ve also recolored Riga’s current logo to match the Ontario one and put it on the shoulders to make the jersey look more complete.

 

The name and number are in reference to Layken Heidt (Slobodzian_18), a hall of fame forward who spent all eight of his seasons with the franchise, including the team’s first season in Riga.  He was captain of the team for their first Continental Cup win and also featured in four European Conference-winning teams.

Thanks for checking out this article!   The North American teams’ jerseys will follow once I’ve finished claiming this article (and once I’ve finished making the jerseys).  Additionally, if people are interested I do have a possible idea for the six other teams that won’t be a part of the reverse retro series.

 

~2,041 words, good for four weeks
 

Edited November 29, 2020 by solas

[Flames1Fan 36]

Thank you. love to see you get inspire. good work

[Gustav 6,428]

This is easily one of the best articles I've read in recent memory--and it's got some damn good jersey concepts. Great stuff and can't wait for NA 

[gorlab 4,321]

these are actually fire

[Banackock 8,053]

10/10

[Ledge 1,131]

Wow. These are awesome, and I love how you incorporated each team's history. 100/10

[Baozi 1,658]

Love these, not huge on the Malmo yellow concept myself personally. Maybe its because it reminds me too much of my days in VAS.

 

Excellent content though. Formatted well and pacing of article flows well with your thoughts. Has obvious pictures and the obvious reference points to users related.

 

10/10

[boubabi 4,725]

top tier article

[solas 1,951]

Claiming for week 2 of 4

[Matt thunder 444]

mate all of this jersey are on fire 

My favorites? Davos and Riga

keep it up mate, this get a solid 10 out of a 10

[GreenGato 101]

I have never loved anything more than this post. I want to have its babies!

[Laine 1,361]

@solaswhere did you get that jersey template from?

[solas 1,951]

2 minutes ago, PatrikLaine said:

@solaswhere did you get that jersey template from?

Here: https://dribbble.com/shots/2564726-Adidas-World-Cup-Template

 

I just changed the number size on the arms and removed the Adidas stripes.

[Matt_O 897]

That Riga jersey is sick

[Spartan 4,408]

VHLM Reverse Retro's when????

[SimmerDown99 39]

Wow these are fu*king fantastic! Love the work put in! Riga’s is especially impressive cause those are my boysss all of them are 1000 times better than any of the actual NHL reverse retros. Especially the leafs one, that was the most ugly jersey I’ve ever seen lol. 10/10 article, should market these!

[Victor 10,946]

I don't think there's enough TPE for this article.

 

 

Also Riga's stolen logo was low key their best.

[solas 1,951]

Claiming for week 3 of 4

[solas 1,951]

Claiming for week 4 of 4

finally I will stop bumping this article and actually have to do a PT next weeK