It’s that time of year again! Let’s rank the eight teams jerseys from the highly dramatic Class A quarterfinals on Wednesday.
8. Hermantown Hawks
Once again, it’s Class A’s best team sporting the worst jerseys. It’s as if they took every single design from every hockey jersey, put them together and just added the blue and gold for the school’s colors. We’ve got piping, stripes, shoulder bars, etc.; it should be enough to make your eyes burn. If memory serves right, Hermantown once had a much cleaner look with the name ‘Hermantown’ going diagonally down the front. They should probably give that a try again sometime, and put these current jerseys in the closet forever.
7. East Grand Forks Green Wave
If you thought the Wild wrote the book on how to not mix green and red on a jersey, well the Green Wave take them to school on that. There’s little red, but mixing it in with the stripes like they do just makes this not great to look at. I’m also not big on the crest, as it comes off a bit low and could use a different scheme (having the words ‘Green Wave’ form a circle around numbers as a crest would be a much better look). Thank goodness for East Grand Forks that Hermantown continues to trot out those hideous jerseys.
6. Mahtomedi Zephyrs
No, this is not a low ranking for them because of their bleached hair — although that was really bad. These jerseys just don’t jump off the page. They are neither hot or cold, just lukewarm. It’s hard to fault them for rolling with the ‘M’ crest, but I’m not a fan of the blue and yellow stripes through the middle of the jersey. Either get rid of those stripes, move them to the bottom or put them on the shoulders. I’m also not big on the yellow numbers on the back of a white jersey, despite being primarily stitched on over the blue and yellow stripes. There’s lots of work needing to be done here.
5. Delano Tigers
Delano’s sweater is a nod to the current Boston Bruins jersey, which features orange shoulders and black bars under the shoulders. It’s not the greatest look, but the colors compliment each other so well, it isn’t totally bad to look at. The crest is solid, as it appears to be similar to that of the Colorado College Tigers. This isn’t a bad look, as there is quite the gap between them and the Zephyrs, but there could certainly be some improvement — like dumping the black bars.
4. Northfield Raiders
Northfield’s crest is right up there as one of the best of the day, along with Luverne. It’s a fairly simple look for the Raiders as they use the maroon and gold color scheme (they didn’t have to look very far out of the Twin Cities to find that one). The only complaint here is the white stripes that get tossed in on the arms and the bottom of the jersey. They seem a bit out of place and take away a bit from what is a pretty solid look. Still good, but just lose the white stripes.
3. Luverne Cardinals
With a few small tweaks, Luverne could top the rankings. They have a great base color, and fantastic crest (the ‘L’ crest might have been the best we saw on Wednesday). But the shoulder piping can go away because you already have a solid looking shoulder patch. Let’s all say it together: “SHOULDER PIPING IS BAD!!” The three stripes at the bottom of the jersey are a great look; however, I’m not big on the stripes and solid white on the arms. Dump the solid white and leave those stripes on the arms and this jersey would be the best without a doubt. The numbers on the back didn’t look all that great. Maybe find an outline for those?
2. St. Cloud Cathedral Crusaders
It was hard to take away the top ranking from the Crusaders, but the Moose just really stole the show on Wednesday. This is by no means taking away from the Crusaders’ look. The blue and yellow scheme is very sharp, resembling that of Team Sweden. They have a solid crest with the ‘Crusaders’ going diagonally down the front, and a simple ‘SCC’ patch to compliment on the shoulder. The two stripes on the arms with two stripes on the bottom of the jersey are the perfect amount here. There is no weird piping or strips; just a simple jersey. Simple will always win. Good look Crusaders!
1.Monticello/Annandale/Maple Lake Moose
The Moose get their jersey straight out of the Chicago Blackhawks playbook, minus the crest. The Blackhawks have one of the best looks in hockey — calm down Wild fans, it’s OK to say that — so high marks for the Moose here. It’s a simple, clean look which can not easily be said for hockey jerseys these days. The crest carries a similar feel to the Manitoba Moose, a team that was formerly of these parts for a hot minute. Factoring the good look and sharp crest, it was enough to upend the Crusaders for top honors in 2017. Well done, Moose!
