Wranglers to Black Out Midnight Game

The Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL will host their eighth annual Midnight Holiday Roundup on Monday, December 27th when they face-off against the Utah Grizzlies.
The Wranglers holiday tradition began in the team’s inaugural season and has remained a fan favorite. This year, the Wranglers have planned two special additions: a performance by Mini Kiss and an Orleans Arena Black Out.
“We are thrilled to bring back Mini Kiss,” said Wranglers President Billy Johnson. “They were a big hit when we had them here a few years ago and we can’t wait to have them back in the building this year.”
The Wranglers are also looking to make an impact with their Black Out of the Orleans Arena and $5 t-shirt promotion.
“We’re asking fans to help us by wearing black for the Midnight Game,” said Wranglers Vice President Matt Smith. “Be on the lookout for the $5 promotional t-shirts; they’re going to be a big hit!”
The Midnight Holiday Roundup on Monday, December 27th will begin at 11:59 pm and is sure to be the can’t-miss game of the season! For information on discounted group tickets, contact the Wranglers front office at (702) 471-7825.

I have listened on line to the past 7 midnight madness games and can't wait for the game next week! Nothing like listening to a hockey game at 2 in the morning to make your family and friends think you're nuts!
Check out this great sound clip from the 3rd Annual Midnight Madness game for a chuckle.

Victoria Vanguard Jerseys

Today on the way home from work I was listening to the local sports radio station and they were talking about the Vancouver Canucks and their jerseys. Of course as soon as I heard them talking about jerseys and new possible logos, I became very interested. They mentioned a Canucks fan website where there was a discussion going on regarding next season's Canuck's jerseys, along with fan made designs. As soon as I got home, I hit the web and ended up wasting a couple of hours at the computer. First I checked out the Canucks Canucks.com message board where the thread topic was "Modified Canucks Jersey - New Designs". There were some terrific looking jersey designs posted by the Canucks fans. This got me thinking about a logo I made a few years ago for the Victoria Salmon Kings of the ECHL.
When I first heard that there was a new pro hockey team coming to Victoria a couple of seasons ago, I was very interested to see what their name and logo would be. I was greatly disappointed when they unveiled their name (Salmon Kings) and logo (a sappy looking fish with a crown). Not the cool name and logo I had been hoping for. I decided I wanted to come up with something cooler. I remembered seeing some proposed (but unused) logos for the new team in Adirondack (check out my previous blog on this. I took my favorite unused Adirondack's logo and then mucked with it in Photoshop, changing the Adirondack Attack into the Victoria Vanguard. After spending some time playing around with, I made a nice desktop out of it, which pops up every now and then in my desktop screensaver mode.
Today I decided it was time to create some jerseys for my fictional hockey team. So, here I present the home and away jerseys of the Victoria Vanguard.

10th Anniversary Logo Survey

Tonight while surfing the net, I visited the Bakersfield Condors web site and noticed they were going to be celebrating their 10th anniversary next season. To celebrate, they had a contest to vote for the logo they would use during their 10th Anniversary season. There were 4 logos to choose from. I always love seeing the logo choices, and then seeing which one ends up being used.

Of the four choices, I would choose logo #3. I love the claws grabbing the large ten "X". I would like to see them make the claws look a little more 'rough' as they look in their actual logo. A few claw marks on the "X" would look good too! Second choice would be logo #2. This one looks good, but the "X" in this one gets a little lost. It would look better if they had used the same "X" from logo #3 for this one. I do not like logos #1 or #4. Both are a little too busy and I don't think they would look very good on a jersey, when you see it for a distance.
As far as which one will win, I am putting my money on #3.
While we are discussing the Condor's logo, here is their original logo, back when they were known as the Bakersfield Fog. This is one of my all time favorite logos. I even have a Fog jersey in my collection. When I emailed them to ask why they had changed their name/logo, they told me that they changed their name due to the bad connotations that were linked with the name Fog, due to the fact that Bakersfield is known for its dense fog, and that many people have been killed due to the fog. Too bad, because this is such a cool logo and name!
And lastly, something else I found on the Condor's site. A piece of merchandise that I have not seen a hockey team sell before... toilet paper! The product details on the web site state: "This is a roll of toilet paper that has the Fresno Falcon's logo on it and says 'Wipe out the Falcons.'" I wonder if the Falcons have Condor's toilet paper for sale on their site?

Wranglers Midnight Madness

What were you doing at 11:59 pm Monday night (Dec 18)? I am enjoying my 4th annual Las Vegas Wranglers Midnight Madness hockey game via the net! Isn't the internet a wondrous thing? It's been marked on my iCal for months now, ever since the Wranglers released their 2006/07 schedule back in August. I stumbled upon the Midnight Madness game 4 years ago, and have looked forward to it each year since. Unfortunately for me, the way things work this year, I don't start my Christmas vacation until next week, so unlike the previous 3 years where I didn't have to work the next day after the Midnight Madness games, this time, I have to go to work the next day, and I don't expect this game to be over until some time around 3 am.
But I wouldn't miss it!... A woman bared her breasts on the big screen at the Wranglers' Midnight Holiday Roundup two years ago and tribute band "Mini Kiss" stole the show at last season's game. About the only thing one can count on at this unique promotion is that the game will go into overtime or a shootout, as the first three midnight games have at the Orleans Arena. We'll have to wait to see how the one turns out in a few hours.
Las Vegas president Billy Johnson came up with the idea to become the first pro sports team to play a midnight game. "I went to school at the University of Kentucky back when it was one of the first schools to do 'Midnight Madness' for the basketball program and it's the first time I've had an opportunity to be in a market to do something like that," he said. "It's definitely a top-five promotion for us, it's so unique. The funny thing about promotions in minor league sports is people like to take ownership of it."
Johnson said the Wranglers have averaged close to 5,000 fans per midnight game.
"I think it's a neat idea. It's something unique to our organization," he said. "We don't mind playing them. The guys get a nice Christmas break after them. It's always the last game before Christmas. And it's something to talk about with your kids or wife someday, that you played a midnight game until three in the morning in Las Vegas.
Here is a great sound bite from last years game, which occurred some time in the third period - around 2:30 am. The game announcer used one of my favorite hockey phrases after a goal... "He put it up where Grandma keeps the cookies", only, he was so tired that it didn't exactly come out as planned. It had me laughing for the next few minutes!