Thehealthiestscratch wrote:

Team: Honey Whale Hockey Club
Location: Portarra, GP
Founded: 1969
Rink: Honey Whale Athletic Complex - "Honey Pot" Surface
Owner: Honey Whale, Inc. (Rocco Barrow)
Sponsor: Honey Whale, Inc.  

1969-Present
Honey Whale is a team with not much of a history, but plans to create one in the near future. Because of the close connection with their sponsor, Honey Whale Hockey Club is a team that thrives financially, being able to pull talent from towns far away. In their infancy, the team has gained a reputation of having a one, two punch that consists of scouting and development. By poaching talented players at a young age, Honey Whale gives the opportunity for individuals to grow in their program that is filled with the best resources to progress players to the next level. Recently the organization has been under fire, accused of monopolizing the youth hockey market in a way that is not beneficial to the game. Because of this, the TYHDA has “advised” the ownership to help clubs with great history that are now in decline based out of the cities around Portarra. To follow the league’s advice, HWHC offered The Cooley Bay Blur and Portarra Harpoons a home in their new four ice surface facility. While Cooley Bay and Honey Whale are on good terms, HWHC have had a bad relationship with the Harpoons, who are the oldest club in the city. To punish the Harpoons in the bail out, HWHC forced the team with a rich history to change their name, saying it was no longer tasteful for the times, giving a good reason for the change that was founded to spite the struggling club. This had also happened 2 weeks prior to the season, leaving the Harpoons, who had no funds and were too proud to receive help from their new sponsor with buying new jerseys , to remove “OON” from their logo and move an “S” to suddenly become the “Harps”, a very laughable name to many of the youth competitors. This is a rivalry that seems like it is ready to explode, so expect this team to be one of the most exciting to follow, especially when they are playing in their hometown. (Literally having 9 games against local teams out of their 21 game season) 

Identity



Name and Logo
This one is pretty straight forward. Honey Whale, Inc. wanted to show off their love for hockey and dedication to the community. To do this, they ended up naming the team after the company and using the logo on the jersey, it was free advertising after all. Although it is a very corporate move, it is hard for youth and parents to be mad at the company about the name because of the fun the organization likes to have with colors and jerseys. When they started, the team came out with solid, athletic gold sweaters with baby blue trim, and they have changed twice since. For the opening season the team has come back to a similar gold, baby blue and has also added Honey Whale blue. Expect this team to try crazy things that make kids around the region dream about playing for HWHC, and parents supporting that dream since all of these looks are paid for by the team.  

Primary
HWHC makes a bold move this season by being the only team with a white primary jersey. Whether it was to stand out or piss off other teams, nobody knows. What people can say though is that they fit the team's need to be trendy. The white is accompanied by a vertical stripe pattern that has two thick blue stripes and one thin gold stripe that flares out towards the cuff to look like a honey dip. This stripe is then continued on the hem, making the look balanced. This jersey seems to be very important to the club, being completely developed by the company’s own marketing and design team.  

Clash
Compared to the primary, the clash could be called underwhelming, but any team's jersey might earn that label when compared. For this one, the company went for a more classic approach that would utilize their baby blue color to separate themselves from other blue teams in the region. The stripe design from the primary is brought over to this jersey, but is turned horizontal and covers the majority of the sleeve to limit the baby blue. The most interesting part of the jerseys might be the shoulders, which have a piping that is meant to mirror the striping that is carried through the brand. 

ALL CREDIT GOES TO STEELMAN FOR THE TEAM'S LOGO. IT IS A COMPANY HE HAS PRODUCED TO CREATE DEPTH IN HIS OWN NATION'S HISTORY. 

(Tell me what you think of the last few! Would love feedback.)

YAS.
YAAAAAS!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!
Go Honey Whale!
 

O.K. you changed my mind the Honey Whale is now on top of my favourite list!

Team: Portarra Harps
Location: Portarra, GP
Founded: 1955
Rink: Honey Whale Athletic Complex - "Louie" Surface
Owner: Fletcher Pike
Sponsor: Honey Whale, Inc. / Orange Belly Bait & Tackle  

Mr. Fletcher Pike is a man with a personality that matches his over the top name that was given to him. He is hardworking, stubborn and brash, but also shows a great love for his community and the history that comes from it. Fletcher grew up around the wharves alongside the fisherman who made their living on the sea. He admired their commitment to the work and decided to join the growing industry at the age of 16. He proved potential by gaining a captain role at the age of 21 and developed a relationship with Seymour Duval, the current owner of the Portarra Whales who owned the wharf Pike docked at and developed Pike's love and understanding of hockey. All was smooth sailing until an incident left Pike paralyzed from the hips down at the age of 31. This is when Fletcher was forced out of the industry and established “Orange Belly Bait & Tackle”, a new company to supply material to his fishermen friends, and also the Portarra Harpoons, the first official youth hockey organization in the city. 

1955-1962
In the early years, Pike’s charisma was enough to get families to buy into the Harpoons program, giving the organization the best talent from the large city. This would lead to multiple city level tournament wins and even a couple of regional and national level tournament invitations. Things became a little more difficult as time went on with the introduction of new teams in the area. Although these teams were not as good, they diluted the talent pool and pulled the Harpoons back to being a team that was mostly only dominant in the city. The late 50s was also around the time that a public outcry against hunting whales became a main focus of the community, resulting in the program taking a lot of heat because Pike refused to change his team’s name, stating “It is not that I believe in whaling, but that I believe in this great city’s history and want to always remember how I, this team, my business, Portarra and the Cooley Bay got to this moment”. Although there were people who backed Pike, knowing he was good hearted by nature, many were furious because of the aggressive approach used when voicing his opinion. 

1962-1970
This controversy is what would start the slow decline of the Harpoons and Fletcher’s shop. Many had moved forward, leaving the man behind in the time, but he did not mind the attention being redirected due to his own health issues. In 1964 the responsibilities of the shop would be handed to Pike’s son and the team went on hiatus as Fletcher dealt with complications from his accident. He would recover after two years and decided to immediately resurrect the team he was so passionate about, only to have them fall into money and reputation problems again. 

1070-Present
 This was until 1970, when the TYHDA made it their mission to get the oldest team in the association’s hometown back on their feet by “advising” Honey Whale Hockey Club to lend support. This started off promising when Honey Whale Hockey Club invited the Harpoons to play in their new facilities that housed four ice surfaces, but turned sour when Pike decided to sell what was left of his original rink to aid the team after the move. Honey Whale was in full control of the Harpoon organization and decided to attack their rival whenever possible. The worst attack being when HWHC stripped the storied name of the Harpoons, forcing them to change it weeks before the season. Pike was flustered by the decision but did not crack, instead he made a statement by only removing “OONS” from the team’s name, leaving the actual harpoon from the logo on the jersey still, claiming it was, “just the string found on a harp”. From then on the team would go by the Portarra Harps, showing resilience as always, proving they are an organization that truly reflects their owner.  

Identity



Name and Logo
The Portarra Harpoons were named partly to give a nod to the men at sea, but also to promote Pike’s business while giving himself a pat on the back. With so many money issues, the Harpoons have kept the look the same since the beginning, the logo being a simple text above a harpoon and the primary color of orange, to represent the uniform worn by the crew of Pike's past, black and Torland cream. In the change of name the team ran into issues of not being able to afford new jerseys so the parents committed their time to unstitching the “OONS” portion of the logo and relocate the “S” to the end of “HARP”. This created an asymmetric logo that was weird, but felt appropriate for this teams fight back. 

Primary
The Harps have always had one primary jersey that went with a blank cream jersey for their clash if another team also used orange. This jersey has a thick chest stripe that is accompanied by thick stripes on the sleeves to match. Laid in the middle of the chest stripe is the team's logo, where it has been since 1955. One unique thing added to the jerseys is their number font, finally being downsized to fit the stripe and changed to match the font of their logo.  

Clash
To gain prioritized sponsorship rights a sponsor must commit more money to a club than any other supporter. To ensure they claimed their second team, Honey Whale, Inc. decided to supply the Harps with a clash uniform for the season. With little thought involved, Honey Whale decided to replace orange with cream and reversing the two colors, making black the primary focus. This produced a look that actually fell in line with the team’s griddy reputation, proving to Pike that Honey Whale the company cared and respected what the man had done in their community, but instead it was HWHC that had bad intentions towards his organization.  

Last edited by Thehealthiestscratch (11/17/2019 3:20 pm)

With all four Portarra teams out, we will move south to a less congested college town that is on the rise. 



Team: Rosran Graduates 
Location: Rosran, GP
Founded: 1964
Rink: Black Knight Athletics Fieldhouse
Owner: Black Knight Investment Group
Sponsor: Howerton State University

 Rosran is a city that is most notably known for Howerton State University, a higher end private university that holds the attention of many college bound teens in the region. Outside of Howerton, Rosran is also known as a wealthy city with many suburbs that hold successful alumni with growing families. It is quiet, high-end and the people could sometimes come off as arrogant despite them not being aware of it. As an ideal place to raise a family, the city has a large youth population that participates in many activities that are promoted by the university to keep them on a path to success. One of the popular programs being sponsored heavily is the youth hockey team, known as the Rosran Graduates.  

History
The Graduates were founded in 1964 by a handful of wealthy Howerton alumni who had come together to establish the Black Knight Investment Group. This group is made up of many Howerton Black Knight athletic heroes, but is mostly dominated by individuals who played hockey for the school. The goal of the Graduates program is to build more intelligent hockey talent in the city that would be more invested in the Black Knight label, making them want to move on to play at Howerton State University. In the short time the team has been around it has found success in their mission, having eight players touch the ice for the Black Knights, three of them being players who have dominated conference play and seek to push for their cup of coffee in the THL.  

The Rosran Graduates have not been given the credit deserved when it comes to success in the region as a team. This can be contributed to the fact that the Graduates seek to play other teams that are mentored by colleges across the northern part of Torland, leaving only the Fort Bevin Braves as a team familiar with the Graduates in the GYHDA. With a lack of reputation the Grads will hold an advantage over other powerhouses in the league, bringing an immense amount of hockey knowledge and talent to teams who underestimate them. 

Identity
 


Name and Logo
To separate them from direct ties to Howerton by being called the Black Knights, which would make them look like the school’s own youth program, the Graduates organization decided to represent the whole city of Rosran to drive interest from players who might be unsure about being tied to the intimidating, large scale university. The name was chosen by the investment group’s directors, who found “Graduates” appropriate because of the amount of alumni in the ownership group. This led to a grad cap paired with a “RG” below it in an old english font, creating an identity that is unique to the club but also gave a college look. The primary color of burgundy was inspired by the outfits worn by students of Howerton during their graduation ceremony, giving further connection to the school without being too straightforward. To compliment the primary color, both champagne gold and black were added to give a twist on both the city’s and Howeton’s colors of yellow and black.  

Primary
Rosran’s primary uniform is very dark heavy, dominated by burgundy and black. This can usually come off as intimidating when new teams play the club, but is truly meant to replicate the outfits worn by Howerton graduates. In fact, because of how dark the initial look was, the designers of the uniforms decided to add more gold by changing the number from black to gold and giving the yoke a gold trim. This made the drab, traditional striping pop from the jersey, giving the Graduates a twist on tradition that fit a youth program.  

Clash
The clash jersey is a simple variation of the primary that uses the same striping, but keeps  burgundy on the bottom third to balance the set. The biggest change is the logo on the chest that replaces the grad cap for their old english “R”. Despite the owner's favor towards the primary logo, the change brings less clutter to the chest and has gained a lot of popularity by the players.

AJHFTW wrote:

That Graduates jerseys set is very classy, not too much, not too little, just right!

I appreciate the kind words. Rosran is a team in the minority that I am satisfied with in all categories. I am not sure how far many get into the stories (god knows some are novels), but I felt Rosran's history can really be seen in their sets. They also break the blue theme built by the region, making the burgundy feel refreshing and eye catching, even though it is so dark. I had put a good amount of time into the grad cap logo making it as collegiate feeling as possible, but after it was done I tried the stand alone "R" and felt it was just as strong. I am torn though because the cap was all me with inspiration from HC Dukla Jihlava, while the R is just a font with an outline.

Would love to hear the thoughts on the logo situation from the board's perspective. Also would enjoy to hear anything, good or bad, about the other teams that have come out recently. It is quiet around the site right now so I hope all are having a great holiday season!