The Hockey News' ECAC, WCHA and AHA Jersey Rankings
The Hockey News
Judging sweaters from the U.S. college ranks takes a bit of a different eye, since so many schools follow a similar style. Whereas pros tend to go with logos on the front, colleges favor lettering and numbers. This makes distinguishing them all the more difficult and fonts and color schemes become all the more crucial.
But there are still gems all around in the NCAA, so the jury hashed out its hits and misses, both traditional and new-school.
While logos (last year’s competition) are certainly a big part of the hockey jersey, we also considered shoulder patches, striping and piping – so teams gained and lost points based on those factors. You'll also notice both home and away jerseys are used to represent the teams. Simply put, we took the one we liked best out of the two.
With all that in play, here are the rankings. Click on each thumbnail for a larger picture. Note: Bemidji State is included in the WCHA rankings as they are to enter that conference for the 2010-11 season.
Once you've taken in our top rankings by conference, head over to the voting page to select your favorite help it to move on in the Jersey Tournament that will follow the rankings of each league’s jerseys (find the rankings and tournament schedule on The Hockey News Jersey Rankings and Tournament Central page).
RK. | LOGO | TEAM | THE SCOOP |
1 | Quinnipiac Bobcats | Cool colors, fun logo - looks more pro than varsity | |
2 | Union Dutchmen | We were big fans of having the school's founding year on the front | |
3 | Princeton Tigers | Tigers rep the school's crest in a simple, effective manner | |
4 | St. Lawrence Saints | Saints go big with their logo, result is good | |
5 | RPI Engineers | Love the font and the design | |
6 | Dartmouth Big Green | Dartmouth's green is bold and beautiful | |
7 | Yale Bulldogs | Crisp look to traditional college sweater | |
8 | Brown Bears | Font is nice on diagonal design | |
9 | Clarkson Golden Knights | Knight's helmet is cool, but looks a little lost | |
10 | Harvard Crimson | Shoulder patches save Crimson from relegation | |
11 | Colgate Raiders | Very simple; not much else to say | |
12 | Cornell Big Red | At least Colgate had numbers on front |
RK. | LOGO | TEAM | THE SCOOP |
1 |
Minnesota | Both logo and colors are classic | |
2 |
North Dakota | Enjoy it one last time, Sioux fans | |
3 |
Alaska-Anchorage | Nanooks rep Alaska on shoulder, realistic bear | |
4 |
Michigan-Technological | Huskies soar with baseball-style lettering | |
5 |
St. Cloud State | St. Cloud not far behind Tech | |
6 |
Bemidji State | Beaver in the center wins points | |
7 |
Minnesota State-Mankato | Bold purple looks good on Mavs | |
8 |
Colorado College | Nice stripe behind traditional logo | |
9 |
Minnesota-Duluth | Same colors as rival Gophers | |
10 |
Wisconsin | Expected more from collegiate hockey power | |
11 |
Denver | Too crowded for hockey; almost looks NASCAR |
RK. | LOGO | TEAM | THE SCOOP |
1 |
RIT | The orange is bold, the logo is tight | |
2 |
Holy Cross | 'HC' may as well stand for 'hard core' | |
3 |
Canisius | Cool emblem with nice striping | |
4 |
AIC | AIC's yellow really pops on these sweaters | |
5 |
Air Force | Colors and font both worthy of an armed forces school | |
6 |
Bentley | Shoulder patch elevates this from standard to sweet | |
7 |
Army | Almost Anaheim-esque in color and font | |
8 |
Connecticut | Some see simple and effective, others see boring | |
9 | Mercyhurst Lakers | Whalers' colors were appreciated by jury | |
10 |
Sacred Heart | No slight on Pioneers; this was a competitive conference |
Over the next two months, THN.com will leave the voting on the best jerseys up to you, the reader. To vote for your favorite, click HERE (ECAC, WCHA and AHA jersey voting ends at 9 a.m. EST on Sept. 3). To see ratings from other leagues, visit THN.com's Jersey Rankings and Tournament Central.
