Best WHL Logo: Swift Current Broncos!

BRONCOS NAMED CHAMPION!

Congratulations go out to the Swift Current Broncos logo for being named by the voters here at ToHL as the best in the Western Hockey League! So in case you were ever wondering which WHL logo was the best, now you know!

The Broncos defeated the Saskatoon Blades with 54% of the more than 600 votes. Thanks go out to everyone who cast a vote. Broncos fans, enjoy your bragging rights!

Up next, we'll be deciding on the Ontario Hockey League's best logo on our way to determining the best in the entire CHL! The new polls will start being posted at some point this week.

Housekeeping For ToHL

Just keeping you guys up to date on the blog. I've posted the bracket for the WHL tournament as you can see. The awkward number of teams has forced a strange situation on that bracket. It was created completely randomly so there's no bias going on. (Not that there would be anyway as I don't have any interest in these leagues whatsoever.)

So here's the deal. The team at the top of each side gets a bye in the first round. Then you'll notice the logo that wins in the first poll of the second round on each side gets a bye in the third — going straight to the fourth round. So there's a lot of room for quick advancement. Just remember that all we're determining is the BEST logo. Not the second best or the third best...

You'll also notice the schedule is up in the sidebar. It shows you when each poll will open and when it will close. At the moment, the have no links on account of my laziness. That may or may not change.

Finally, if you've been over to NHLToL today, you might've noticed the new logo champion banners I've hung in the sidebar. I'll be doing the same right here for the AHL's Moose and the ECHL's Thunder very soon.

That's all for now. Cougars and Pats tomorrow. Happy voting!

UPDATE (3/15 10:00 AM): I've been thinking about it and I want to try something different. There's this illusion that the way the bracket is set up is unfair because it allows for the possibility of one logo getting two byes in the same tournament. Really it doesn't matter since we're determining the lone best and not a ranking, but just to try something new, I'm moving the third round bye to the bottom of the bracket.

For example, this is how the old bracket looked.



And here is the new bracket.



So now the winner at the bottom of the second round will get an automatic bye to the fourth round. Make sense? If not, oh well. It's really not that complicated and maybe it's unnecessary, but my thought is it might avoid us seeing the same logos in the tournament more often than is reasonable.

WHL Logo Pool

Nearly 700 votes were cast in the poll to determine which CHL league would be first in the series logo tournaments. The majority of you chose the WHL. Here are the 22 logos that will be used in this tournament, which starts tomorrow.







I tried to match all of the logos to each team's official web site. So they should all be accurate. However, minor league teams can be difficult in terms of logos. If you find any inaccuracies, make your case in the comments below. If we can catch a mistake before polls are posted, the logos can be corrected. Once a logo appears in a poll, I cannot make any changes.

Enjoy the WHL Tournament of Logos!

WHL Tourney Starts Tomorrow!

You, the readers, have spoken! The Western Hockey League will begin our CHL series of logo tournaments. The WHL edged out the OHL by 10 votes. The first poll of the WHLToL opens on Friday. And just to tease you a bit, I'll tell you the Brandon Wheat Kings and Calgary Hitmen will kick things off.

I'll try to get the bracket and poll schedule posted early in the afternoon. (No promises, though.) I'm developing the bracket right at this moment. With 22 teams, it'll be tricky, but I'm not concerned. I will, by the way, have the WHL logo pool posted tonight.

Now with these minor league teams, it's sometimes hard to tell what logo is their primary versus secondary, for instance. So take a look at the pool when I post it and lodge any objections you may have in the comments. If enough people take issue with a certain logo and present a decent enough argument, I'll consider changing it. But no changes will be made after a poll is posted.

Tight Race For Next Tournament

Looks like a tight race between the OHL and WHL right now. Be sure to get your votes in if you haven't done so yet. The poll closes Thursday afternoon. And the new tournament will begin on Friday! Also, I'm going to have some minor league concept art here just like at NHLToL pretty soon so keep an eye out for that.

Vote For CHL Tourney Order

Just a brief note here. We've got three leagues to cover with the CHL so you can help decide in what order we do them. In the sidebar is a poll that will be open for two weeks. Cast a vote for the league of your choice. The league with the most votes will go first. The league with the fewest will go last. Your choices are OHL, QMJHL and WHL. Vote now!