Time For A Change

No, I'm not quitting this blog despite the popularity of the idea. It's been over twelve years since I started this blog, and over the years I've heard countless people tell me that I need to update the blog banner at the top. Whether it be "the logos are wrong" or "that team no longer exists," there were at least a handful of people each year who contacted me to let me know that my blog's banner was a little outdated. While I'd never publicly agree, it was true - the banner was outdated with the likes of the Atlanta Thrashers logo and the lack of Vegas' logo being the obvious two changes needed. As I promised earlier this summer, changes were coming to this space, and one of them was enacted today with a major change.

If you follow the advice in the lede photo, you'll likely notice a new banner! The new banner is actually a GIF of four separate banners that I've tied together to make one complete banner. You can view the four banners as they cycle through on their rotation. You can probably decipher what each banner is, but I will explain how I came to including the 64 teams shown on the banner.

The first banner is all the NHL Western Conference teams with the Pacific Division on the left half and the Central Division on the right half. As you can see, things worked out pretty nicely with Seattle named as the 32nd NHL team, and I've included the colours of their current website as their team colours on their name bar. Could that change? Possibly. They also won't be part of the Central Division, so expect the banner to change slightly within the next two seasons. When Seattle and the NHL make their changes, I'll go back and update the banner.

The second banner is all the NHL Eastern Conference teams with the Atlantic Division on the left half and the Metropolitan Division on the right half. There's no real science here other than sixteen teams fit nicely on the banner.

The third banner on the rotation is all the long-term and successful WHA teams or the more interesting WHA teams. New England, Quebec, Winnipeg, and Edmonton are all included as they moved into the NHL during the NHL-WHA merger, and the Houston Aeros, Cincinnati Stingers, Chicago Cougars, and San Diego Mariners were included due to their short-term successes and attraction of NHL players. Indianapolis, Birmingham, Minnesota, and Cleveland were included due to their hockey histories in the WHA, and Calgary, Vancouver, Los Angeles, and New York were included due to personal interest. I had considered other Canadian franchises such as the Ottawa Civics, the Ottawa Nationals, and the Toronto Toros, but they were bumped by these other teams.

The final banner might be one that confuses most, but it's 2019 and there's absolutely zero chance I'm excluding professional women's hockey from this blog considering that I write about it often. The teams seen on the fourth banner made up the original National Women's Hockey League and the Canadian Women's Hockey League. The seven CWHL teams - including the Vanke Rays before they merged with Shenzhen - are all included on there along with some of the more memorable teams from the NWHL - Brampton, Burlington, Edmonton, Manitoba, Minnesota, Mississauga, Ottawa, Quebec, and Strathmore. While the league may not be around anymore, just as the WHA left us memories, so did the original NWHL and CWHL.

If you're asking why teams from the new NWHL aren't listed, there are no Canadian franchises in that league. This is Hockey Blog In Canada. If there are no Canadian teams, there's no inclusion. That's how this blog works.

There are Canadian-based franchises on each of the banners with Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg/Manitoba being represented on three of the four banners. The Eastern Conference has the least amount of Canadian teams with just three, but the women's hockey banner has twelve of the sixteen spots occupied by Canadian franchises. If things were to change in the NHL or if a new professional women's hockey league starts up with Canadian franchises, the banners may change. Until then, this blog's banner has been updated for the first time in over twelve years!

This won't be groundbreaking news to anyone but me, and maybe I'm the only person who cares. However, this is one of a handful of changes that are still planned for this blog, so expect to see more before the new NHL season starts.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!