No Disney Involvement

There have been a slate of creative, fantistical names given to recent minor professional hockey teams, and some of these are good while others could use some tweaking. For every Savannah Ghost Pirates franchise, there's a Tahoe Knight Monsters franchise. Of course, we can chat about the Henderson Silver Knights, the Grand Rapids Griffins, and the Coachella Valley Firebirds as being more fantasy than real-life creatures, but today's announcement for the ECHL's 30th franchise might be the first one to involve statues.

Sticking with that theme of fantasy creatures, the new Greensboro, North Carolina franchise announced their team name today, and the Greensboro Gargoyles will break free from their perches atop buildings in the greater Greenboro area to hit the ice in the evenings! I'll be honest in saying that I don't know how many gargoyles are part of the Greensboro skyline, but gargoyles were normally seen on things like castle and cathedrals throughout history as people believed their presence would frighten away evil spirits. Thanks to the Disney cartoon, they have more heroic traits than being monsters, but the idea of the stone creatures coming to life as night falls is a far more recent development in the history of the gargoyle.

Gargoyles were originally designed in 13th-century French architecture as a means of removing water from roofs and flat surfaces before eavestroughs were a thing. The gargoyle was simply the architectural addition to the pipe or spout used for runoff of water, and they were a key addition to the Cathedral de Notre Dame where they not only hid the spouts where water was kept off the sides of the cathedral, but they were seen as creatures who prevented evil spirits from settling in the building. It should be noted that no two gargoyles are designed to be alike, giving each one its own unique look and "personality". Architecture is pretty cool!

Historical aspects aside, tonight's unveiling saw the newest team unveil its new colours as the Greensboro Gargoyles will wear Gargoyle Grape, Greensboro Gold and Midnight. I'm not a fan of naming colours like Victory Green and Gargoyle Grape, so we'll have to see what the Pantone colours turn out to be in the next few days. I like the wordmark seen below despite it feeling very Disney feel, and my hope is that it can be incorporated into the jersey in some way.

The logo, shown above, is cartoonish enough for a good mascot to be created from it, and there are enough elements to make the arena experience fun. I imagine Halloween games will kick things up a notch or two, but the potential for good merchandise and good concessions to be created from the name and logo is certainly there. According to the release, "[t]he logo was created by The Barn Creative" and the name was selected from "community input, including submissions from over 2,000 fans."

A quick reminder that Zawyer Sports & Entertainment own the team and will run the franchise, but it was announced today that the Spittin' Chiclets group - Paul Bissonnette, Ryan Whitney, Mike Grinnell, and Keith Yandle - have bought a portion of the ownership stake in the franchise. I'm not saying that this new part-ownership group will steer decisions made by Zawyer Sports & Entertainment, but expect the Gargoyles to get a lot of chatter on Spittin' Chiclets whenever those four can plug the franchise.

For those interested, the Gargoyles' website is already up, and the team store has limited offerings at this time for merchandise. Deposits for season tickets are already being accepted by the club as they look to fill the 22,000-seat First Horizon Coliseum in October.

I'll admit this name is growing on me after kicking it around for a few hours. I'm not sold on potential cheers suggested on Reddit that can urge the players on, but the imagery and the colours work well for hockey. The franchise now has nine months to get ready before the Gargoyles rise in Greensboro where we'll see if they fly high!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!