European Clubs mimicking NHL jerseys and logos

[Theokritos]

Outside of the NHL. Why not rip-off the logo of Jokerit Helsinki - Adelaide Jokers

I'm not surprised to see this. Jokerit has easily the most iconic logo out of all non-NHL clubs.

 

[filip85]

From 1995-1996 on, this was the alternate logo of the Washington Capitals:

View attachment 352884

(Later it would become the main logo from 2002-2003 to 2006-2007.)

In Germany, a club called Preussen Berlin went through financial troubles and a few renamings in the mid-1990s. In July 1996, the organization was rebranded as the Berlin Capitals. The logo they came up with:

View attachment 352883

Not exactly a copy, but it's obvious that they had the Washington alternate logo in front of them when they "created" this one. The elements are the same (puck, stars, a central nameplate) with slight variations (one stick instead of two, the way the star band and the puck form an almost-line balances out the missing stick; the Capitol building was replaced by a globe).

One spanish team had similiar logo to Caps eagle (?) in fly from 90-s.

 

[Theokritos]

HV71 Blue Bulls

Björklöven Lynx

Good examples.

the following Luleå bear logo was the standard until a couple of seasons ago when they went back to the original logo from the 70s as the main one. I still like it, I grew up with it and as a kid I was proud of my team having a really cool looking, “modern” logo. It’s also quite well thought out, in my opinion, with the “fire” actually symbolizing the Northern lights and the snowflakes putting an extra emphasis on just how freakishly far north we’re from.

It's one of the very best NA-style logos in Europe for sure, one of the few worth keeping.

KHL Teams do it with jerseys too

The newer Magnitogorsk logo isn't a copy of an NHL logo, but clearly an attempt at Americanization and it's needless and cringeworthy as hell to me.

 

[vorky]

Sibir Novosibirsk. A few pictures of their jerseys here & here.

Hockey started in Novosibirsk after WWII, earlier they played bandy. Several clubs played in the city in the 1950s, the strongest being Dynamo & Khimik. In 1962, both clubs merged & Sibir was created as a successor. The new club used a snowflake in the logo.

In mid-1960s the club used "Canadiens logo." There is a legend (in blog) claiming that a hockey referee Karandin brought Montreal´s merchandising from some international hockey tournament. And someone in Sibir realised "Club de Hockey Canadien = Сибирь Новосибирск" I have no clue if a legend is true, just the blog claims it.

In 1984 Sibirs used a snowflake again for a short period of time. Later, Montreal´s logo again.

In 1993-1995 Sibir had another logo, the blog claims that jersey was similar to Edmonton (see a photo in source above).

After 2000 they used another logo. Pictures in link above.

Current logo is

E: Karandin story was earlier written by another poster.

 

[MadArcand]

The infamous Slovan Bratislava ripped off the Penguins:

Even more hilarious is Senica copying Sens:

They used to call themselves Knights (Rytiers), but they made a typo in the name and ended up calling themselves Asswipes (Ritiers). Not kidding. Unfortunately Google doesn't help me to find their old logo...

 

[Robert Gordon Orr]

Very much in-your-face. You'd expect that from the 1960s or 1970s when there was less global exposure, but nowadays? How is this not copyright infringement?

Let us not forget some of the other teams in the UK.

Peterborough Pirates (yes, that's Garry Unger in the middle).

Fife Flyers (from Scotland)

Ayr Bruins (Also from Scotland)

Streatham Redskins - The almost identical jersey was also worn by Whitley Warriors

 

[vorky]

Gornyak Uchaly in the VHL a few years ago. Now, they have a different logo

 

[MadArcand]

Gornyak Uchaly in the VHL a few years ago. Now, they have a different logo

Rögle BK would like to join the party:

 

[Robert Gordon Orr]

It's well known that the Montreal Canadiens were probably the NHL team most adored and idolized by European hockey followers in the 1960s and 1970s. However, I wasn't aware that some European clubs went as far as even wearing 'Canadiens jerseys' (very similiar to what the NHL Canadiens wore) during that time. Photos I have stumbled across recently show that HC La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland) and Sibir Novosibirsk (Soviet Union) actually used such jerseys as their regulars.

1) HC La Chaux-de-Fonds
Located in the francophone part of Switzerland, similiar to the Canadiens in Quebec. It was easy to connect the name La Chaux-de-Fonds with the CH logo of the Montreal Canadiens.

Another Swiss club, Fribourg-Gotteron have a similar logo.

 

[Sanf]

This may have been thing in other countries too. Never done research.

In the late 60´s early 70´s Helsinki (and some other cities) started to play junior hockey league between different neighbourhoods of the cities. The leagues were often called Kanada sarja (Canada Series) or korttelikiekko. The junior teams directly took the names from NHL clubs. For example Jari Kurri started "organized" hockey in Toronto Maple Leafs of Vuosaari. (With quick googling I guess Vuosaaren Toronto may still exist in some form in veteran hockey).

Some of those "unofficial" clubs later became official clubs. Atleast one still exist as Helsinki Red Wings.

Old logo

Photo from Canada Series team from Rovaniemi (1974 apparently). Kids representig Pittsburgh Penguins

In many forms these still exists, but the names atleast directly (full names) aren´t from NHL clubs. Personally I have represented Philadelphia

 

[iamjs]

 

[alko]

From 1995-1996 on, this was the alternate logo of the Washington Capitals:

View attachment 352884

(Later it would become the main logo from 2002-2003 to 2006-2007.)

In Germany, a club called Preussen Berlin went through financial troubles and a few renamings in the mid-1990s. In July 1996, the organization was rebranded as the Berlin Capitals. The logo they came up with:

View attachment 352883

Not exactly a copy, but it's obvious that they had the Washington alternate logo in front of them when they "created" this one. The elements are the same (puck, stars, a central nameplate) with slight variations (one stick instead of two, the way the star band and the puck form an almost-line balances out the missing stick; the Capitol building was replaced by a globe).

Bratislava Capitals

Prešov Penguins

 

[Theokritos]

(...)

Good one. Germany is one of the European countries that has gone full North America from the mid-1990s on.

Frankfurter SC → Frankfurt Lions (1994)
Schwenninger ERC → Schwenninger Wild Wings (1994)
SB DJK Rosenheim → Starbulls Rosenheim (1994)
EC Kassel → Kassel Huskies (1994)
EC Hedos München → Maddogs München (1994)
ESC Wedemark → Wedemark Wildcats (1994), Wedemark Scorpions (1996)
EHC Nürnberg → Nürnberg Ice Tigers (1995)
BSC Preussen → Preussen Devils (1995), Berlin Capitals (1996)
Düsseldorfer EG → DEG Metro Stars (2001, dropped in 2011)
EV Landshut → Landshut Cannibals (2002)

 

[Robert Gordon Orr]

Good one. Germany is one of the European countries that has gone full North America from the mid-1990s on.

Frankfurter SC → Frankfurt Lions (1994)
Schwenninger ERC → Schwenninger Wild Wings (1994)
SB DJK Rosenheim → Starsbulls Rosenheim (1994)
EC Kassel → Kassel Huskies (1994)
EC Hedos München → Maddogs München (1994)
ESC Wedemark → Wedemark Wildcats (1994), Wedemark Scorpions (1996)
EHC Nürnberg → Nürnberg Ice Tigers (1995)
BSC Preussen → Preussen Devils (1995), Berlin Capitals (1996)
Düsseldorfer EG → DEG Metro Stars (2001, dropped in 2011)
EV Landshut → Landshut Cannibals (2002)

Speaking of Germany. I'm going a bit off-track here. One of the more bizarre sponsorship deals was the German club ECD Iserlohn, using Libyan politician/dictator Muammar Gadaffi's "Green Book" on their jerseys in 1987. The club was in financial difficulties and got this unexpected "help" from Libya. Needless to say that this did not go over very well with the German Ice Hockey Federation, and I believe the jersey was only used for one game. Two jerseys have survived. One is in an ice hockey museum and the other in the German Hockey Hall of Fame. It's a highly sought after collectors item today.

Those were the days when something 'whacky" like this could happen.
Apparently when the Iserlohn owner Heinz Weifenbach flew to Libya and met with Gaddafi, the dictator asked what the name of the tennis club was that he was sponsoring. He most likely had never heard about ice hockey.

 

[Theokritos]

Those were the days when something 'whacky" like this could happen.

I'm not sure what was more misguided: The club accepting that sponsorship or Gaddafi believing German sports fans would buy his Socialist-Arab-Islamic theory of the world...
A little irony: In the Green Book, Gaddafi speaks out against spectator sport. ("The thousands who crowd stadiums to view, applaud and laugh are foolish people who have failed to carry out the activity themselves.")

 

[MartyMarts]

The guy in the second picture looks like young Robert De Niro

 

[Robert Gordon Orr]

The guy in the second picture looks like young Robert De Niro

Yeah, he does. That's René Huguenin, captain of La Chaux-de-Fonds

 

[iamjs]

Bratislava Capitals

Prešov Penguins

I believe that secondary Penguins logo was a prototype that was designed by the same people who created by the hummingbird/robopenguin. A number of designs were released in the last year or so, and I think that one was on it.