The City of Moncton played host to the American Hockey League for 16 years.
Over that time every single AHL franchise that called the Hub City home endeared themselves to the fans, city and region. Watching future NHL stars lace them was extremely memorable.
Nevertheless, as the years have gone by the iconic logos of each franchise have become etched on the collective soul of every Monctonian that darkened the doors of the Moncton Coliseum.
In some odd way we never really appreciated the team logos as much as we perhaps should have.
Sure we may have had all the merchandise, from mini sticks to pucks, but did the City of Moncton ever truly embrace each franchises design?
In many cases fans were more worried about the product on the ice than the ultra cool radical logos of the time.
The game has drastically changed and so have team logos and names.
The Hawks brand is still as prevalent as in years gone by, but do young upcoming players ever realize or appreciate the history of the game in our great city?
Obviously, several generations of players have grew up on the Wildcats and the QMJHL and that’s perfectly ok, but there is so much more to our hockey history than that.
The AHL embodied the Maritimes, and you might say the reverse was true as well, as the Maritimes embodied the AHL.
For 16 years the region’s hub witnessed the highs and lows of hockey’s top minor professional league.
Over that time we had several franchises come and go, but they certainly did an amazing job marketing and designing arguably some of the most iconic logos in AHL history.
Seriously, you would be hard pressed to top the NB Hawks logo or the Moncton Golden Flames or even the last of Hawks franchises logo even in today’s game.
The Alpines didn’t last too long in Moncton, but that logo has certainly grown on me over the years.
The Wildcats brought back the Hawks logo for one game in the final year of the Coliseum which was definitely special, but in some odd way it certainly rekindled our love affair for simpler times and the AHL.
I’ve never been a big jersey aficionado, but the simpler the logo and colour scheme the more memorable a team’s jersey becomes.
There’s iconic designs and schemes and then there’s those uni’s that just don’t cut it.
I don’t know all of the history or story behind the designers that created the AHL logos sported in Moncton, but we certainly have to thank them now more than ever for leaving us with so many indelible hockey memories.
I would love to share and tell their stories.
Even some two decades after those local stories still matter.
The countless hours of design, imagination and colour schemes has undoubtedly stood the test of time.
Simpler designs, iconic logos and amazing hockey memories. I miss the Moncton Coliseum, I still miss the American Hockey League, but I appreciate the city’s hockey history now more than ever.
Collectively we must share and continue to tell stories about our hockey history.
We all need to close the generational gap when it comes to hockey history in our city.
Iconic logos and amazing players would be a fantastic starting point.
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