Today, the Central Hockey League announced it’s dipping its toe into Canadian waters. If all goes well, a Brampton, O.N. team, slated to start play in 2013-2014, will be the 12th team to join up.
What the hell is the Central Hockey League, you might ask? A group of mostly Southern U.S. teams that, if the league’s web site is to be believed, actually do quite well at the gate, thank you very much. Where Brampton fits on that hockey map, I don’t know. Maybe they’re planning on adding a handful of more northern squads. Anyways, on the same day as the announcement, the league applied to trade mark its logo here in hockey country.
Speaking of Southern U.S. hockey teams, remember the New Orleans Brass of the ECHL? Apparently there’s a core of fans in New Orleans that still does, and continues to pine for hockey. This could just be a former team owner locking down an old trade mark, but the former owner of the team has revived his claim to the logo. It was published for opposition yesterday.
More on the hockey theme. The Carolina Hurricanes have a really bizarre team mascot. His name is Porky the Thunder Pig or something, and they feel the need to protect his likeness.
The best part of that is the fact there’s an actual standard trade mark code for “costumed bovines.”
Here’s one last hockey mark. You know, back when I played minor hockey, our logos were REALLY fancy. As in, I don’t know, the colour blue. Here’s the logo for a minor hockey association in Dayton, Ohio:
Just an FYI – the pig mascot for the Carolina Hurricanes is a nod to the smaller, rural communities which surround Raleigh, which collectively represent among the largest producers of bacon and other pork products nationwide.