They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and that is certainly the case for the Hearst Lumberjacks.
The team will hit the ice for its inaugural season as part of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League this fall, and they’ll be doing so while paying homage to the town’s most famous hockey son, Claude Giroux.
The new Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League team released its official logo earlier this week, and it’s a pretty awesome tribute to Philadelphia Flyers captain and proud Hearst native Claude Giroux:
The similarities go far beyond the Flyers colour scheme. In addition to including Giroux’s signature red beard and flowing locks, the club’s design team also incorporated Giroux’s official brand logo—the stylized No. 28, comprised of the number two with a stacked “C” and “G”—in the form of a tattoo-like mark on the Lumberjack’s right arm.
Giroux has helped the team financially after new ownership announced it would be relocating the Iroquois Falls Eskis to the small Northern Ontario town with a population of 5,000 people. He will also be a special advisor to the team, but did not have any input in the actual logo or design.
“As a tribute to Claude, because we’re not shy about this — Claude did give us a hand in contributing to the team — so we just wanted to thank him, and that was our way of saying thanks to Claude,” Lumberjacks president Patrick Vaillancourt told The Timmins Daily Press earlier this week.
“His financial support to the team is one of the reasons we have a team now in Hearst, and we really, really appreciate what Claude did for the town.”
The backdrop of five trees is also a local tie-in, as it serves as a tribute to Giroux’s childhood minor hockey team, the Hearst Lumber Kings.
“He’s a very, very busy guy,” said Vaillancourt. “Having Claude Giroux is great, he’s very busy, but he’s always available if we need help.”
(Logo photo via the Hearst Lumberjacks’ Facebook page.)
[relatedlinks]
