To celebrate their 15th anniversary, the Wheatland Kings are unveiling a new secondary logo and a new goalie helmet for Rhett Harten.
The Kings' new logo was designed by Matthew McElroy"The graphic designer we worked with is Matthew McElroy, he actually does work for the Vegas Golden Knights," Wheatland Kings Marketing and Media Coordinator Cody Holdaway explained.
The new logo was designed from the ground up by McElroy, and Holdaway was incredibly happy to see the result. The care and detail in the crown is evident from the prominent maple leaf in the centre calling back to the original design, and the jewels are shaped like wheat to emphasize that they are the Wheatland Kings.
This new logo will be their secondary logo, meaning most games will still feature the original design but this crown design will be featured for special games and occasions.
"It's actually our 15th season so we're really starting to prepare the branding for the next 15 years, and I think this new design is timeless and it will last our team another 15 years," Holdaway said.
As for the new helmet, Kings' goalie Rhett Harten had it designed by TMKustoms, who has done many helmets for NHL goalies and other athletes like Calgary Wranglers Goalie Dustin Wolf.
"For the design I really wanted to not only represent who I am but also the Wheatland Kings and the communities that I am a part of. For myself, it was important to me that my nickname was on there as well as my idol growing up Miikka Kiprusoff and my childhood dog named Kipper," Harten said.
A lot of thought went into the design, and Harten explained he wanted the helmet to represent many things:
- To represent the Kings, the logo and name is down the middle so it's the centre focus
- Subtle details of farming and wheat connect the Strathmore community and hockey
- The back plate of the helmet has a strong Indigenous theme to highlight Strathmore and Siksika's connection, along with the fact that Harten is Métis
The back of Harten's new helmetOn the back plate, Harten said it's very personal to him with the Indigenous design, alongside adding "Kipper" to represent both his dog and Kiprusoff.
"Being Métis, I really wanted to integrate that into my helmet and dream catchers have always been one of my favourite Indigenous symbols so that’s why I made that the main feature in the middle. MMIWG2S (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and Two-Spirit People) is a topic I have only really learned about in recent years and many still don’t know much about it so I thought by adding it into the design it would raise awareness throughout the whole community."
Beyond the excitement of the new designs, Kings General Manager Lee Smith is looking forward to the team taking a big step forward. Summer skates are starting this week and will go once a week until the main camp at the end of August. He says these summer skates give the team a great opportunity to gel together, especially if potential new skaters join.
"We've been doing really well with recruiting, we do have some kids coming in that we're pretty excited about and we have a pretty good nucleus of guys already so we're really excited for what's coming," Smith said.
Smith added the team is looking for sponsors, for anyone interested you can reach out at wheatlandkingsmedia@gmail.com. You can also DM them through their Facebook page or Twitter.
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Sat, May 18, 6:00 PM
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