The Niverville Nighthawks are entering the MJHL in a big way with the release of its official team logo.
The team’s board of directors appointed Ray Dowse to take the lead with the team-naming initiative and logo design, in collaboration with its head coach and general manager, Kelvin Cech.
In mid-November, the team-naming initiative kicked off when the board of directors went in search of public feedback. A shortlist of names was selected from hundreds of initial submissions, and an online poll was conducted to help with the final decision.
Immediately following the selection of the name—the Niverville Nighthawks—the team had less than two months to come up with the logos and colour scheme, since the equipment order for pants, gloves, and helmets needed to be sent off to its supplier by March 15, as well as practice and spring camp jerseys.
With a firm and relatively short timeline in front of the Nighthawks, a collaborative approach was initiated for this next step.
Being a community team, the Nighthawks tested out multiple colour schemes with its final logos to gather feedback from an informal public focus group of around 100 people. The board of directors used the information that was collected as part of its final decision-making process.
For the actual design of the logos, the team hired Brooks Freeman Design out of Virden, which has an impressive history working with hockey logos and uniforms, including the Prince Albert Raiders, Brandon Wheat Kings, Virden Oil Capitals, and most recently Neepawa Titans rebrand.
“I poured through different sports logos and pictures of birds or hawks online to provide our designers with ideas and try to determine the look and feel we were trying to capture for our team,” says Ray Dowse. “We were really looking for something that would connect with both the players and community as a whole.”
Prolific sports logo designer Brooks Freeman noted that the design process went quite smoothly overall for this project.
“We started by trying out a couple of different types of hawk logo variations, such as a full body side view, top view, and also some focusing more on the head or the wings of a hawk,” recalls Freeman. “Eventually, we landed on a three-quarters view of a hawk head inside the shield. Having an N or NN with the hawk was also a request, and I found a way to discreetly sneak the letters NN into the body of the hawk. The tone of the logo is meant to be bold, fierce, and menacing.”
He adds that the secondary logo went through quite a few variations.
“The team wanted to do a simpler letter logo that would appear well on merchandise and be instantly recognizable,” Freeman continues. “The letters NN were put together in quite a few ways, but I ended up going with a baseball logo-inspired intercrossed NN that I felt would look good as both a shoulder patch and on the front of a hat or shirt. This logo has sharp edges and tries to capture the same tone as the primary logo so that the two feel like they complete each other when placed together on a jersey.”
The colour scheme went through many different ideas throughout the project. In the end, Freeman was very pleased with the final product.
“The team knew they wanted to do something very unique to not just the MJHL, but hockey in general,” says Freeman. “We tried a couple of versions with different shades of purples, greys, blues, and reds before settling on the navy, red, grey, and yellow. This bold colour scheme is sure to stand out, and I think it really helps the logos and jerseys become more appealing.”
In addition to Freeman’s work, the Nighthawks were fortunate that multiple designers and the general public reached out to the team right at the beginning to offer up ideas and rough preliminary designs to help determine a direction to go in with the logo.
“We want to give special thanks to Dustin Krahn of Excel Graphics in Niverville, as well as Scott Stroh. They both came up with some exceptional visual concepts at the beginning of the process,” says Dowse. “Our head coach and general manager Kelvin Cech has a jersey software program, and he was keen to work and help with the development of the overall uniform incorporating different colour schemes and plans. As logos were developed by our designers, Kelvin would draft numerous uniforms head to toe to give us a feel of what a logo would look like incorporated into a uniform and with the colours in the logo.”
“I’m a bit biased, but I think it’s the best logo in the whole world. It represents us and our town very well,” adds Kelvin Cech. “All of a sudden, this feels very real. We have a name and a distinct look, as that hawk is very menacing and mean, very proud and bold. We’re stoked.”
When Freeman completed the final hawk logo, the board of directors knew right away that they’d attained the look they were hoping for.
“The secondary logo or arm patch concept actually came from my son, Max, who just turned 14,” says Dowse. “I was pouring over ideas, and he told me to check out what a lot of the players on his hockey team were wearing for apparel.”
Max Dowse says that he was inspired by the logos he saw on baseball hats, particularly with Major League Baseball logos.
“I saw that most of the logos were just the main letters of the team name in different fonts and designs,” says Max. “I also figured out that some of the NCAA hockey teams, like the North Dakota Fighting Hawks, had N and D as their logo. So I used these ideas and helped create the double-N logo for the Niverville Nighthawks.”
After hand-drawing a logo, his father sent his work to Brooks, who then came back with the double-N design that received immediate board approval.
“Max was pretty excited that his drawing turned into part of the team uniform!” says Dowse.
What’s next for the Nighthawks? The jerseys.
The club is currently working through all the small details with its jersey plan and anticipates it being completed within the next three weeks. The goal is to release the complete uniform design to the public within the next month to six-week range.
“It has been a great journey thus far,” says Clarence Braun, spokesperson for the team’s board of directors. “The board has been hard at work, and we have developed a good cohesive team. From the granting of the franchise back in July of 2021 to the hiring of staff, completing the naming portion, and now the logo and jersey reveal, the time has gone by quickly. We’re excited for the dash to opening day in September 2022.”
In addition to all the work on the logo and jerseys, head coach and general manager Kelvin Cech has been keeping himself plenty busy as of late with lots of Zoom calls with potential recruits.
“My director of scouting Mike McAulay and I have been turning over every rock looking for kids who have character and compete,” says Cech. “And slowly but surely, it’s coming together. We don’t want to rush anything as we want to be sure to bring the right people to the town. So far, so good!”
