World Cup of Hockey logo hints at controversial trophy’s return

The World Cup of Hockey tournament’s jerseys and initial rosters were announced on Wednesday, including the official logo for the tournament:

Well, we’ve got a nice font, and some maple leafs  and some pucks and it appears they got the year correct. But if you’re wondering what that Colors of Benetton Sea Cucumber is in the middle of the logo … well, it appears that the World Cup Trophy is coming back with the World Cup.

In 2004, world-renowned designer and hockey fan Frank Gehry was commissioned with reinventing the World Cup trophy. From MapleLeafs.com:

The trophy is comprised of four components: a base, pedestal, cup and shell.  It's made from a composite alloy of copper and nickel as well as solid cast urethane. The pedestal and base provide support or a "stage" for the shell and cup. The cup sits inside the trophy and is removable from the top of the shell for engraving and display purposes. The shell is made of an array of twisted rectangular shapes sitting on end that are reminiscent of skate marks in the ice. Water-clear urethane was used to give the trophy an 'ice-like' appearance and Stereo Lithography Apparatus (SLA) was used to precisely shape the components into a multi-dimensional puzzle.   

"I've seen all of the [NHL] trophies," he said.  "They are all very traditional.  I think the one thing about the first World Cup of Hockey trophy is that it broke from tradition and it opened the door for us to do a new one."

As with any break in tradition, it was met with some derision.

The reviews:

"But this odd-shaped partially-translucent overweight uninspiring vase is not one of his signal accomplishments. In a world: blah. Another? Yuck. And that’s my scientific, highly aesthetically informed analysis." – John Koetsier in 2004

“When Gehry pulled the covering off the trophy, it was like someone had tugged the burlap bag off the Elephant Man. … Given the chance, the more generous among us would have reached into our computer bags, handed Frank Gehry a golf ball and told him ‘No problem, Frank. Just hit another one.’ Ugly. Man, that sucker is ugly. Two-and-a-half feet of swirling plastic and metal, it is kind of tulip-shaped with two halves joined in the middle. It looks like a pair of martini shakers mating. To all you kids out there flunking Grade 10 shop, go minimalist.” – Mike Ulmer of the Toronto Sun

“Describing Gehry's vision became somewhat of a sport itself after the trophy was unveiled in May. Newspapers compared his creation to everything from a blender to a vase. Fans were no more forgiving, saying the trophy resembled a squashed beer keg or two mating jellyfish impaled by a trombone.” – Nicole MacIntyre

“Lemieux posed with the trophy and held it at half mast, near his shoulders, before taking the initial victory lap with it. The first thing virtually every player does with the Stanley Cup is kiss it. The World Cup trophy, though, remained unkissed.

“Once it found its way into the Team Canada dressing room, the trophy became popular for photo and memory seekers. But the trophy's resting place was on the floor, along with a crumpled up Canadian flag and a crunched up beer can. And still no one kissed it.” – Mark Zwolinski

Time will tell if the NHL has brought back the original trophy for the new World Cup. Perhaps they’ve added the colors from the logo. Perhaps they’ll just reference it in the logo and go with a trophy that doesn’t look like a menage a trois of jellyfish.

Or as this gif notes:

Indeed.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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