St. John's Fog Devils

Tonight I found one of my favorite new logos and bar none, my favorite hockey mascot.

St. John's, Newfoundland was awarded an expansion franchise by the QMJHL (or LHJMQ for all of you French Canadians)in 2004. After months of contentious negotiations the team finally signed a lease to play at Mile One Stadium for the 2005-2006 season and promptly held a name-the-team contest. The winning entry: The Saint John's Fog Devils. The logo: The dark lord himself. God bless Canada.

If the Fog Devils played in the United States, there is absolutely no way this logo is ever used. The powers that be running the team would never green light a logo with an image of Satan as the primary feature. Play it safe. Shoot for the middle. A sense of humor is overrated. Fierce but cute and non-threatening, that's what they want.

And if they did green light it, the uproar from the churches would make them change their minds in five minutes. It would be an outrage, a slap in the face, a mockery of the church. A false sense of persecution and righteousness would drown out everything else and the owners would have to retreat to something safe like the Dynamo (I know I whined about the 1836. I'm being a bit hypocritical, but they did cave those big weenies).

But this is Canada and they have much more to worry about than the fact that the local hockey team has a devil as their mascot, like not freezing their little toes off. It's a much more laid back and relaxed atmosphere up there, not everything is taken as an affront and an insult. They have a good sense of humor and are able to laugh at themselves. A Newfoundland winter would be very difficult to get through without being able to do so.

So thank you to the owners of the Saint John's Fog Devils for green lighting this wickedly awesome and fun logo and for bringing Scorch into the lives of hockey fans across Newfoundland. I'll be rooting for you to take out the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles and their dull, clipart logo. Go Devils!