IceHL celebrates special week with inaugural ABC Cup

ABC Cup logo designed by Matt McElroy

The IceHL is bringing fantasy hockey into the realm of real-world philanthropy by hosting a unique charity game this week.

The current match-up between the Philadelphia Aces and Baltimore Blue Crabs, dubbed the ABC Cup, is being played in honor of Ronald McDonald House Charities' 40th anniversary.

The organization was founded in Philadelphia, the home of the Aces fantasy hockey franchise, in 1974 "to create, find and support programs that directly improve the health and wellbeing of children."

Aces GM Chad Waters will join Icethetics and the IceHL in making special donations to Ronald McDonald House chapters in their areas. 

The IceHL's Ronald McDonald House donation!

All Icethetics readers and IceHL fans are encouraged to donate to Ronald McDonald House or any charity of their choice this week!

The IceHL's ABC Cup is designed to be an annual event between the Aces and Blue Crabs.

Philadelphia Aces ABC Cup theme jersey designed by Matt McElroy

Of course this wouldn't be Icethetics if there weren't logo and jersey designs involved somehow. During this special match-up between the Aces and Blue Crabs, both teams have a special patch on their jerseys and the Aces have a special theme jersey for the occasion.

A recent contest yielded these fantastic designs, both by Matt McElroy. The contests were decided by the newly formed IceHL Design Council, of which Matt is a member — but don't worry, he didn't cast any votes for himself.

Design Council Results

The new Design Council is made up of seven votes — four independent council members, the IceHL commissioner and the Icethetics community, which gets two votes. Because Matt entered artwork into both contests, he recused himself from voting this time around.

ABC Cup Logo

Matt McElroy's design earned 5 council votes while the other 2 went to Colin Magee.

Aces ABC Cup Jersey

Each member of the Council was asked to make two jersey selections, resulting in a total of 14 votes cast. With Matt recused, his two votes went to the community, which went from 4 to 6.

Matt's jersey picked up 6 votes. The runner-up was Brendan Anderson with 4 votes. Colin Magee earned 3 votes and Christian Legault got 1 vote from the Council.

Check back later for a detailed account of how each Design Council vote was cast in both contests.

Up next, the IceHL will hold a new design contest for the Evergreen Cup in Week 10.