Oklahoma City Man’s Design Wins Kalamazoo Wings Fan Designed Jersey Contest

We have a winner. A few weeks back we talked about how the Kalamazoo Wings were looking for fans to design jerseys to be worn on New Years Eve in 2021. There were lots of submissions, but ultimately a record number of people put their vote for a man who isn't even from Kalamazoo and had to research the city before starting the design. Kristopher Kern is no stranger to having his jersey designs featured on hockey players, as a recent design of his made it onto Goaltender Antti Raanta of the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes.

The winning design highlights Portage's Air Zoo, which Kern says was most closely associated with Kalamazoo. He told the KWings just how he was inspired to pursue the contest:

Get our free mobile app

When I saw the contest this year, I started doing some research on Kalamazoo. The aeronautical museum Air Zoo was one of the first things that stuck out because it was a pretty close association with the team name and the city nickname of ‘The Zoo. I’m passionate about sports design and hockey design has always been something of a hobby. To have it go from a sketch on a Post-It note to a design concept to something that will have a much broader appeal and have an impact on a charitable level is amazing.

Since Kern was chosen as the winner he'll get tickets to the Dec. 31 game against the Tulsa Oilers, a K-Wings Fan Experience, and the opportunity to be the Puck Dropper of the Game, along with a personalized specialty jersey that night with a custom name and number.