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Macon Mayhem to Become “Ocmulgee River Monsters” For One Night, Unveil New Unis

The Macon Mayhem are a minor league hockey team who play in the SPHL (formerly known as the “Southern Professional Hockey League”), located in Macon, Georgia. If you’re interested in the full history of the team, click here. The Mayhem were born as the Augusta Riverhawks, and the team relocated to Macon and were renamed the “Mayhem” in 2014.

You may recall the Mayhem unveiled new uniforms last fall, celebrating “10 Years of Mayhem.” Building upon that, the Mayhem will hold a “Rebrand Night,” which is this Saturday (February 1, 2025), and will don an alternate brand identity for one game only. For that game, the Mayhem will be turning into the Ocmulgee River Monsters for the night.

About 10 days ago, the Mayhem announced the change with a hype video, in which their new logo was revealed.

The new logo will serve as the crest for the jersey of Saturday night’s game against the Thunderbolts.

“We wanted to keep the new identity locally based for our fans to have something to be tied to and excited about for this rebrand night,” said Graham Tuck, Media Relations and Broadcasting Coordinator for the Mayhem. “The Ocmulgee River runs straight through the middle of the city, and is immediately recognizable for anyone in the Macon area. The logo itself needed to be noticeably different from anything Mayhem related as well, same thing with the uniforms. Hence the shift from black and blue, to green and darker green.”

The team unveiled the special uniforms to be worn for the game. Let’s take a look:

The River Monsters will have green jerseys and socks, with black breezers. The jerseys feature a lighter green shoulder yoke with a white outline. The collar is a light blue, while white TV numbers, outlined in blue and light green, adorn the upper sleeves. Sleeves, hem and socks all feature three stripes — which are light green, white with thin blue outline, and light green. You’ll notice that all the colors shown on the special new logo are featured on the jersey.

The rear of the jersey has a green nameplate featuring NOB in white block letters. Uniform numbers are white, and have a double outline of light blue and light green.

The shoulders carry a secondary logo.

“The logo on the shoulder is the new logo of the Muscogee Nation,” said Tuck. “They are a Native American nation that’s local to the area. The logo and uniforms were heavily based on their colors as well.”

Additional photos here:

If the style of the new logo is familiar, it’s because Jason Villante is the same person who designed the new Mayhem logo.

“The River Monsters’ identity depicts a formidable creature rising from the depths, clutching a hockey stick in its jaws,” said Villante. “The uniform pays homage to Muscogee Nation, incorporating symbols that reflect the tribe’s deep ties to nature, strength, and resilience, all brought to life through bold colors and dynamic design.”

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I absolutely love the one-off uniform. Interesingly, I’m not normally a fan of both blue and green (and two shades of green at that) appearing on a uniform, but the light blue is restrained, appearing only as an accent color, and on the collar. I also love the fact that all of the colors in the logo are represented on the uniform. I personally don’t love yokes on uniforms (but that’s just me), but aside from that, this is a great look. The number font isn’t great, but it’s easily readable from distance, so it fulfills the most basic requirement of a uniform.

Overall, a solid uniform!

Your thoughts?

 
  
 
Comments (6)

    When ice hockey first came to Macon in the 1970’s the team was named the Whoopies, and used the popular 1928 ballad as their fight song. Our high school band would play during games.

    I’m generally not a fan of one-off meme identities, but it’s the minor leagues and teams sometimes need to do wacky promotions to fill seats, so I give some leeway there.

    I like these uniforms, though, except for a couple of details. I actually do like blue and green together in a uniform, and I think the black helmets/pants/gloves take away from the look a bit. I’d like to see more of that light blue.

    Also, the crest seems like it’s about 2 inches too high on the sweater. I think it might look better if it was slightly lower, slightly larger, and didn’t have the wording.

    Overall, though, these are pretty cool.

    What a fun uniform, with a great custom logo and complementary honors to the Muscogee Nation. The light blue accents help pull the blue in the river water, and when put with the deep green it offers a Tulane flavor.
    I worked about 100 miles from Macon 18 to 20 years ago, wasn’t blessed financially for making minor-league trips (I don’t think Macon had a hockey team at the time), but such an occasion as this rebrand event would have been inviting.

    If you’re interested in pursuing the SPHL rabbit hole any deeper, check out the Knoxville Ice Bears. They change their uniforms every season, but their color scheme (black, purple, and orange) has never changed, and almost all of their standard uniforms (not counting one-offs) look amazing IMO.

    This “River Monsters” identify is far superior to the generic “Mayhem” branding:
    1) Much, much better logo.
    2) Better colors.
    3) The name and the backstory actually relate to the area.
    4) It’s a plural nickname.
    The chances of me ever watching a hockey game (especially one in Macon) are 0%, but I do know an improvement when I see one.

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