The Odd History of Goalie Masks

In this video, we'll take a look at the

history

of goalkeeper

masks

and show off some of the more unique designs. While it's hard to talk about

goalie

masks

without talking about paint jobs, that won't be the focus of this video. We're going to look at the gear itself and show the spectrum of the gear and if you love

goalie

gear and goalie masks be sure to check out the vintage sports jersey store for some awesome designs based on your favorite goalie masks . There is no better place to start this video than from the beginning, in the early days of hockey, the goalie started like any other skater on the ice with no special equipment, early hockey goals didn't even have nets as the sport became more popular. increasingly popular.

Popular, the game became more serious. Goalkeepers began wearing specialized equipment, such as cricket-like leg pads and gloves with extra padding, but most serious players did not see protective face equipment as important since the first documented case of A goalie wearing face protection that I could find was from 1899, in this year we could see the Knack's front goalie, Edgar his Co, or a baseball catcher's mask to protect his nose that was broken in a previous game in the same year, we see goalkeeper Everett Marshall. He also wore a baseball catcher's mask in a game in 1899. Everett Marshall was wearing a baseball mask to protect his eye, as he already lost an eye in a previous game due to a club hitting him in the face despite These risks, most goalkeepers of the time did. not wearing face protection face protection was not a priority for people as there weren't many overhead shots being taken, so while many goalies playing hockey probably didn't feel the need to wear face protection at the time, there are examples documented.

Of the first goalies to wear the baseball catcher mask in games, just take a look at some of these documented examples, Despite all of these examples above, goalie Elizabeth Graham is often credited with being the first goalie to wear a mask when she donned a fencing mask playing for the Queens University women's hockey team in 1927 primarily to protect her teeth; We don't really know what her fencing mask looked like, but here's an example of one made in the 1920s in competitive hockey. The coaches didn't want their goalies to wear anything that would block. their goalkeeping vision and would consider any goalkeeper who wanted to wear a mask to lack courage.

The next well-documented case of a goalie wearing a mask occurred in 1930. Goaltender Clint Benedict, known for often dropping onto the ice to make saves, took several headshots, including a hoe Mor one that broke his cheekbone of his nose and knocked him unconscious when he returned, 6 weeks later, wearing the NHL's first goalie mask, what appeared to be primarily a soccer face shield with striations on the face. Benedict wore the mask for perhaps five more games, but blamed the mask for blocking his vision at the end of the same season. Howi Morance was shot and hit Benedict in the throat, essentially ending his career and the mask was not seen again in the NHL by many.

In the following decades, outside of the NHL, there were a few goalies here and there who experimented with different types of masks in 1915. Boston AA coach Ali Chadwick was known for wearing some type of eye protection while he played. In this newspaper cartoon we can see that the glasses he wore appeared to have been aviator glasses of the time, another type of mask that was worn during this time was a wire mask similar to a catcher's mask that protected only the eyes, some of these were marketed as lacrosse field eye protectors and some companies advertised them as goggle protectors in 1920 outgoing Academy goalie Bill Cantelon were this type of wire protector that covered his eyes and also what appears to be a pair of glasses that he appears to be wearing in 1921 Princeton Gender and team captain G Maxwell also wore a wref shield that covered only his eyes, but he was not the only one on his team to wear this type of mask.

His teammate, defenseman Ew Gould, also wore the eye protection mask in 1930. We see Roy Musgrove wearing the wire face shield. while playing for the University of Manitoba in the Winnipeg Junior League and then again in the late 1930s, when in England playing in the British League for the Wembley Lions at the 1932 Olympics, the goalkeeper for the U.S. team .Franklin Ferrell wore the eye protection mask he played in all six games. That year's US team won the silver medal after being edged out by Team Canada for the gold. One of the most widely documented examples of a goalie wearing a mask occurred in 1936 during the Olympic Games, when Japanese goalie Taii Hamna wore a special mask similar to a baseball. receiver mask the mask had round eyes Ties that matched the shape of the glasses he wore while playing in the late 1940s, a Buie named Don Wiston who played for the Brown University Bears took a puck to his mouth which misaligned his teeth after the team's doctor, George Edward Crane, put his teeth back in place and began looking for a way to protect his face without blocking his vision.

What he found was a company that made football masks out of many different materials, including plastic, so Dr. Drew and sent a mask design and they sent him back a plastic face shield that covered the cheeks, nose, mouth and chin, but left his eyes unobstructed just as the doctor had designed. Wiston became the first collegiate goaltender to wear a mask and it helped him earn MVP honors. In 1951, in the NHL, goaltenders still did not wear masks in games, however, it was a little-known secret that goaltenders of the time wore masks in training and had been doing so for a while, while many coaches did not. they wanted their goalkeepers to wear them. anything that could potentially block your vision in a game, most were okay with a mask in practice, one of the masks that was used in practice was the Louch mask known as a head saer or face shield, the mask was a clear plastic shield with padding and somewhat resembling a welder's mask, but with slits cut into it for breathing, it came in various configurations and was used by multiple NHL goalies in practice.

Here we can see Johnny Bower wearing the mask in 1956. Here we can see Glenn Hall wearing the mask and even Jacqu Plant had a version of the mask that he heavily modified with eye holes and extra padding, but the first mask goalie did not see action in the game until November 1959, when Canadian Golender Jacqu Plant was hit in the face with a puck by Stick of Rangers player Andy. Bathgate Plant was taken to the locker room for stitches and refused to return to the ice without the mask he had been wearing in practice lately. The mask was a fiberglass mask custom made by Bill Burchmore from a mold of Jock Plant's face.

The mask was just right. less than a pound and was 316 inches thick. Toe's plant coach, Blake, reluctantly agreed to let him play in the game with the mask. The plant went undefeated for its next 18 games and proved that the protection and confidence the mask provides outweighs any vision problems. In 1962, another NHL star began wearing a mask, but this time it wasn't a goalie who insisted on wear a mask, but management insisted that their doorman wear one. Detroit Red Wings manager Jack Adams was tired of seeing his star goalie, Terry Sawchuk, get injured, so the Red Wings provided Sawchuk with a mask that was originally made for minor league prospect Dennis Rigan by Red Wings coach Lefty Wilson to wear it in games after Sawchuck started wearing the mask, it eventually began to become a mainstay in the hockey world, so the cloud around the mask goalie. began to rise with the goalie mask being such a new concept, the services of Bill Bmore who made the Plant mask and Lefty Wilson who made the Sawchuk mask were in high demand shortly after making the original Plant mask Bmore changed his technique and no longer used fiberglass sheets. to make a mask, but now he used fiberglass yarn which was easier to contour to the face and allowed them to make protective masks that were lighter and allowed more airflow.

This style of mask began to be known as the pretzel mask for its resemblance to a large pretzel plant even began using the new pretzel mask, but the mask made by Lefty Wilson and other mask makers that began to appear used mainly masks with fiberglass sheets and only cut holes for vision and air circulation, one of the unique masks. What emerged from this era was a mask that was part pretzel mask and part standard mask that was made for Ken Dryden by bmore while he was a goalkeeper at Cornell University several years later, Dryden brought this mask back for a few games in the NHL with the Canadians as the Rose man to have a new custom mask made.

More people tried their hand at mask-making, including former plumber Ernie Higgins, who made his first mask for his wife. Neil Ernie Higgins' greatest contribution to the art of mask making was making the mask. Grounder to cover more of the face, which not only protected the face more but also prevented the masks from moving around as much, which was a problem for early pretzel masks and Lefty Wilson's earlier flatter masks in the early By the 1970s, most masks ordered in the NHL were the newer, rounder masks that covered more of Ernie Higgins' face; However, the face protection landscape was far from settled during this time, goalies wearing masks could choose to wear a simple fiberglass mask, a pretzel-style mask, a mask that combined these two mask styles, the largest round or Higgins mask, and at that time there were still goalkeepers who did not wear any masks, while in North America protection was reduced to the player's choice, many international leagues and tournaments passed rules requiring everyone Players. wearing a helmet or a mask, this led to some strange options being used in international tournaments in 1971.

Swedish goalkeeper CT lson chose to wear just a helmet instead of opting for a goalkeeper mask, as you can imagine this left him quite vulnerable in 1972 Kurt opted to add a Barely There mask to go with his helmet and as you can see it didn't offer much protection and a shot to the face would be dangerous, although it's better than nothing. Furthermore, in 1972, Americans had the opportunity to see Vladislav Treak. use their helmet and cage combination and with great results, take a look at this Cooper catalog from 1972. They tried to sell a little bit of everything to amateur goalies in 1973.

We are starting to see more styles of helmet and cage combinations being used internationally , but these first helmets. The cage combinations were not without their flaws, many of the helmets of the era used soft plastics and most cages did not offer any hearing protection, although vision and airflow can be pleasant. However, the safety of a fiberglass full face mask was tried and true in 1975. Trek used a helmet cage combination that was way ahead of its time, he used a Cooper SK 600 that used a heavier Duty plastic than Most helmets of the time claimed to be comfortable and lightweight and combined it with a Cooper HM30 cage that was made of wire. cage with a cat-eye design that offered great vision but still didn't let a disc pass through the mask.

The hm30 also extended to the ears and provided protection there. The mid 70's saw us experiment with some other interesting goalie setups. including combining a full goalie mask with a hockey helmet, but for the next five years or so, the fiberglass mask would remain the choice of most elite goaltenders in the NHL, including CT Larson, the Swedish goaltender who played with only a helmet, switched to a full fiberglass mask when he moved to play professional hockey in North America, fiberglass masks also took a leap in quality during this time, masks now Not only did they cover more of the face and wrap better, but they also began to incorporate strategically placed ridges. that would divert the energy from the Puck instead of supporting all thePuck's Force mask manufacturing weight also became big business and the mask began to be mass produced.

The NHL goalie who wore the original mask got into the business of selling goalie masks on a massive scale with fibos sport alone fibro sport producing 8,000 masks a year other mask makers like Michelle leev added new innovations such as long extensions to protect the neck area, but it wasn't just mask manufacturers who made great innovations in the goalkeeper mask. The goalies themselves left their marks on their masks and the first goalie to wear a custom decorated mask was Bruins goalie Jerry Chers one day at practice after taking a high shot. Chers pretended to be hurt by the shot so he could shoot. out of practice, he lifted the ice and went into the locker room to relax.

The story goes that Bruin trainer Harry Cinden walked in and saw Chers relaxing with a cigarette while he watched the horse racing odds and immediately forced him back on the ice for the rest of the time. The Bruins team had a good laugh over the fact that Chever had been roped in for extra laughs. Bruin coach Frosty Foresta gave him a 10-stitch wound in the area where the soft shot had hit Chever in practice. From that day forward, Chever added a point to his mask every time he shot high and can be see over time that the number of points increased throughout his career.

Doug Favell experimented with several simple paint jobs for his masks in the '70s, but the first intricate custom paint job design in the NHL was another accident when Penguin goaltender Jim Rutherford was traded to the Red Wings. . He knew his solid blue mask wouldn't fit the colors of his new team, so we asked mask maker Greg Harrison to paint it white. When he got the mask back he discovered that not only was it white but it included red wings over the eyes this is not what Bruford wanted or asked for but it was too late to change it now he needed it immediately but the mask was a hit with the fans and before long goalies across the league were painting their masks to match their team, some goalies stepped up the effort and added intricate designs that were more of a personal statement that had almost nothing to do with the team they played for.

By the mid-70s, almost every goalie now wore a mask. Somehow, the last one to hold out was Penguins goalie Andy Brown, who never played a game in a mask. His last game in the NHL was April 7, 1974, but this was just his last game in the NHL. Andy left the NHL to play for wh a competitor. to the NHL which paid players more money in many cases and Andy continued to play without a mask until 1977 when he finally retired from the wh, even though the fiberglass mass had improved over time, they were still not up to par. height of shooters' increasing firepower in In the 1960s, several players such as Stan Makita and Bobby Hall began experimenting with curved stick blades that dramatically increased the speed of a shot.

Players began to rely more on the Slap Shot and stick manufacturers incorporated fiberglass into hockey sticks, which meant more injuries for goaltenders. Fiberglass masks required the eyes to be close to the eye holes for clear vision. Because of this, eye injuries were becoming more common even with the use of the best fiberglass masks, which goalkeepers began to understand was that helmet and cage combinations like the one used by Vladislav's trip to the USSR protected goalies better than fiberglass masks. In the late 70s we saw goalkeepers change their the fiberglass mask to the complete cage. The first goalie to do so in the NHL was J Creton.

Other goalies like Billy Smith joined him. As the late 70's changed and some of the new goaltenders coming into the league played their first games with the helmet and cage combination, although it seemed like the helmet and cage combination was the safest configuration, not everyone was in a rush to change. Many goalies were used to their masks and didn't want to change what worked for them. It could also be an adjustment to look through the bars of a cage. Tony Esposito took a unique approach in 1976: he added a modified wire cage on top. of his existing fiberglass mask to help reinforce the eye section of the mask while some goalies made adjustments for added safety, most simply continued with what they were used to in 1977, a shot hit Sab Gully Jerry deard Dan in the eye area of ​​his mask, injuring his eye, the injury requiring surgery and ending Deard Dan's goal, career goaltender Dave Dren, the Canadiens' big brother, the great Kenden knew the Cage hull configurations were the safest, but he had a hard time making the transition.

He really liked how comfortable the top was. Its mass rested against the top of his head and the way the back plate kept things tight. He didn't like the feeling that most helmets had one strapped to his head, so he teamed up with the manufacturer of masks Greg Harrison to design a special goalie mask that had a forehead and chin section with a back plate that held everything tight but with an eye area redone so it could be fitted with a cage to stay away from the eyes and in 1977 Dave Dryden had a custom fiberglass mask built with a modified cat-eye helmet.

Attached cage, this fiberglass SL cage combo mask is considered the first modern style of goalie mask, but did not immediately catch on throughout the NHL; many goalies still wore their traditional fiberglass masks even after dear Dan's injury; However, in 1979, a stick went up and he hit Flyers goalie Bernie with his pants in the eye. This injury ended his career as a goalkeeper. This started a trend of goalies leaving behind their fiberglass masks in favor of cage-style helmet configurations. fiberglass masks in the early 80's, but were quickly transitioning to cage helmet configuration. UPS there are many different types of helmet cage combinations that a goalie can choose from for his setup.

One of the first trends included the use of jofa helmets in cages as before. Doing so for years in Europe, early NHL cage adopters such as Don Edwards, Jills Ceton, Bob, Richard Bodor and Ron Low, among others, used jopa configurations. One helmet that was tested in the NHL as a possible goalie helmet was the CCM ht2 helmet. Common helmet already in the NHL for skaters, so getting one was easy, but the HT2 had a couple of flaws for goalie use. There was a section that had the CCM logo printed on that was flat and if a puck hit you there, all the energy from the puck was pushed towards the goalie's head and the air vents to the right or left of the logo were strips. made of very thin plastic and could easily break with a shot, then many goalkeepers discovered that the Cooper sk600 matched a Cooper hm30 cage offered. decent protection with great visibility this is the setup that vladislav treak had been using for years the sk600 was light, durable and easy to get hold of, but it also had a flat section in the middle of the helmet on which the cooper logo sat, even Yes it was sitting at a better angle than the CCM, but the ultimate helmet for goalies who opted to use a helmet cage combination turned out to be the Cooper sk2000.

The most popular mask that was paired with the sk2000 was the Cooper hm30. Many goalies used this exact setup but there were a few other combinations, some combined it with the hm50 grid style mask like John Van B Brook Dominic Hassk and Martin Prusik. Andy Moog wore one of the strangest sk2000 combinations ever seen at the 1988 Olympics after wearing his Pro-style mask for a game or two. The Olympic Committee came into Team Kena's locker room to inform them that Moog's Pro-style Cat ey cage was against Olympic rules and needed to be replaced with a cage with smaller openings, so the team dug up a sk2000 helmet, but Moog decided to combine it with a full Bubble Shield instead of a traditional cage like a hm50, this combination was never successful and for good reason, these masks could fog up in high heat, definitely not ideal for a goalkeeper, they could also leave disc marks that hit the mask.

If the mask does not crack, which is known to happen with strong direct shots, coupled with the fact that even small reflections and distortions from the Knicks can cause visual impairment, means that this setup was never intended to be widely used by the goalkeepers, but the Cooper sk2000 was. It is not the only helmet worn by goalkeepers, even if it was the most popular. Arur Ear Bay was known for wearing a Joe 280 helmet with a jofa 262 cage. Tommy Sostrom was known for wearing a jofa 290 helmet with a large jofa 278 cage at the 2010 Olympics. Swiss goalkeeper Florence Shelling wore a jofa 390 helmet. with a jofa 387 cage.

Another thing that was unique about the helmet cage combos was that the accessories that could be attached to them, there were throat protectors that hung under a cage to protect the vulnerable neck area, as the It was known that coic TP Martin Kusk used one of these with his sk2000 hm50 helmet cage combination for more stationary neck protection, there was the itch n6 throat protector that attached to the cage cables and was worn by goalies like Kelly Rudy With his jofa 280. jofa 262 combo there were all sorts of other add-ons that could be attached to a standard helmet cage combo to make it look a little more like the new style of mask that Dave Dryden introduced. jofa had a lot of interesting addons like this but none of them really took off, there were some international games played with these types of addons on some European goalies in the 80's, but around the same time helmet cage combinations became popular, Dave Dren's mathematical design also began to win. ground to be a superior protective mask Established goalkeepers who spent time experimenting with different configurations opted for the new style of mask like Chico.

Reckless young goalies like Patrick W began entering the league with the new style of mask as the default mask by the late 80's almost all goalies had abandoned the old tight fitting fiberglass masks in favor of a helmet or cage combination. what we now call a modern style mask. The last goalie to hold on to his old fitted fiberglass mask was Sam St Laurent, who donned the mask for the last time in the NHL in 1990, as more and more goalies tried out the modern style of mask, More goalies fell in love with the protection it provided, especially the butterfly technique, which requires the goalie to continually lower his head into shooting range.

Many goalkeepers changed. from the tight fiberglass mass combination to the helmet cage combinations, we now switched to this new Mass design. One decision a goalie had to make was what style of cage he wanted on his mask, although it may not be immediately Clearly there are actually several different styles of cages that can be attached to a mask the most common cage in the NHL is the pro cat ey. The cat ey cage is designed to give goalies large areas around their eyes that are unobstructed so the goalie can see the game without having to look.

Across the bars, the design is based on the Cooper hm30 that was attached to helmets first introduced in the '70s. The bars are still close enough together that a putt can't fit even between the widest opening. big. However, that doesn't mean that nothing can happen. Blades through sticks can and do sneak through the openings of a cat cage, so while the cat cage offers the best visibility, it offers the greatest opportunity for injury. In the NHL, this is by far the most popular type of cage attached to the professional goalie. For goalkeepers who want total protection, we have the certified cage.

A certified cage is a grid-like pattern that will not only prevent discs or blades from passing through, but is also designed so that even if a blade breaks, it will break at its thinnest part of the blade yet. could happen in its thinnest section. A stick blade should be at least 2 inches, so even in a disastrous situation where a blade breaks at its thinnest part, the goalie is still protected from flying blades. In the NHL we've seen goolies like John Van beook Kelly Rudy and Drew McIntyre use Pocky's lower-level certified cage. Goalkeepers must use cages that have beencertified, so in more recent years, when emergency backup goalkeepers have been called up. they play in a game and a good number of them have entered the games wearing certified cages on their masks.

There is another type of cage that is almost a mix between the cat's eye and the certified cage. It is called a cheater while it is called a cheater. It's completely legal in the NHL. The cheater cage is another grid pattern cage, but it has the largest openings around the eyes, which are larger than the openings of a certified cage, while cheater cages are unregulated. Many of them have grid patterns tight enough to block the blades of sticks and pucks, but they would not be able to protect a goalie if the stick blade broke in its smallest section.

NHL goalies who have used the cheater cage include dbo prey Mike leute Rick Walmsley Curtis melany Tim Thomas and Drew McIntyre dbo pre's son Connor also appeared to be wearing one that looked strikingly similar to his father's when he was called out as an emergency backup goalie for the Minnesota Wild recently. Gonis Hiller introduced a new variation of the cat cage to the NHL. It is sometimes known as the open-mouth cat's eye cage. It is identical to the cat cage around the goalie's eyes, but below the mouth a long curved bar has been removed and replaced with two smaller bars.

Not only does this give goalies a better view when looking down, but it actually does. It does a better job of preventing stick blades from entering the bottom section of the mask. It is a more expensive style of cage and more complex to manufacture, but I could see this style of cage becoming popular in the future. I have already seen it used at local courts by fans in my area another unique cage was used in the Swiss leagues by goalie Marco Straight. That's very intriguing to me. A traditional cat's eye cage is made up of a series of bars welded together.

This hexagonal grill is actually a solid piece of stainless steel cut in the pattern you see here, in theory this should make it stronger. I also like the way the cage looks a bit like the Tesi Ham mask from the 1936 Olympics. Another style of cage worth mentioning is the certified cat's eye, which is a mask that somehow It has a cat's eye look but also meets the requirements to be classified as a certified cage. No goalies have used this in the NHL in the 2000s, the modern Mass was by far the most popular setup in the NHL with only one.

A handful of goalies still used helmet cage combinations, but the combinations were not of the all dead, even in the 2000s some of the young goalies coming into the league came in wearing a helmet cage combination. The modern style of masks is considered more protective against being shot. So why would anyone still use the old helmet cage combos? Well, there are actually several reasons why some of the goalies kept their helmet cage combos, besides it being what they're used to. Helmet cage combos are usually backless. plate and are securely attached to the head, this means that a helmet is less likely to come off the head in the middle of play and, contrary to popular belief, if a goalkeeper's helmet comes off in the middle of play, the play will not automatically be declared dead.

In the NHL, whenever the referees determine that there is a possible imminent scoring opportunity, they must let the game continue, there even seem to be some NHL goalies who are not aware of this rule. Have we seen examples of Alex the lock? as well as an example from Lou de Ming where they intentionally removed their masks to stop it before you get too angry at these goalies for being bad sports, what seems to have happened in both cases is contact from a puck or player. About where the bottom backplate strap connects, we can even see a disc mark on the Stock backplate strap.

If it falls apart or flies off due to a shot, the entire mass becomes completely unstable, it will wobble and move out of place, potentially blocking the goalie's vision and could slide at any moment. What these goalies could have been doing is taking off. his Mas to make it obvious to the referees that his straps exploded and needed storage. I'll let you decide for yourselves, but with a helmet cage combination the straps typically don't go like this and even if a goalie does lose a strap, the helmet usually fits snugly enough that it won't come off even if they're missing a belt.

Helmet cage combos are less likely to come off due to contact, while the number of goalies who used a helmet cage combo is consistent. Those who did use them benefited from some material improvements that modern Masses already They had enjoyed it for years. One of the weaknesses of the SK 2000 like the One Hassk War was the side bumpers that protect the adjustment area of ​​the helmet. These could be blown off the helmet with a shot. The bumpers along with the rest of the helmet are made of plastic. In the 2000s, Hassk was having their helmets manufactured by companies such as Warwick and Ray, who use modern composite materials for their helmets. , the newer helmets did not need to have bumpers since they were not designed to be adjustable but custom-made for each player.

Composite hulls also allowed these hulls to be touched up with beautiful results. Some of the goalies tried painting their older plastic helmets, but never seemed to succeed. There was even a case where a goalie went from a modern mask to a helmet cage combination. Rick Deatra was the Islanders' first overall pick in 2000 and on February 2, 2011, DPA was in a fight, if you want to call it. that with Brent Johnson and Dietro he had to come off the ice with a broken jaw due to his healing and sensitive jaw when Dietro returned later that year he came back wearing a sk2000 hm30 combo that Chris Osgood had used when he was with the Islanders the chin sling On the HM30 it allowed him to rest his chin on the pad, which was more comfortable for him as his jaw healed.

The 2000s also saw the introduction of the wizard mask, which was part modern goalie mask and helmet cage combination. It is something similar to a modern goalkeeper. mask but with the lower section cut out and an oversized cage with the goalie's option of a chin guard Tim Thomas was known for using this setup for a good period of time while in the NHL in the 2010s, many of the goalies that used helmet cage combos were retiring the last year a goaltender wore a helmet cage combo in the NHL was 2014, there was a case where the Sabers needed an emergency goalie to serve as a backup after After Michael Noir suffered an injury, they turned to their goalkeeping coach.

One-year-old ZB was his backup for the final two periods, although he never needed to get on the ice, the Sabers were quick to put together a helmet cage combo to his liking in case he needed to get on the ice in 2014 as well. , Tim Thomas entered a game for the Florida Panthers wearing a sk600 clone made with modern Olympia Composits materials and an itch n6 throat protector. Unfortunately, the cage he matched it with was a standard player cage, so when he shot it straight from the face. In the first period, the cage portion of his combo tipped over and finished the game wearing a wizard mask, which was the last time a helmet cage combo saw on-ice action in the NHL after 2014, not known. would see more helmet cage combos in the Although one of the NHL appeared in the 2019 KHL skills competition, while the modern mask style may have started with Dave Dragon's original design, masks have come a long way since the late '70s, as they are now available in lighter weight and stronger composite materials, but can still hold a paint job as well as any time before.

My favorite paint jobs on modern goalie skins are the ones that pay homage to the older goalie mass throughout

history

, especially when a modern goalie mass is painted to look like an older setup other than that I think simple paint jobs with big features look best on Modern Goalie Mass. Many modern paint jobs have small details that are hard to see from a distance, almost like a game of Waldo with a goalie Mass, which means most fans won't be able to see what's going on, which is a shame because a lot of them have some really cool features, so I feel like big, simple themes work best.

The impact of the goalkeeper mask extends beyond sports. ice hockey in the old days of hockey we saw goalies taking inspiration from baseball with some of the equipment Pioneer goalies wore but today it is baseball that has taken inspiration from hockey as the catcher masks Modern masks are made in hockey styles that are more protective than traditional catcher masks, but what does the future hold? While no one can predict the future, perhaps the future of the goalie mask may come with improving mask cages. Sergean Singh is a mechanical engineer who worked on spacecraft for Virgin Galactic Serge and saw the potential. from using fiber dye, which is also used in bulletproof vests, to build a prototype that was strong but less blocking a goalie's vision.

Right now his cage is still in the testing phase, but this concept could become some important advances. I hope you enjoyed this story. of goalie masks what was your favorite style of goalie mask consider taking a look at the t-shirt store and represent the style of goalie mask that you like the most or if you have a goalie in your life that you would like to thank Consider Also say thank you with a t-shirt that matches your team.