Winter Classic

Time to break out the bubbly, throw some streamers, and play some outdoor hockey. The NHL's "Outdoor Classic" will be on New Years Day, and expect some nostalgia. Both the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Buffalo Sabres will be wearing throwback jerseys.

But what about the goalies? Last time they played an outdoor game, the only significant detail involving goalies was Jose Theodore wearing a beanie above his mask. This year, Dany Sabourin, goalie for Pittsburgh will be wearing old-school brown equipment. He'll also wear this beauty. Look familiar? It's based on the recently discussed Michel Plasse mask.

The other Penguin goaltender, Ty Conklin, will also be wearing a retro Penguin mask, but no brown pads.

On the other side of the puck, the Sabres might display the beanie look, if practice means anything.

Team Spotlight: Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins logo isn't very intimidating. So if "Happy Feet" and "March of the Penguins" aren't action suspense thrillers to you, how could a mask for a team called the penguins be scary?
Lets start with Ken Wregget, what penguins are famous? There's Tux, the Linux penguin. Or how about those penguins that enjoy Coke-a-Cola so much? Ken's head must have been in a comic book, cause he thought of this penguin. And that, eventually turned into this. Which morphed into this a couple years later. Ken Wregget also wore, a less intimidating, more beautiful, ice sculpture penguin, in this mask.
If you travel back a few more years, you could see the beginning of masks as a piece of artwork in this mask, worn by Michel Dion.
For a short time, the penguins had blue uniforms (which will be worn in the upcoming "Winter Classic" against the Buffalo Sabres on New Years Day, 08 (More about this later)). When they wore blue, so did the men in the crease, including Michel Plasse, seen here rocking the "Warrior" mask.
Which brings us to the man whose name was made for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Marc-Andre Fleury. He has had odd ones (what is that, a drooling fish?), ones with cartoon penguins, and even a real penguin or two.
Note to whoever will be the next goalie for the Pittsburgh Penguins, BRING BACK THE BATMAN PENGUIN!


Here are a couple "Bonus Masks"
Tom Barrasso
Another Barrasso
Patrick Lalime