The Newest Blank Canvas to Create On...

Masks are now old news*. The newest goaltender equipment/art statement is the stick. Two NHL goalies have seen using sticks with some sort of design on it. Chris Mason went with his number (50) and his teams logo, while Patrick Lalime of the Sens took it another route with Marvin the Martian, the same lovable alien that is on his mask. What they might be using is a product called Blade Tape (official site)
I think this a great way to extend the art on the mask, to the stick, as long as it doesn't get carried away, like putting stuff on the pads.

Notes:
Tobias Stephan seems to prefer Marty Turco's white mask, since he himself has one.
Jose Theodore switched teams, but hasn't gotten around to changing his mask.
Mathieu Garon has a incredible mask to go along with the Oilers new 3rd Jersey/throwback, I believe it is modeled after Grant Fuhr's

News From the Garden State

Big mask news from Jersey today. In case you haven't heard already, Martin Brodeur has a new mask. No earth shattering changes, just switches up his old "J" for his personal logo "MB30". However, it is the first change to his mask since 1993 (Short sideshow, displaying all 3 masks), making it one of the more recognizable masks in the league.

As you can see, the sides are basically the same, and the head logo still has the devilish tail. I haven't seen the back of the new design but I assume that they kept all of his mementos.

There's a nice article explaining all that went into it, and another picshow on the redesign.



UPDATE: Here is how it looks in a game

Luongo's Mask Tweaked

Roberto Luongo was named captain of the Vancouver Canucks recently, and since goalies are not allowed to wear the "C" on their jerseys (stupid, right?), Luongo is wearing the C on his mask. Creative? I think so.

2008-09 Pre-Season Notes

Quick Notes from the little hockey played so far.

Toronto goalie Curtis Joseph had "Leaf Fans" on his nameplate...A couple masks I hadn't seen before of Olie Kolzig, Matt Zaba, the always awesome Alex Auld, Jeff Zactkoff, and a blank for Jonathan Quick...

One of the coolest contests in recent memory took place over the summer. Canuck, Curtis Sanford, who as you may remember, had the goofy "old man" mask, asked for submissions for a new mask design. Over 300 submissions later, Sanford has a new mask. Here is the winning design, and here is the finished, painted, mask. You can see most of the submitted masks here. I recommend you do, there are several excellent ones, and even more laughable ones.

10 Best Masks of the Year: 5

5. Marty Turco

Yes, the dragon is a little corny. And yes, the black version is much more popular. But there is something about the white. Perhaps it brings back the plain white days of earlier.

10 Best Masks of 07-08
10: Hannu Toivonen
9: Jocelyn Thibault
8. Marc Denis
7. Alex Auld
6. Jose Theodore