HbD Masks: 2019 Stadium Series Masks

By Ally Koss
In Ally Koss
Feb 14th, 2019
1 Comment

Going back outdoors for a rematch of the 2017 Stadium Series game in Pittsburgh, the interstate battle heads to the City of Brotherly Love on February 23rd. Some things have changed since these two teams last played outside.

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For starters, Adidas has taken over designing the NHL’s jerseys, having recently revealed their sweaters for the Pens and Flyers, and this will be the first time we see Gritty in the great outdoors, so really anything can happen.

In addition to the special threads for the game at Lincoln Financial Field, the goalies will be donning some new gear as well. Flyers netminder Carter Hart debuted some slick orange pads in practice recently, and the teams have since shared their goalies’ masks for the outdoor contest.

While none of them show any signs of Gritty (sadly), let’s take a closer look at the masks that each of the netminders have commissioned for Saturday’s game.

Matt Murray, Pittsburgh Penguins

Stephane Bergeron, Griffe Originale

Never one to to go too outside of the box with his masks, Matt Murray once again has stuck with an almost identical variation of his regular season mask. Painted by his regular artist, Stephane Bergeron, the composition Murray has worn for his entire NHL career gets a slight facelift for the outdoor event.

“Matt’s Mask is basically the same as his regular mask but this one has a black background and they added snowflakes,” Penguins’ equipment manager, Dana Heinze shared on Twitter. With the 90’s-style Penguin still on each side framing the heavy gold stripe down the center, the traditional composition is embellished with metallic penguins word marks along the sides and white snowflakes throughout.

This is what we’ve come to expect from Murray, given the goaltender’s affinity for this composition, so while it lacks any sort of new or innovative design elements to really wow us, it’s hard to go wrong with something this classic.

Casey DeSmith, Pittsburgh Penguins

Jesse Acciacca, Jesse’s Custom Design

Following the trend of the minimalist jerseys, DeSmith and artist Jesse Acciacca created an ode to Pittsburgh’s most beloved teams in the simplest of styles. Working off a matte black base with a yellow lacquer cage and Steelers-esque stripe down the center, each side of the mask features a glossy yellow line drawing, the Steelers’ Steely McBeam logo from 1961-68 on the right opposite the Penguins’ primary logo on the left.

I love the simplicity of this mask and its (much more aesthetically pleasing) interpretation of the paired down logos on the Stadium Series jerseys. The Steelers references are integrated in seamlessly with the Penguins logo, making for a really cohesive looking and slick design.

Cam Talbot, Philadelphia Flyers

Dave Gunnarsson, Daveart

Titled “The Spooky Showdown at the Stadium Series,” the newly acquired Cam Talbot continued with his signature Ghostbusters theme for the outdoor game in Philadelphia. In true Daveart fashion, this design is packed with special effects, from glitter to holographic logos and everything in between. What I like most about this mask though is what Gunnarsson did with the negative space, leaving a silhouetted Liberty Bell on top and Talbot’s number 33 on the chin.

The ghosts are actually the most subtle part of this mask, and the overall composition compliments the game’s minimalist style nicely.

Carter Hart, Philadelphia Flyers

Jason Bartziokas

For his first outdoor game, Carter Hart worked with his regular artist Jason Bartziokas to come up with a design that honored the Stadium Series venue. We’ve seen many a football mask created for outdoor games, and Hart’s follows nicely in that tradition. “I wanted to incorporate the Philadelphia Eagles in some way,” the goaltender shared in a video about his mask, a neon orange design that has images of Eagles quarterbacks Nick Foles on the right and Carson Wentz on the left along with each player’s number.

The graphic composition plays to the stark black and orange of the Stadium Series sweaters, but with some subtle details hidden throughout. Inside the honeycomb pattern that fills the large areas of black, the artist incorporated smaller holographic Flyers logos and even a tiny Eagles logo as an added nod to Lincoln Financial Field’s home team. The backplate includes an additional reference to the Eags, the inclusion of the team’s motto, “We all we got. We all we need.”

Brian Elliott, Philadelphia Flyers

Franny Drummond, Paintzoo

Also paying homage to the Eagles in his design, Brian Elliott went with a matte orange bucket reminiscent of Jonas Hiller circa 2014, which if you’ve been reading my mask reviews for a while, you’ll recall is one of my all-time favorite masks. Painted by Fran Drummond, the bold and graphic composition includes very few (yet all very sharp) design elements, starting with the orange Eagle wings on top with a crisp black outline and subtle dimension inside.

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The Stadium Series logo is airbrushed in orange-on-orange paint, giving it a subtle ghosted look, and Elliott’s number 37 is placed in bold black letters on the chin.

This mask will likely be a polarizing one, as Hiller’s often were during his time in Anaheim, but I absolutely love how crispy and clean this design is, particularly for an outdoor game where much of the subtle detail would go unseen. The shading in the wings and around the event logo give this mask enough detail and depth to make it interesting, while maintaining enough restraint to showcase the careful workmanship and Drummond’s eye for design.

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One Response to “HbD Masks: 2019 Stadium Series Masks”

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