Search

Masked Men: Connor Hellebuyck

Big Kaluwski
Dec 1, 2016
2 min read

Welcome once again to my spotlight blog post entitled "Masked Men". Within these threads I will be talking about various masked men around the league. In essence, a mask is a goalies identity. They can add their own personalities to their mask. A self portrait in a way.

Today we take a look at the mask of Connor Hellebuyck, who currently plays for the Winnipeg Jets. Connor has become the Jets starting netminder this season. Although his stats are not extraordinary so far this season, (W 9 L 8 SO 2 GAA 2.55 SV% .915) they are respectable. He is only in his second season of the NHL, so there is plenty of opportunities for him to grow into a NHL superstar.

Now let's have a look at his mask.

Right side:

-The Wolf is representative of a recent dog he got, as well as a symbolic representation of the Winnipeg winter. Connor introduced this mask during the Heritage classic this year, so the ice pound is a representation of that as well. The fish in the water (hard to see in the image), represents the fish he caught during a fishing trip last year.

Left Side:

-More reference to the heritage classic and Winnipeg winter. A nice image of an Elk appears also.

Top View:

-That is a picture of the late Dan Synder. Back in 2003, when the Jets where still called the Atlanta Thrashers, Dan Synder was killed in car accident. The Thrashers at the time had retired Synder's jersey number. However Connor got the ok from the Synder family to wear #37 again, and this part of the mask is a tribute to him. Very touching.

Back view:

-Instead of putting his last name, he decided to thank Dan Snyder's family. The Hawks logo represents the Umass-Lowell Riverhawks, which was his college team. The oilrig represents the Odessa Jackalopes third logo. (A team he played for) The #31 and #30 represents the two college goalies he played together with during his tenior with the Riverhawks. (Doug Carr and Brian Robbins)