Masked Men: Jason Labarbera

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 will look at a plethora of masks that Jason Labarbera has worn during his career. (whether it be in the NHL or AHL) Why look at so many of his masks? Well, Labarbera is a huge WWE wrestling fan, as well as a heavy metal rock fan, and has transferred that passion to his masks. And there are plenty of masks to choose from, as he has played for the NY Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, Vancouver Canucks, Phoenix Coyotes, Edmonton Oilers, Chicago Blackhawks, Anaheim Ducks, and the Phildelphia Flyers, before retiring from the NHL this past summer. He is current a goaltender coach for the WHL Calgary Hitmen.

Los Angeles Kings Mask:

-Nice tribute to Slash from Guns N Roses, and Angus from ACDC.

- Cool reference to Metallica. A mask he wore also with the Vancouver Canucks, until the next mask could be created.

Vancouver Canucks:

-That is Harold Snepsts, Stan Smyl on the right side of the mask, and on the left you have goalie Kirk McLean and Trevor Linden. Nice tribute to the Canucks past.

Phoenix Coyotes:

-On the left you have a pick of James Hetfield from Metallica. On the right you have a picture of Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam, and on the top you have a reference to "The Ultimate Warrior" from the WWE.

Jason also wore another mask during his time with Phoenix

- A WWE Wrestlemania tribute! On the left side you have Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker. On the right side you have Bret the "Hitman" Heart and WWE Owner Vince McMahon. I love it!

Here is another mask he wore during his time with Phoenix. Wow that's alot of masks!

-Another tribute to Metallica, and their lead singer James Hetfield

Now the mask he wore for his short time with the Oilers:

That's once again James Hetfield on the right side of his mask, and CM Punk from the WWE on the left.

Labarbera never played a game with the Chicago Blackhawks, but he did have a cool design on his mask.

-This was the only picture I could find of his mask. That is once again CM Punk pictured.

Anaheim Ducks:

- The "Stone Cold" is in reference to WWE star Stone Cold Steve Austin

And now the last mask that Jason Labarbera wore.

-I am a big fan of "The Rock", so this has to be one of my favorite maskd. Too bad that he never played an NHL game with the Flyers. It would have been cool to see this mask in action. The most electrifying mask ever!

Jason Labarbera had an NHL career of 16 season. He really didn't have productive career, and the most amount of games he played in a season was 45. (while he was with the Los Angeles Kings in 2007-08) However, as far as hockey masks go, he has to be one of the top!

***NOTE: ****Most of the pictures of these masks comes from Dave Gunnarsson. Without his site, I would not have been inspired to write these articles, and I would not have any pictures to show of these masks. So thank you Dave for your site. If you are interested in his work. You can check him out here on facebook