Most Canadian hockey fans grew up with a soft spot for goalies.
Even for those of us who never played the position in organized hockey, it was great to throw on the goalie pads during a game on the driveway or tear open a pack of hockey cards and find one of your favourite netminders.
There was always something so undeniably cool about goalie masks and their artwork.
Former Boston Bruins goalie Gerry Cheevers is believed to be the first to paint his mask. In the late 60’s sometime, Cheevers began crudely painting fake stitches on his white mask where he had been struck by a puck in the previous game.
We’ve sure come a long way since then.
44 years after Cheevers hung up the blades, great hockey-loving Canadian artists like Dave Fried of Friedesigns.com continue to take the art of goalie mask painting to new heights. And in Fried’s case, Ottawa Senator goalies have been some of Fried’s best clients.
Based in Calgary, Fried unveiled his latest creation on Monday, a new one for Belleville Senators’ goalie Mads Sogaard.
Sogaard is a repeat Ottawa customer, and given that he’s 6-foot-7 and hails from Denmark, it stood to reason the Sens’ goalie of the future would go with a Great Dane theme again. Here’s the one he had last season.
Originally a tattoo artist, a profession he still dabbles in, Fried has been in the mask painting game for ten years now. He estimates he’s done well over 500 masks so far, and counts Logan Thompson and Tristan Jarry among his first pro clients.
But he’s truly become the go-to guy for the Senators, doing work for Sogaard, Anton Forsberg, Cam Talbot (now in Detroit), and even owner Michael Andlauer.
Fried says his strong recent affiliation with the Sens originated with Anton Forsberg.
“It started with Anton finding me, probably on social media,” Fried said. “He reached out to get a mask painted and that’s when I started communicating with Johnny Forget, the Senators’ equipment manager, and created a little bit of a relationship.
“Mads comes from the WHL so he probably saw my work with a couple of goalies he played with. So I think that’s the connection.”
Like Sogaard, Forsberg has ordered two masks from Fried. One features a pair of hockey playing huskies, but everyone’s favourite is Forsberg’s tribute to Batman, complete with Heath Ledger’s Joker and Tom Hardy’s Bane, two of the best villains in movie history.
Fried says the mask that’s most gone viral was Cam Talbot’s. Talbot, who’s now with the Detroit Red Wings, wanted a Deadpool theme two seasons ago when actor Ryan Reynolds was showing interest in being part of Senators ownership. Fried made it happen.
But if you’re trying to pick your favourite Sens mask design by Fried, don’t sleep on the one that Forget and the staff ordered as a welcoming gift to present to new owner Michael Andlauer, who was a beer league goalie back in the day.
I jokingly asked Fried about whether Linus Ullmark might come knocking on his door at some point. He says Ullmark works with another artist but urges Ottawa fans to keep an eye out as he “should have a few more coming this year for the Sens.”
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