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Gary Warwick, who has been in the goalie mask business for 33 years, with some of the many masks he has made for National Hockey League goalies.
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Men behind the masks

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Men behind the masks

A hard rubber disc is slapped with a wooden stick toward a net, certainly with enough force to crack a skull, crush a nose, or permanently damage an eye.

Somehow, the idea for hockey goalies to wear some kind of protection for the head, face, and eyes really didn't catch on until 1959, some 42 years after the National Hockey League was founded.

Maybe it was Canadian machismo, too many sub-zero afternoons on a lonely frozen pond, or just pain foolishness. Today, goalies know better, or at least they protect their livelihoods. And that protection has developed into both a business and an art form of sorts.

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So, as the defending NHL champion New Jersey Devils and the Colorado Avalanche battle it out on ice this week for Lord Stanley's silver chalice, Gary Warwick of Port Huron, Mich., and Ray Bishop of Clarkston, Mich., know that their respective businesses will be heating up soon.

Mr. Warwick, owner of Warwick Custom Masks, designs and fits masks for collegiate and professional hockey players. Mr. Bishop, owner of Bishop Custom Designs, is the creative force behind many of the wild designs seen on the NHL masks.

“Spring and summer are just as good as the fall and winter,” Mr. Warwick said. “Most of the goalies want new masks for the new year.”

But to understand goalies and their masks, hark back to a time when players didn't wear masks, or helmets, for that matter. The first goalie to wear a mask was Clint “Benny” Benedict, of the Montreal Maroons, who in 1930 had been hit with a puck in the nose and cheekbone. He donned a makeshift contraption for two games until he found that it impaired his vision too much.

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Skate ahead to Nov. 1, 1959, when Jacques Plante of the Montreal Canadiens was hit in the face with a shot by the New York Rangers' Andy Bathgate. Plante left the game, received seven stitches, and returned wearing a mask he had made himself for practices. He was ridiculed by the hockey establishment.

Eventually, a simple molded fiberglass mask that offered decent protection was adopted by most goalies in the 1960s. (The last goalie not to wear a mask in an NHL game was journeyman Andy Brown in 1973, according to the NHL Hall of Fame Web site.)

But the true pioneer in the dressing up of the hockey mask was Gerry Cheevers of the Boston Bruins, who took to putting stitches on his mask where it was hit by a puck or a stick.

Hockey historians generally credit the first “artistic” mask to Glenn “Chico” Resch of the New York Islanders in 1976. His mask intrigued a local artist, Linda Spinella, and Resch let her use it as her canvas, according to A Breed Apart, The History of Goaltending.

The molded mask was outlawed by the Canadian Standards Association after the Philadelphia Flyers' Bernie Parent suffered a career-ending eye injury in 1979 from an errant stick. Today, the most common mask - which has evolved into a hybrid of a baseball catcher's mask and the molded fiberglass type - also serves as a statement for its goalie. Take Marty Turco, the backup goaltender for the Dallas Stars who has a gargoyle painted by Mr. Bishop on his. Gargoyle statues are often found “protecting” buildings.

“He [Turco] figured it was a symbol of protection and wanted to ward off evil spirits,” Mr. Bishop said. “Knock on wood, he really likes it. I've done three of them for him.”

Mr. Warwick makes masks for Turco, Eddie Belfour of the Dallas Stars, Roman Turek of the St. Louis Blues, Steve Shields of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, and many other professional and amateur players. In addition to Turco, Mr. Bishop has painted masks for Shields, Manny Legace of the Detroit Red Wings, Turek, and others.

Mr. Warwick, a former minor league goalie who has been making masks for 33 years, designs a mask by sending the goalies' equipment manager a kit containing plaster of paris and gauze. The goalies' eyes and hair are covered and a mold is made of the face and head. Mr. Warwick transfers the plaster to a plastic mold. From that, a fiberglass shell is made. He puts in padding according to the player's specifications and adds the wire cage.

“They all have their own particular styles and sizes they like,” he said. “It's kind of complicated but it really works out well.”

The mask is then sent to a painter if the player wants something beyond the four colors - white, black, red, or blue - Mr. Warwick offers. His masks range from $750 to $1,100 for a model with a lightweight titanium cage.

That cost probably isn't a concern for NHL players making hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, but Mr. Warwick said he tries to keep the cost reasonable for amateurs. Mr. Warwick said professionals such as Belfour will often buy copies of his masks to autograph for well-heeled fans for upwards of $3,500, according to the player's Web site.

“A lot of people like to collect them,” Mr. Warwick said.

Once at the painters, Mr. Bishop, who has been painting masks for 14 years, gets ideas from the goalie on what he wants. Sometimes it's a take-off on the team's logo or something to do with the city they play in, like Mike Richter of the New York Rangers, who has the Statue of Liberty on his. Belfour, who is known as “The Eagle,” naturally has an eagle on his mask.

“Sometimes they will tell me, `I like KISS or Led Zeppelin. I want my mask to have something to do with that,'” said Mr. Bishop, who charges from $500 to $1,000 for his custom paint job. “The rest is up to the artist.”

First Published May 27, 2001, 3:05 p.m.

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Gary Warwick, who has been in the goalie mask business for 33 years, with some of the many masks he has made for National Hockey League goalies.  (blade)
Goalie Marty Turco's mask features a gargoyle for 'protection' from those who would try to put a puck in his net.
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