Inside Hockey: The goalie mask's evolution

Jennifer Barr is the producer of Inside Hockey, a regular feature on Hockey Night in Canada. Here's her unique take on this week's broadcast.

Does anyone actually really know if Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th ever played hockey?  If so what team do you think he'd play for?  That was a seriously scary mask.  The good news is it did serve a purpose and covered up a few flaws on his mug. 

This Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of the goalie mask. The face of goaltending changed forever. So in light of Halloween why not do a story on the mask?  Jacques Plante wore the first mask, but the first goalie to actually wear a painted design was Doug Favell.  It just so happens it was Halloween night in 1971 when Favell and his trainer decided to paint his mask orange as if it was the look of the "Great Pumpkin." 

Our Inside Hockey crew has seen some fascinating things on the road and been too a lot of interesting places ("we" being our crew — host Elliotte Friedman and Mark Punga our cameraman extraordinaire)  Some of the best times are when we are lucky enough to be invited into a player's or a retired player's home and listen to them share some of their stories.

It's always interesting to go through photos and trophies, accomplishments and other memorabilia.  Every keepsake tells a story.  Something may flag a memory or an anecdote which then leads to something else.

This week we went to Doug Favell's home to talk to him about the Halloween mask. The original mask now lives at the Hockey Hall of Fame and is no longer orange.  It's white now with the blue maple leaf on it, a design that changed after he was traded to the Leafs in 1973.

What was a simple idea back then has exploded into an intricate art form and somewhat of a personal statement for goalies. It's an art form which has become a living for David Arrigo. 

We also went up to Arrigo's studio just north of Toronto to take a peek inside the works of an artist and his goalie mask designs.  He works on dozens of masks a year and as a hockey fan you've definitely seen some of his work. 

His masks are worn by Mike Smith, Carey Price, Antero Nittymaki and Miikka Kiprusoff, just to name a few.  He's currently finishing up Price's Remembrance Day mask.  It is a beautiful piece of art and you'll have to wait to see it in our story that airs Saturday on Halloween night.

Happy Halloween!