'Everybody needs to have protection right now'

MONTREAL - Tomas Tatar is doing his part to help frontline hospital workers in his native Slovakia.

The 29-year-old left-winger recently announced his support for the "I protect myself, I protect others" project initiated by Bratislava-based manufacturer, SilverMask.

During the months of April and May, a portion of mask sales via the company's online shop will go towards the purchase of equipment required by hospitals in Trenčín and Košice for the battle against COVID-19.

There are currently 10 different three-layer cotton antibacterial mask designs available for shipping within the country. Click here to check them out.

Tatar and his girlfriend, Veronika, showcased a couple of those designs via Instagram when they made the partnership public.

While the Slovakian government slowly began easing quarantine regulations on Wednesday with phase one of a four-phase plan, facial coverings in public spaces are still mandatory.

So giving SilverMask's campaign a public boost sets a good example for his fellow citizens.

"Everybody needs to have protection right now," insisted Tatar. "People have been really responsible, though, which is nice to see. I'm really proud. Even if we're starting to open things up, people are respecting the restrictions and social distancing."

Tatar doesn't expect the current policy on facial coverings to be rescinded in the near future, which is just fine by him.

Any measure that slows the spread of the virus helps to simultaneously reduce the pressure on frontline hospital workers across the nation.

"We haven't had as many problems as other countries in Europe, but people are still being hospitalized on a daily basis. All the nurses and doctors, they deserve a lot of respect. It's not an easy time for them," mentioned Tatar. "Like in Canada and the United States, we were applauding them at 7:00 p.m. every Friday night to show them support. It was kind of interesting to go on the balcony and see people clapping. I was on board with that as well."

The six-time 20-goal scorer was rocking his SilverMask on Thursday when he finally enjoyed some quality family time with his mother, Maria, and brothers, Marek and Tibor - at an appropriate social distance outdoors, of course.

"This was the first day we went for a walk outside, but we were a little further away from each other. To me, she's the most high-risk person. There are people we have to be careful about. I've been home for almost three weeks and this is the first time we kind of got closer and walked and talked," said Tatar. "It's getting better, but it might take a while. We just have to be really responsible and careful."

Joining the Canadiens sniper in supporting the SilverMask effort are countrymen Tomas Jurco and Marko Dano.

Back on home turf

Tatar spends his offseasons in Slovakia every year.

He's the co-founder of a fitness center in his hometown of Dubnica nad Váhom called FitFabrik, which remains closed to members under current social distancing restrictions.

The former second-round selection took us on a quick tour of the facility last summer.

"I was actually inspired by a gym in Michigan, what kind of space they had and how they worked. I always wanted to have something like that for people to be in the best possible shape and for athletes so they could develop their talent and become professionals worldwide," said Tatar, during an interview with canadiens.com in July 2019 regarding FitFabrik's origins.

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