Montreal's Scrivens honors Motorhead with mask art

Montreal Canadiens goalie Ben Scrivens has chosen to honor the memory of Lemmy Kilmister, lead singer and bassist of the heavy metal band Motorhead, with his newest goalie mask.

Kilmister, 70, died on Dec. 28 after a battle with an aggressive form of cancer.

Eye Candy Air artist Steve Nash painted the mask, which features a portrait of Kilmister's head inside the ace of spades symbol on one side of the mask. "Ace of Spades," the 1980 hit, was one of Motorhead's most famous songs.

Montreal Canadiens goalie Ben Scrivens honors late
musician Lemmy Kilmister with his newest mask.
Photo: Arpon Basu  (Click to enlarge)

"He's a huge influence on not just me, but a lot of the bands that I listen to and a lot of the type of music that I listen to," Scrivens said. "For me, he's probably the epitome of heavy metal and rock music in terms of not just his music, but his attitude, his persona, his look. He's an ugly guy, he's got a gruff, ugly singing voice. He says what he thinks all the time, he's swearing all the time, and it wasn't an act. I think that's the thing that came across from him, nothing was for show. You knew that when he went home and talked to his kid he was probably the exact same way."

The other side features the logo of Alexisonfire, a heavy metal band from St. Catharines, Ontario, that has adorned previous masks worn by Scrivens.

Scrivens needed a new mask with the color scheme and logo of the Canadiens after being traded from the Edmonton Oilers organization on Dec. 28, the same day Kilmister died.

That, in part, is where the tribute idea was born, according to Nash.

"Ben just said we have to do this because I love that guy," Nash said. "All the credit to Ben. It was his idea. I just put his thoughts to paper. I think it came out really nice. Lemmy helps a lot with that cool factor. I guess you put Lemmy on anything and it will be cool."

The mask also has a more subtle tribute to Motorhead on the backplate. There, the artist ghosted a representation of the band's logo and Nash put part of the lyrics to "Ace of Spades" above that logo: "and don't forget the joker."

Scrivens was reluctant to call himself a metalhead because, as he said, "I don't have long hair." But he is clearly a fan and the mask is his way to pay tribute to someone that touched a wide range of heavy metal music.

"He was an innovator and influenced so many people in terms of their musical expression," Scrivens said. "He was a real connection between that early rock and roll, starting to get into that heavy stuff, to the Metallicas and those bands. I don't think there was a heavy band that he didn't influence."

Montreal Canadiens’ Goalie Ben Scrivens Has a New Lemmy Mask https://t.co/uhmZj29IDg pic.twitter.com/j6ekNK7xtN

— Alan Cross (@alancross) January 13, 2016