Jets goalies fight cancer with custom-painted masks

Another Hockey Fights Cancer month has come and gone in the NHL, and its impact across the hockey community has been felt far and wide.
The Winnipeg Jets held their annual night at Bell MTS Place on Nov. 27 which turned out to be a fun night for everyone involved with the home team winning 7-2 over the division rival Minnesota Wild.
During warmup and the game itself, Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck displayed a special HFC mask which was designed by Steve Nash of EYECANDYAIR. The two went back and forth over email and text messages for about three hours on the design of the piece, with the final product being well worth the time and effort.

"The idea on that one was because it's the Jets, we wanted a pilot fighting for the cause [against cancer]," explained Nash. "The mask just screamed Jets. So it's obviously team oriented, and he's a very team-oriented guy. He didn't want too much frivolous-type stuff on it like a lot of other masks."

Nash, who's been working with Hellebuyck since the 2016-17 season, says it was an honour to be involved in such an important initiative. Afterward, Hellebuyck signed the mask and it was then put up for auction, along with a host of other HFC memorabilia, with the proceeds going to the CancerCare Manitoba Foundation.
That, above all else, meant the world to this talented artist.
"I had cancer on my left arm - melanoma cancer," said Nash, who was diagnosed three years ago. "I don't have any feeling in three of my fingers [on my left hand] because of the surgery to remove the cancer. It really was an eye-opener."
Fortunately, Nash is right handed so he can still draw and do his work with the usual flair and grace that he and EYECANDYAIR is known for.

Nash also designed Steve Mason's Hockey Fights Cancer mask, but since Mason was out with a concussion that night, it didn't get to make its appearance on the big stage. Twenty-two-year-old Eric Comrie was called up for that game against the Wild to replace Mason, and his HFC mask was designed by Jason Bartziokas. Bartziokas has been working with Comrie since he was playing with the Western Hockey League's Tri-City Americans.
"First of all, I get asked all the time who is the nicest client I deal with. I always answer (Tristan) Jarry (of the Pittsburgh Penguins organization) and Comrie," said Bartziokas. "Their manners are insane. I was talking to Eric when he was 16 years old and when I got off the phone with him, I remember thinking, 'That kid can't be 16.' He's so well spoken and polite. He's a dream client because he really lets me do whatever I want, and he gets pumped about the options that I throw at him."

Bartzikoas, whose business is based out of Jasper, Alberta, designed a Hockey Fights Cancer mask the previous season as well, but is particularly proud of the lavender-tinted piece he produced here in 2017.
"Eric always has a really detailed kind of airbrushed element to his masks," said Bartzikoas. "His actual game mask has those fighter pilots, and that in the lavender version wouldn't read well. I wanted to incorporate the ribbon myself, so I had the ribbon wrapping around the Jets logo. I think it kind of encompasses to whole deal with the Jets and Hockey Fights Cancer."
Much like Nash, Bartziokas takes his part in the fight against cancer seriously.
"You see it affect everybody. Everyone has to deal with it at some point," he said.
"It's really cool that we were able to help out in a small way, for sure."
To place your bid on these masks and other game-used items from Hockey Fights Cancer Night, visit auctions.nhl.com/winnipegjets.