The Most Iconic Mask in NHL History

They called him Cobra.
Following his first game with the Phoenix Roadrunners of the Western Hockey League, goaltender Gary Simmons recalled that a reporter compared his on-ice movements to that of a snake.
Two stalls down, within earshot, was Simmons' teammate Bobby Barlow, who exclaimed, 'yeah, like a cobra!'
"Well, it was in the newspaper the next day and I've been Cobra ever since. That was 1972," Simmons recently recollected.

Not long after his nickname took hold, Simmons decided to adorn his mask with his newfound moniker. He recalls that one of his Phoenix defenseman, Howie Young, had this gnarly Ford van that was airbrushed with snakes, eagles, and Native American imagery.
"So I asked Howie if they could do that on my mask, and they did," Simmons said. During his second season with the Roadrunners in 1973-74, Simmons began wearing the cobra mask that he would become synonymous with.

By the time he made his NHL debut in 1974 with the California Seals, he had another iteration of the mask made by Toronto artist Greg Harrison. Harrison had designed plenty of masks for Simmons' colleagues, but there was one problem with this particular one. Harrison included rattles on the tail.
If you know your serpents, you know that cobras don't have rattles. Despite the error, Simmons wore a version of that mask, rattles and all, for the rest of his hockey career.
On January 22, 1977, he was traded from the Cleveland Barons to the LA Kings along with Jim Moxey. He made one modification to the mask; he gave the cobra a crown, a fitting tribute to his new team.

Simmons was happy to leave Cleveland, but remembers telling Moxey on the flight over that he figured his career was over. At the time, Simmons was 34 years old and with Rogie Vachon as the Kings' undisputed starting netminder, he knew his opportunities to play would be few and far between.
"In my mind, Rogie was the best goalie in the league at the time. Kenny Dryden was good, Bernie Parent was good, but Rogie stopped more rebounds and second and third chances in a week than those guys saw in a month," Simmons reflected.
Although Simmons started just 11 games in the 1977-78 campaign, his only full season with the Kings, he made the most of his time in LA. "I started riding motorcycles when I was playing for the Kings," he reminisced.

"As a matter of fact, I had never been on a motorcycle before. I came walking out the Forum one day and Johnny Holmes, our trainer, was talking to this guy and this guy was selling a motorcycle. Well, I ended up buying it," he added.
There was just one problem. Simmons just needed to figure out how he was going to get it home.
"I had to ride that bike home from the Forum and it was a long way and I had never been on one. I literally learned to ride it on the 405, which at the time was the busiest freeway in the world. It was crazy," he laughed.
Simmons, who turned 74 just a few months ago, is still riding motorcycles.
The cobra mask is on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Although Simmons may no longer have the mask, he does have a cobra tattoo, which serves a reminder of his nickname.
A nickname which led to the creation of one of the most iconic masks in NHL history.