"I've been fortunate that I haven't had anyone really close to me that has dealt with cancer, but so many other people have," Allen told the Blues website. "I thought it would be nice to help a teammate out."
Allen's mask, painted by David Gunnarsson of DaveArt, features an image of Mandi Schwartz in her Yale University hockey jersey on the left side. A play on her name and number, reading Mand17, is next to her face and above the words "Luctor et Emergo," or "struggle but emerge" in Latin, which was Schwartz's favorite saying.
The design idea came from Allen and his wife Shannon, who told Schwartz about the idea over the summer.
"I was pretty excited and pretty honored," Schwartz told the Blues website. "It was special that he thought of that, and seeing it now, they did a pretty cool job."
Allen will wear the mask on the Blues Hockey Fights Cancer night when they play the Winnipeg Jets on Nov. 24.
