During Tristan Jarry's first year of junior hockey with the Edmonton Oil Kings in 2011-12, he finally had the opportunity to custom paint his goalie helmet - but struggled to find any real inspiration for a meaningful design.
Jarry honors frontline heroes with new mask design
"I had video games like Call of Duty - a whole bunch of zombies and stuff - then the Oil Kings logos. I was kind of all over the place," he said with a laugh. "I didn't really know what to do."
Fortunately, Jarry would get some inspiration from his European teammates Kristian Pelss and Martin Gernat.
They didn't know a lot of English, but one part of American pop culture they did know was the cartoon 'Tom and Jerry.' And with Jarry's last name looking and sounding similar to the titular mouse, Pelss and Gernat had some fun with their netminder.
"They'd always come in and say Jerry, where's your cat Tom? And I'd have no idea what they were talking about for the longest time," Jarry laughed. "And then finally I figured out that it was a cartoon show, so I was like, that makes sense! They always called me Jerry, so I incorporated Tom and Jerry into my next helmet."
When Pelss, a 2010 draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers, tragically and accidentally drowned in the summer of 2013 in his native Lativa at just 20 years old, Jarry decided to keep Tom and Jerry on his mask moving forward as a tribute to his friend.
"It's matched me well and it's got a good story behind it," Jarry said. "So I've always kept in honor of him."
Each year, Jarry puts the characters in different scenarios that usually have to do with either events around Pittsburgh or in his personal life.
Like when legendary Pittsburgh wrestler Bruno Sammartino died in 2018, Jarry put Tom and Jerry in wrestling costumes to honor him. And when Jarry's uncle - who is a big outdoors person - had a heart attack last year, Tristan had Tom and Jerry ice fishing.
However, this year Jarry's mask has taken on more of a different look as the goaltender recently switched painters, opting to work with Dave Fried, a custom goalie mask painter and tattoo artist out of Alberta.
When the two of them got together to discuss the design, Jarry started by telling Fried how he likes to acknowledge current events around Tom and Jerry. And that led to a decision to pay tribute to the essential workers who have been working so incredibly hard during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I told him the only one that really comes to mind is just honoring our frontline workers," Jarry said. "Do something with them with COVID. And he said we could do Tom and Jerry fighting it, which was perfect. And then I was like, well, everyone has to wear masks now. So let's put them wearing masks."
On the sides of the helmet, Fried put the cat and mouse in the masks - Penguins-themed, of course - and doctor outfits, with Jerry using a hockey stick and Tom using a syringe to combat the virus. And on the back of the helmet is a message thanking the frontline heroes.
"Just how much they've done for the city of Pittsburgh and everyone around, it's been a huge change in life for everyone," Jarry said. "And they're the ones that had to change the most right away. They had to work those long hours and they had a lot of unknowns in their jobs, but they were still the ones that had to go to work every day. So I think that was a big thing that I wanted, to honor them."
It's especially meaningful for Jarry as his parents, Dave and Michelle, are two of those frontline heroes. They own a grocery store called Jarry's Market in South Delta, British Columbia - which is about a 25-minute drive from where they live in North Delta - and they've still been going to work every single day throughout this pandemic as their business is considered essential.
"It was especially tough for them because people would take time off if they were sick or if they thought they were sick, so they were the ones that had to go to work every day, usually all day for the most part," Jarry said.
"So it was a lot of long shifts during it. You see how much they work and how hard they have to work for what they have. Even the days that they don't want to go to work, they don't get regular days off. It's just tough when they're going to work from 6 am till 6 pm at night every day of the week."
Overall, Jarry is thrilled with how the final product turned out, and hopes people feel the same way when they see it.
"I think Dave did a great job on it," Jarry said. "I think he matched all the colors perfectly to our jerseys and everything. And then Tom and Jerry just being in the doctor outfits, I think that turned out awesome and I think it'll be something that I'll be able to relate to for years to come. And I think people that see it will be able to get the point of what I was after, too."
