A piece of Terrace has made its way down to Vancouver to join the Canucks in Stanley Cup playoff action.
Mark Hart, a local artist, painted the mask of Cory Schneider last week and has flown to Vancouver to personally hand it over to the Canucks backup goalie.
Equipment manager for the Canucks, Pat O’Neill, called Hart and asked him to help out in a rush order situation after Schneider’s previous mask cracked when he took a slapshot.
Hart has been in contact with Schneider over the design for the blue, green and white helmet which matches the colours of the Canucks.
Hart, who has been painting all types of sports equipment for 14 years and averages 100 masks a year, doesn’t rely on computer-assisted design. He hand draws everything, sending his sketches to the client for approval.
He said this mask is based on the design of Schneider’s two previous masks, with some added personal touches.
“A lot of guys will put on little symbols or sayings,” Hart said, about choosing what goes on a mask.
Schneider’s mask has the words “none shall pass,” which is a reference to Monty Pythons Holy Grail – a movie Schneider used to watch with his father.
Hart airbrushes on his art, although he said there are many different techniques.
Hart is well established in the sports painting field. He got his big break into the NHL scene in the late 90’s when he designed and painted a mask for Terrace-raised goalie Wade Flaherty.
Hart now has that mask, sent to him by Flaherty when he was finished using it.
Hart hopes his newest creation will see some ice time as the Canucks continue their play off run.
“It’s kinda cool when you see your stuff on on that screen,” said Hart.