Why Andrei Vasilevskiy's goalie mask changes color, and other ways artists are pushing boundaries

When Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy trudges down the tunnel at Amalie Arena to begin pregame warmups, his mask appears white with only faint gray and pale blue markings.

When the two-time Stanley Cup champion netminder hits the ice, thats when the magic begins.

As hes stretching on the faceoff dot, the cold air of the arena begins to interact with the paint on his mask.

Suddenly, vibrant blue and black designs begin to appear all over the mask.

Within minutes, Vasilevskiys mask looks completely different, enveloped in the Gzhel pottery-themed design capped by his signature lion head on top.

Advertisement The effect is achieved with a thermochromic paint used by his mask artist, Sylvie Marsolais.

Its one of many fascinating ways artists are pushing the boundaries on mask design, which is a rare canvas for individuality in the uniformized world of professional sports.

Im amazed that it still exists, said Jordan Bourgeault, who paints masks for several NHL goalies.

In sport, theres no individuality.

You get a number.

You all wear the exact same outfit, and you are interchangeable and replaceable.

The fact that goalie masks still have this individuality to put creativity and color that doesnt even necessarily match is wild to me.

If the idea was started today, theres no way they would allow that, but its from the roots and its cool so they dont take it away.

From the moment Doug Favell donned a mask with pumpkin-orange paint for the Philadelphia Flyers in October 1970, goalie masks have always been custom-designed to the netminders preference.

Throughout NHL history, masks have been as synonymous with goalies as their jersey number.

As technology has improved, the paint jobs have gotten increasingly complicated and creative.

At their core, most artists are innovators, and they love pushing the envelope on design.

Vasilevskiys new color-changing mask isnt the first time Marsolais has used thermochromic paint.

She had used it on small designs for several of his masks dating to 2016, but this was the first time it was used for the entire paint job, and the results are stunning.

The transformation is obviously more gradual when Vasilevskiy is wearing the mask on the ice, and once it changes colors, it remains in that state for the remainder of the game.

However, if you look closely during games, you can see the colors fade around the chin and cage openings, where the heat from Vasilevskiys breath is interacting with the paint.

Advertisement Marsolais has been airbrushing since 1999.

She played goalie growing up and still does in adult leagues in Montreal and remembers loving how the goalies in the 1990s were so easily identifiable by their headgear.

Curtis Joseph played for half a dozen teams, but no matter what colors he wore, he always had the jaws of a vicious dog painted around the cage of his mask.

When Martin Brodeur was in the net, you knew it was him because it was his mask, Marsolais said.

Its something really special.

Marsolais combined her two passions art and goaltending and started an airbrushing company with her business partner Alexandre Mathys called Sylabrush.

Initially she painted everything from motorcycles to wall murals, but eventually moved to only painting goalie masks.

Her first NHL client was then- Carolina Hurricanes goalie Anton Khudobin in 2013.

In the 12 years since, Marsolais has built a client list that includes Vasilevskiy, Jake Allen , Samuel Montembeault, Joonas Korpisalo , Devon Levi , Pyotr Kochetkov and others.

None has a more iconic mask than Vasilevskiy, who continues the tradition of older generations of goalies by sticking with a single, recognizable theme.

The giant lion head on the top of every mask is in honor of Vasilevskiys aptly-given nickname, The Big Cat.

His masks also include palm trees for his state of residency, and a Russian phoenix for his home country.

The rest is left in the hands of Marsolais and her imagination.

Thats what he told us at the beginning of his career, Marsolais said.

He wanted to keep something similar for his whole career.

Its always a challenge to come up with something a little different.

Thats fun.

The color-changing innovation quickly caught the eyes of other goalies, and Marsolais has already painted two more since.

One is worn by Montreal s rookie sensation Jakub Dobes , and the other by Nicole Hensley of the PWHL s Minnesota Frost.

Advertisement This isnt the first mask-painting trend she started, either.

In 2021, she painted a mask for Canadiens prospect Michael McNiven that simulated the look of a toque on his head.

Marsolais didnt invent the idea of painting a toque on the helmet several others had done it before but she took the idea to a new level by individually painting each thread to give the mask an incredibly realistic knitted look.

Im crazy, Marsolais said with a laugh.

I like to do a lot of details.

Its really what Im focused on.

I always try to push my boundaries on each mask.

The first time I painted the knitting, it was really small and Alex came over and told me to make them bigger or it will take forever.

I was getting cramps in my hand, but the result was great.

Since that mask debuted other painters have continued to build on the concept.

Both Golden Knights goalies Adin Hill and Logan Thompson had similar mask designs for the 2024 Winter Classic, painted by Dave Fried.

Jacob Markstrom had a mask painted by Bourgeault for the 2023 Outdoor Heritage Classic that looked like a knitted skull.

Bourgeault also pushes the boundaries on mask painting, but in a very different way.

He was one of the first to paint the mask accessories, such as the elastic straps that hold the back plate on, the mask cage and even the screws and hardware that hold the thing together.

The artful side of Bourgeault simply couldnt bear to see a beautifully painted mask accented by plain white clips and straps.

I used to paint sneakers, and I would color the laces, the inside of the tongue, and do all of these small things to accent the design, Bourgeault explained.

Then I get to painting a goalie mask thats red and black, and they put these stupid white straps and clips on it.

Painting them came out of frustration for me with them not matching the design.

Its just another thing you can customize and make it even cooler.

Why would you not? Painting the cage itself didnt come without challenges.

These masks are, after all, protective equipment used in high-stakes competition in which goalies must perform at their best.

Markstrom has worn a white cage throughout his entire hockey career, and didnt want that to change.

Advertisement I painted the lava skull mask for him, and I was like, Can we please not do a white cage? That just ruins it, Bourgeault recalled.

He was like, OK, but I need to see white when I look out through the mask.' To compromise, Bourgeault meticulously taped off the inside of every bar on Markstroms cage so that he could match the outside to the mask design while leaving the inside untouched.

Bourgeault is known for the amount of detail he puts into every mask.

He only paints for a very small number of goalies, because his turnaround time for a mask can be as long as a month (some painters turn masks around in a few days).

Hes even had to turn potential clients away because he wouldnt be able to get their mask to them with enough of the season remaining for it to be worth it.

Another one of the more eye-popping innovations when it comes to painting goalie masks came from Fried, who made Thompsons Golden Knights mask glow in the dark in 2022.

Glow in the Dark Knight in Vegas is awesome pic.twitter.com/x3ba1fMSiP Jesse Granger (@JesseGranger_) November 27, 2022 Fried used glow-in-the-dark paint on different aspects of Thompsons mask that year to match the teams Reverse Retro jerseys.

He hasnt used the technique much since, mostly because teams dont create an environment to show the paint off with a black light the way Vegas did that season, but he said he has an even more effective glowing paint in mind if another goalie requests it.

Fried loves designing masks for both Thompson who is now in Washington and Hill because of all the possibilities with gold as a team color.

Ive thrown every gold trick that Ive ever come across at Vegas, because we might as well, he said.

Gold flakes, gold sparkles, gold leaf, gold vinyl that gets cleared over to look like gold chrome.

Fried has an assortment of techniques at his disposal to give each mask a different feel.

He actually puts gold leaf which is just gold hammered into a thin sheet on masks with a clear coat over it to create a more textured look, like this mask Thompson wore in 2024.

I used to be kind of worried when I first started using it that it was cracking, but then I noticed it just adds some character to the mask, Fried said.

I always try to throw a little bit in.

Its a neat trick that sets you apart a little more.

An older technique that is once again covering masks across the NHL this season is painting on top of chrome to give the mask an unmistakable shine.

Advertisement There are a lot of guys asking for that now, Fried said.

First you get it chromed, so its solid chrome like a futuristic Star Wars helmet.

Then you sand it, lay all of your stencils on it, paint it, then you paint the clear coat over it and it brings all of the gloss back.

On top of the chrome finish Fried uses a dense, pigment paint sometimes referred to as candy paint, which is almost like a stain.

The result is a spectacularly shiny mask that you can even see glistening on the TV broadcast.

This particular trick does add another step to the painting process.

Fried cant chrome the helmets himself, so instead he sends them to someone who can.

Like many of these innovations it lengthens the wait time, which can be problematic in this industry.

At the start of the year its push, push, push, Fried explained.

Everyone wants their masks yesterday.

Sometimes you have to bench some of those tricks and just get masks to the guys.

Because NHL teams foot the bill for the paint jobs, artists cant begin painting for the upcoming season until it gets relatively close, to avoid late-summer trades or roster moves that would render a mask useless.

That means when September rolls around, these painters have an army of goalies who all need masks by the exact same date.

We try to get them out as fast as possible, but we have to make sure the quality is the best, because we want to stand out, Fried said.

Its a fun time of the year.

Im coming down off the high right now.

Usually around Christmas is when we can breathe.

Time constraints dont prevent the artists from continually finding new ways to make their paint jobs unique.

What could be coming in the future? Several artists agreed that artificial intelligence will play a large role in the design process moving forward especially when it comes to finding references online.

Advertisement Thats all around in the art industry, not just with masks, Fried said.

Im also a tattoo artist and (the use of artificial intelligence) has been in tattooing also.

If you embrace it and use it to complement or improve your work, thats where I think it can shine.

Bourgeault loves how technology has changed the design process, allowing him to make pre-paint sketches on an iPad that can easily be tweaked at the request of the client, rather than having to start the drawing from scratch after every change.

As for what else he can paint to complete a goalies look, he said he hasnt had any in-depth conversations about it but would love to play a role in the designing of their pads.

He also threw out an interesting idea that may not be practical enough to come to fruition, but would open a new avenue for creativity.

What if you could paint the plastic dangler some goalies wear to protect their neck? Bourgeaults head is already swirling with possibilities.

It would expand his canvas and add an element of movement.

He can already picture painting a bottom jaw onto the dangler and watching it bounce up and down during the game.

Thats the only thing that I havent painted yet on a goalie mask, he said with a laugh.

We cant predict where the innovations will go from here.

Thats part of what makes them fun.

What Bourgeault, Marsolais and Fried are certain of, though, is that theyll keep pushing the envelope on the most personalized piece of equipment in sports.

Theyve all been inspired by masks of the past, and hope to continue providing inspiration in the future.

Its so cool to create these, Bourgeault said.

I can imagine a kid looking at (Markstrom) with his mask on, and he looks like a superhero.

He almost turns into a character.

I hope they never get rid of it, because how many people are drawn into playing hockey because they want to look like that? (Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic .

Photos of Andrei Vasilevskiy: Mark LoMoglio and Mike Carlson / Getty Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.