Friday, March 14, 2008

Goalie Mask Tourney Update

Quick update for you on the upcoming goalie mask tournament. I went through all 30 teams and came up with 48 goalies I could see being eligible for this tournament. Obviously, that's insanity. We're not doing a tournament that big. The max I'm willing to do for this is 32. Therefore, I think what I'm going to do is place a huge poll in the sidebar and essentially let you guys decide which goalies will be included.

This poll will have all 48 names and be multiple choice. That is, you'll be able to select as many goalies as you want when casting your vote. You can vote for all 48; you can vote for just 1. Whatever you want is fine by me. But ultimately, the top 32 vote-getters will make up this tournament. So while I'll continue to gather pictures, you guys will have another poll to vote on for a while.

In the meantime, if you're bored, may I suggest casting a daily vote over at ToHL where we're conducting a WHL Tournament of Logos. It's the beginning of a larger CHL logo tournament. The WHL will be followed by the OHL, then QMJHL. The three winners from each league will face off for one final vote.

All right, that's all I got. Just be prepared for a ginormous poll to appear in the sidebar very soon. Then pick as many goalies as you like. The 32 with the most votes will be in the NHLToGM. (I like abbreviations.)

UPDATE (9:11 PM): Okay, I've added the goalie poll to the sidebar. Choose as many or as few as you like. Happy voting!

18 comments:

Jacob said...

Is the tournament restricted to current masks? A lot of my favorite masks have been altered or retired. For example:
Cujo's blue dog (just doesn't look the same in red)
Belfour's eagles
And of course, Steve Shields' Gerry Cheevers tribute
For that matter, Cheevers' original is probably my favorite mask ever. But maybe that's going a little too far back.
Also, I prefer Luongo's white mask to the other, which I think he wears more (haven't really been paying attention) but both deserve to be in this tournament.

Jason said...

The only one I don't think belongs is Chris Osgood, as it's just a plain helmet and cage.

Daryl said...

I always liked Tom Barasso's Penguin (from Batman) mask. That was different.

Q said...

I always liked Felix Potvin's... Simple, elegant and signature...

wozniak said...

how is Brodeurs mask getting as many votes as it is? there like no artistic skill involved in it. a guy with spray paint, tape and an exacto-blade could do it in a couple of hrs (mostly to let the paint dry)


now, masks like Mike Smith and DiPietro those are friggn works of art.

Endless Mike said...

There should be a play in tourny.

And maybe you can do a vintage helmet tourny like you did with the vintage logos?

Chris said...

As long as the interest is there and we can find decent quality photos, I'd be more than happy to do a vintage goalie mask tournament. I just figured for right now we should stick with current goalies so as to make photos easier to find. Thanks for all the input!

Unknown said...

Il'l be voting for Martin Gerber.

Unknown said...

mike richter, hands down, pretty much started the whole rangers third jersey with the statue of liberty on the top of the helmet

LETS GO RANGERS!!!!!
chris, your lightning are goin down tonight

poul said...

FELIX POTVIN had the greatest mask of all time

...is there any way to add Andrew Raycroft to the list? he may not be that great in net but his mask is really nice.

Drew said...

What about Wade Dubielewicz...
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&resnum=0&q=dubielewicz&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Rene J. Murguia said...

its already been acknowledged, but yea i'd love for there to be a vintage goalie mask tournament at some point... i guess the list can be whittled down like how the worst logo was one was made with comments

Anonymous said...

no Hannu Toivonen or Steve Valiquette? Both are regular back-ups on their teams and both have awesome masks.

Chris said...

I'll address the "missing" goalies from the voting list. The initial plan was to go with the 30 starting goalies. But some teams don't have a designated starter.

The idea here is that we try to get at least one goalie from each team plus a couple of "wild cards." So the reason Dubielewicz, Toivonen and Valiquette aren't included is that their counterparts are obvious starters. But it was difficult for me to decide on that and leave out so many goalies with really nice masks.

If enough of you really have a problem with the goalies included in the voting list and you're vocal about it, I'll consider making a new poll. I can't alter the list or add names once votes have been cast, but I can create a new one altogether. It would require everyone to vote again. Keep in mind that at this point over 500 people have cast a vote.

Let me know. You guys get to vote. You should be able to vote for whoever you want — the only catch is that they have to currently be playing in the NHL.

Chris said...

LETS GO RANGERS!!!!!
chris, your lightning are goin down tonight


Boy, did that one blow up in your face. Mike Smith is really starting to show us something now. And at last he's got a pretty new mask!

Unknown said...

i have to eat crow to that one, we got dominated, i didnt actually see the game tho, i was busy watching my Miami Redhawks tool on Bowling Green, going to the Joe baby

i should probably put some input in as well, um...yea Gerber's got a pretty good mask, but i like Luongo's

Unknown said...

What about Jonas Hiller from the Anaheim Ducks? He has a really nice gold mask, and it is my personal opinion that he would dominate the other masks in a tournament.

BK said...

What no Josh Harding of the Wild in the sidebar? He's played in 26 games this year and has a great helmet that pays tribute to the I-35W bridge collapse that happened last summer in Minny. Maybe separate the tourney into one solely for western conference and one solely for eastern conference...