Stare into the dark abyss of Jonas Hiller's murdered-out goalie mask
If you considered J.S. Giguere's cyber-duck mask intimidating -- you know, the one that resembled a Disney Channel version of "The Terminator" -- then you obviously haven't seen this new mask for Jonas Hiller(notes) of the Anaheim Ducks.
This mask was designed by Alex Voggel of Airxess Masks in Switzerland (and get cracking on that new Huet model, mister). The Goalie Guild snagged some images of the mask and published a short interview with Voggel, who said:
"The mask is a prototype, called the Tornado Hiller Edition EVO I [Evolution 1]. The Mask form [shape] is given by Hiller and done once again by the computer. The mask model is 'printed' by a certain laser technique and at Airxess we completed the mask with doing all the measurements for the mask, along with the face cutout, the custom cage, custom foam and more. The shell is, as every Tornado mask, made from carbon and carbon/aramid layers and a lot of reinforcements." [...]
"The chin was done more narrow. It is wider at the cheeks but the rest is almost the same. The design is flat black, a 'Mad Max' style and all icons are in high reflective gold."
Mad Max, eh? Shouldn't be able to call it that unless it looks like this. ("Who run Bartertown?") No word if this mask was inspired by Alex Ovechkin's pimp ride.
Check out the other angles on the new Hiller mask, which makes that classic Martin "Darth" Gerber mask look like Rainbow Brite by comparison.
The Goalie Guild told us Monday morning that Hiller's keeping this minimalist design for now but will likely have a version with "full-blown paint" during the season, as he goes through about three mask designs each year.
Too bad ... this murdered-out look is one tinted visor away from thug-life perfection. As it stands, we'd request that Chamillionaire's "Ridin' (Dirty)" become Hiller's official theme song until he switches masks. "They see me goalin'/I'm save'n..."