Features

• Hershey’s Michal Neuvirth is bucking the notion that a team must have a proven veteran in goal to make it to the finals. (York Daily Record)

• Having been on the cusp of several major championships, Cory Schneider is looking to finally take home a trophy. (Faceoff.com)

• Schneider chats with AHL fans and credits teammate Mark Cullen as having the best playoff beard. (theAHL.com)

• Thomas McCollum has been told by the Red Wings to expect to spend 2-3 years in the AHL (Grand Rapids) before getting a shot with the big club. (USA Today)

Transactions

• Florida signed Finnish goalie Alexander Salák to an entry level contract Friday. The 22-year-old may end up in Rochester next season, though, as Let’s Go Amerks points out, this leaves some questions about who stays and who goes.

It’s been awfully quiet on the AHL goalie front, as the conference finals wrapped up and now the league waits until Saturday night to drop the puck on the Calder Cup Finals.

Game Reports

Just a quick recap on the Conference Finals:

• In the East, Michal Neuvirth and his Hershey Bears beat Tuukka Rask and the Providence Bruins after Providence won Game 1, but Hershey went on a 4 game streak to take the series.

• In the West, Cory Schneider and the Manitoba Moose beat Houston and its three different starting goalies (Anton Khudobin, Nolan Schaefer, and Matt Climie, who ended the Round 3 with the second-ranking playoff goaltending stats in the AHL) . The series started with 3 wins for Manitoba, but the Aeros rallied with 2 OT wins before heading back to Manitoba, who finished off the upstarts in Game 6.

Calder Cup Finals

• Neuvirth is proving he’s got game in his rookie season with the Hershey Bears. (Washington Times)

• Schneider will be tested, as he hasn’t faced an offense as prolific as Hershey’s in the post-season. (Hershey Bears Hockey)

The AHL is hosting a chat today with AHL Goalie of the Year, Cory Schneider.

Go here to send in your questions for the talented (and sure to be in the NHL next season) netminder.

Cory Schneider – Photo by Fred Trask

It’s been a busy day with mask artists today. Marlene Ross, who paints for Roberto Luongo amongst many others, got in touch with us and shared this shot of her with the mask she painted including the Captain’s C for Louie.

We’re working on a time to chat for inGoalMag – probably some time next week. If you have any questions you’d like me to ask, drop me a line and I’ll add a few in.

UPDATE: We have the first look at Fleury’s Olympic Mask right here.

Did you come here looking for the 2009-2010 Mask Design? Artist Stephane Bergeron told inGoal Mag that Fleury had him paint the same design on this year’s mask. You’ll notice it is branded Bauer now though.

What exactly is that on Marc-Andre Fleury’s mask and where did it come from?

I love the work on Marc-Andre Fleury’s mask. There is something about the simple design that captures you from afar – the obvious ice blocks and the large Penguins’ logo – but then it challenges you to keep looking for details. I was never quite sure what the wild design on the side opposite the Penguins logo was – a crazed psychotic goalie maybe?

I went looking to see who did the work and came across Stephane Bergeron’s name and his company Griffe Originale. I also discovered that a lot of fans want to know about the work and just what that character is. It was a real pleasure to find Stephane’s web site – and to discover that he also paints for Cristobal Huet and Corey Crawford who drew a few minutes of play recently in the Western Conference finals.

I think Huet’s design also captures that simple and striking graphic style, while having a remarkable level of detail to impress. I gave Stephane a call and we chatted at some length about his work with Huet, Fleury and the industry in general. He has had a long relationship with Marc-Andre Fleury and enjoys the challenge of painting for him:

“I’ve been working with him since junior. He’s a picky guy. He will agree quite easily (about the general design) but if there’s a little something on the mask that he doesn’t like, we will talk for a long time about it.”

Fleury, like many NHL goalies, likes a new mask design each year. Stephane described how they came up with the one we are seeing now in the Stanley Cup Finals:

“This year’s mask we blended the design of last year and the season before. From last year we ket the ice blocks and he always keeps the Penguins logo on one side – that is very important for him.  Two year’s ago I drew him that flower on the side with the goalie glove and mask and he liked that so we decided to use it again.”

And there was the explanation – the crazy character on the side is a flower. That won’t come as a huge surprise if you have listened to his teammates being interviewed. They quite often refer to him by his nickname – Flower. Stephane expanded a bit for us on how it fit into the desgn:

“Fleury means flower in French, so his nickname is flower. So maybe two years ago he didn’t know what to do (for a mask design), so I proposed a kind of scary flower with goalie gear. So I just drew it like you see it right now and he just loved it.”

I’m sure that when he is at his acrobatic best Marc-Andre really looks like a scary goalie – one crazy flower or sure.

Thank you very much to Stephane for taking the time with us and sharing his great artwork. Stop by his web site for a visit and if you have a mask that needs an NHL quality paint job, don’t hesitate to give him a call.

For more on Stephane’s work please see:

Cristobal Huet’s mask – a chat with artist Stephane Bergeron

Stephane Bergeron La Griffe Originale on being a professional mask artist (coming soon).

All photos are courtesy of Stephane Bergeron, all rights reserved.

Fleury versus Osgood

Who has the edge in goal, Pittsburgh’s Marc-André Fleury or Detroit’s Chris Osgood? Neither is any great shakes in the statistics department, except when it comes to wins

NHL Goalies

Game Reports

Huet’s night just short of perfect

Goalies in the Blogs

• No More Doubting It: Chris Osgood Is a Big Time Goalie
• Patrick Lalime: 2008-2009 Report Card – Die By The Blade
• Part 1: Fleury vs. Osgood – Winging It In Motown
• HockeyBuzz.com – Eklund – Havlat and Khabibulin added to Rumor Chart Who wants ‘em?
• Mike Smith and the Lightning goaltending situation – Raw Charge
• Roberto Luongo: Man on the street
  Does the Weather Network have any idea who it’s talking to here?

Junior Goaltenders

The World of Junior Hockey: Lee is USA Goalie of the Year

While Detroit ultimately won game 5 and the series, Cristobal Huet preserved the game and allowed it to go into OT with a mere 17 seconds remaining by making the save of the night against Johan Franzen.

Check out our article on Huet’s mask art.

For Huet’s 2009-2010 Mask check out this story

Cristobal Huet has been a loyal customer of Stephane Bergeron’s Griffe Originale since he was first traded to Montreal in the summer of 2004.

I chatted recently with Stephane Bergeron of Griffe Originale about the industry and his work with Cristobal Huet and Marc-Andre Fleury. If you’d like to see our talk about Fleury then check out this post. Here we look at the Blackhawks star and his mask art.

I find Huet’s design striking – simple in concept yet complex in its execution, taking the native headdress to a new artistic level. Stephane commented on the design and how it is to work with Cristobal:

“He doesn’t like paint jobs that are too aggressive…he’s more of a logo guy…but I said to him, maybe for this one we should do something a little bit different. So he spoke with one of his friends and they talked about the Indian Chief head. I reminded him that Hackett had that concept years ago. We kept talking and had the idea that you see on the two sides – the kind of a stone with the Chicago logo on it. We saw that kind of idea on the internet and decided it could be cool and it would be different from the Hackett paint job.  So we decided to do that and make some feathers that were more realistic than the Hackett Paint Job.”

As we’ve learned in our talks with other top mask artists, the relationship between athlete and artist is different every time, from those goalies who just get their equipment manager to make something happen for them, to goalies who create their own concepts to some who are just plain impossible to work with! I’m sure he’s not alone but I think Cristobal is the first we have heard who seeks approval on his designs at home as well:

“He always asks me to do a drawing first so that he sees the final design before we paint it. He’s a cool guy and most of the time he just agrees with my design, sometimes there are a few changes but it’s more for the colours.  He told me that his wife has to give are agreement with the design.”

Huet likes a simple design and unlike others like Ryan Miller, there is nothing hidden behind the obvious in his paint job.

“He’s not a guy like that, though I have some goalies that like to do that. Cristobal likes a simple design, not too much details, more a generic mask with basic design. He’ll never do something like a beast of something. I even proposed some Indian characters but he doesn’t like that.”

Stephane has been working with Huet since he was traded to Montreal. He got to do the Montreal mask thanks to a mutual friend who played junior hockey with Huet and called Stephane the day after Huet was traded to Montreal suggesting they do something together. They called Cristobal and he agreed right away.

“He didn’t have an idea for Montreal, he had never been there,  he just said do me a paint job for Montreal, and that’s it! He was happy with the first drawing and since then he’s been happy with my paint jobs, so he’s a good customer of mine.”

I also loved the work he did for Huet’s mask used in the outdoor classic a Wrigley Field, combining elements from the Hawks with the Wrigley Field sign and cheering ‘Hawks fans at the big event.

Thank you very much to Stephane for taking the time with us and sharing his great artwork. Stop by his web sit for a visit and if you have a mask that needs an NHL quality paint job, don’t hesitate to give him a call.

For more on Stephane’s work please see:

Marc-Andre Fleury’s mask – a chat with artist Stephane Bergeron

Stephane Bergeron La Griffe Originale on being a professional mask artist (coming soon).

NHL Goalies

• Roy end of the deal 

Are the leaks of Patrick Roy’s offer from the Avs a ploy to force the Canadiens to make a pitch?

• Havlat, Khabibulin don’t practice but will go to Detroit
• Avs offer Roy GM and coach hats

Game Reports

• Fleury steals the game and series from Canes
• Ward posts loss in elimination contest
• ‘Canes’ Staal, Ward don’t go down without fight

Goalies in the Blogs

• Intro to Goalie Management 101 – Integrating the Mind with Body By Creating Focus Through Goal-Setting
• Hockey Fans Forum: Canada 2010 Olympic Goalie contest heats up!
• Leafs after Swedish goaltender | ganweb

NCAA Goalies

• Vetter named Women’s Player of the Year

Junior Goaltenders

• Murphy named top goalie - Belleville Intelligencer – Ontario, CA