Jaroslav Halak Slovakia Olympic Mask

For more Olympic Goalie Masks check out our roundup.

Jaroslav Halak has had a terrific Olympic tournament so far, entering the semi-final tonight with a 1.97 GAA. He has taken down the Russians and now the Swedes – and Halak is hoping to make it a hat trick with tonights game against Canada.

We have seen lots of attention drawn to his Olympic mask – so we have a few great shots for you tonight. We first found it, and a description of its imagery on a fan board  HF Boards:

“One side features Vladimir Dzurilla, perhaps the greatest goaltender in the history of Slovak hockey. The other side is Juraj Janosik, a Slovak folk hero, along the same lines as Robin Hood.”

and on the back:

“The High Tatra mountain range.”

We haven’t yet tracked down the artist – if you know, please leave a note in the comments. Turns out the mask was done by inGoal friend David Arrigo. We hadn’t heard back from David during the Olympics as he was busy working on an Official Olympics mural in Vancouver for the week – adding every Canadian Gold Medallist which meant the last few days must have been crazy!

The Vancouver Sun today has a nice piece on Halak and also refers to the design on his Olympic helmet. In it they note that,

“There is no question that Halak, 24, has been oppressed in his brief pro goaltending career — and there’s also no doubt he’d like to invoke the spirit of the now-deceased Dzurzilla and shove another bagel down the collective throat of Team Canada in tonight’s Olympic semifinal game.”

Thanks to s.yume for these and so many other fantastic Olympic Hockey photos, used with permission.