The Goalie Masks I Picked!

As promised, the unveiling of the rest of the masks that will be included in the tournament that begins in just two days! There are 34 more and here they are.

A couple of things I should explain. Karri Ramo switches off between two masks. Both will be in the preliminary round where you guys will determine which makes it to the main 64.

Johan Holmqvist, at this moment, does not have a mask painted for the Dallas Stars, the team for which he now plays. The one or two games he has played in, however, he's worn a black mask with a Stars logo on the chin. I've opted for his Lightning helmet since it's actually painted. (This doesn't apply to Martin Gerber because he intentionally wears a blank helmet.)

Brian Boucher has been backing up Evgeni Nabokov lately for the San Jose Sharks, yet he's been wearing his Philadelphia Phantoms AHL mask. That's the one I'm going with though at this point I understand he has a new one on the way. If either Holmqvist or Boucher — or any other goalie for that matter — changes his mask prior to his poll being posted, I will likely change the graphic to reflect that. If a change is made after the poll is posted, too bad.

My process here in choosing these 34 was essentially to get in as many if not all of the goalies currently seeing time in the NHL. There are a few exceptions but that's the way it goes. If you think there's been an injustice, feel free to say so. It's not necessarily set in stone until I post the bracket tomorrow. But make sure you present a good argument. No flakes allowed.

Now, as you'll see with the bracket, we'll be narrowing these 34 down to 32 in the preliminary round. I've already decided on how. The two polls will be Marc Denis vs Scott Clemmensen and Jimmy Howard vs Tuukka Rask. Really what it came down to was, in one case, two relatively veteran goalies who now see very little playing time in the league and, in the other, two very young goalies who don't play much but may have big futures (also, nice masks!).

I want to point out that I recognize that I'm leaving out guys like Jean-Sebastien Aubin, Dmitri Patzold, Erik Ersberg, Corey Crawford, Michael Leighton, Curtis McElhinney, Thomas Greiss and even Brent Johnson. But how much NHL action are they really seeing anyway? I know I'm leaving out other names, but I had to draw a line somewhere. They'll have their moment.

And for what it's worth, I'll let you in on some of my future plans. First, I'm already gathering pictures to do another goalie mask competition following this one. For that, we'll go back in time 10 years and judge masks from the 1998-99 season. In fact, I'm even considering a spinoff blog like ToHL that focuses solely on goalie masks. Trying to gauge interest. I'm also considering abandoning ToHL after the CHL logo tournaments. There doesn't seem to be a big interest there like there is here.

That's all I've got for now. Get ready to see the match-ups tomorrow. Remember, they'll be completely random!

UPDATE (3/23 11:08 AM): I changed out Fernandez for Ersberg up there. Enjoy!

The Goalie Masks You Picked!

Voting has officially closed for determining the top 32 goalie masks to be included in the upcoming NHLToGM. Thanks to the more than 1,500 of you who voted and here's who you selected in alphabetical order.

Sorry for the small images. You'll be treated to larger ones when the tournament actually begins.

Those masks will make up half of the first round of the tournament. All of the pictures are completely up to date with current masks (including Huet and Emery). I double- and triple-checked them in many cases. I've already decided on who will comprise the other half but I'll unveil those and go into more detail tomorrow. On Sunday you'll learn the match-ups and see the brackets. On Monday you'll cast your first vote.

Speaking of that first vote, we're starting with a preliminary round. A total of 68 masks will be involved in this tournament altogether. You're thinking, "Now Chris, how is it that we have a bracket of 32 on each side yet somehow you've managed to come up with a sum of 68?" Good question.

Marty Turco wears two masks, presently. One is black and one is white (he likes them to match his jersey, I guess). You see the black one above but in the first poll you'll be voting to decide which one will go into the tournament. There's another goalie that has a similar situation whose name I will reveal tomorrow. That makes 66.

I'll explain the other two tomorrow because actually there will be 34 masks there so we'll have to narrow that down with preliminary round polls. That makes a grand total of 4 preliminary round polls. Hope I didn't confuse you too much with that. It's not really important.

All you really need to do is cast a vote and you're good to go. Stay tuned for the rest of the group tomorrow!

Dubie Debuts New Mask

Wade Dubielewicz donned a new mask last night for the New York Islanders. It may not have helped much, but I just thought I'd let you guys know I've got photos of it and the new mask will be included in the upcoming tournament.

It's still got the '90s fisherman on top but it no longer says "DUBIE" on the bottom anymore.

Anyway, the helmet graphics are coming along nicely. I've got about 55 or so complete. As soon as I figure out who all will be included, we should be about ready to get this thing going.

I obviously can't keep an eye personally on every single goalie, so if you see a goalie donning a new mask this week, please let me know so I can try to include it in the competition. Once we start however, I won't make any graphics changes. By the way, thanks to Lucas for tipping me off on Dubielewicz's new mask.

Update On Goalie Photos

Quick update on the goalie photos. I've gotten tons of emails in the last 24 hours from folks responding to my last post about photos I'm looking for. First, thank you so much! Second, I think I've got enough for the moment. There are some goalie masks for which I'll need new pictures.

I'll be updating this post today with a list of what I still need. You guys have been unbelievably helpful. Hopefully you can continue that streak.

UPDATE (7:15 PM): All right, as it turns out I've got all the photos I need at this point. Someone pointed me to an excellent site for gathering photos. I'll be working on those tonight so you probably shouldn't expect a concept post. However, you should expect to see the NHL Tournament of Goalie Masks begin some time early next week. Get excited!

Changes For New Tourney

I've been really going back and forth on this for the last few days trying to figure out the best format for this Tournament of Goalie Masks. Harder than it sounds, actually.

In going through photos and things, I'm realizing this would be difficult to pull off with a bracket of only 32. I'm thinking we should probably expand to 64. It'll be a long one. That's for sure. Here's the thing. ESPN lists 65 active goaltenders currently playing in the NHL. NHL.com, however, lists 99. That's a big gap. Anyway, my feeling is with a bracket of 64 we get the opportunity to grab the starter and backup from all 30 clubs plus a few extras which would account for the handful of teams with three goalies.

As for the voting in the sidebar poll, the top 32 you guys choose will be automatically placed in the bracket so none of them face each other in the first round. That is, there's the possibility all 32 advance to the second. So now I'm down to trying to figure out how the other 32 get selected. Probably just an executive decision by me. I'll go into a little more detail but first, here are a couple more graphics from the 44 I have completed.

Finished Graphics
I have 44 graphics done with photos I have of masks I'm sure will be in the tournament. They are as follows, by last name only: Anderson, Backstron, Biron, Brodeur, Bryzgalov, Budaj, Conklin, DiPietro, Ellis, Emery, Fleury, Giguere, Grahame, Hasek, Hedberg, Huet, Khabibulin, Kiprusoff, Kolzig, LaBarbera, Lalime, Leclaire, Legace, Lehtonen, Lundqvist, Luongo, Mason, Miller, Nabokov, Niittymaki, Price, Ramo, Roloson, Sanford, Smith, Theodore, Thibault, Thomas, Toivonen, Toskala, Turco, Vokoun, Ward and Weekes.

Pictures Needed
The 44 above are done because those are all the pictures I have. In order to do anymore, I'll need photographs of a relatively high quality of the goalie and his mask in action or at least on the ice. Close-ups are best. This is where I could really use your help, if you're so inclined. Following are names of the some of the other active goalies we might want to consider for the tournament. I need their photos: Auld, Boucher, Cloutier, Dubielewicz, Garon, Gerber, Halak, Harding, Hiller, Holmqvist, Johnson, Joseph, Norrena, Osgood, Raycroft, Sabourin, Tellqvist and Valiquette.

Keep in mind that I'll need current photos. This is most important if a goalie was recently traded, like Holmqvist. Not to mention I could use better pictures of some of the ones I already have done — Mike Smith, for example. Anyway, if you guys can help, I'd be incredibly appreciative.

Also, if there are other names that I haven't listed here, please let me know. Remember, don't just send names, try to send high quality photos as well. And help me consider whether to include goalies like Marc Denis who's still a member of the Lightning but not currently playing in the NHL. Remember, we need 64 goalies or 32. I don't want anybody getting a bye in any round of this tournament.

Email anything you think might be helpful to nhllogos@gmail.com.

At Work On Goalie Masks

You thought I was going to go a whole weekend without a single post didn't you? Gotcha!

No but seriously I have been hard at work on things relevant to the blog, actually. I've been designing graphics for the upcoming NHL Tournament of Goalie Masks. Indeed, this isn't something I'm just throwing together. Just like I did with all the logo graphics, I'm putting my own spin on the helmets.

Check out some of what I have done so far.

Those guys are among the top vote-getters right now in the sidebar poll so obviously there's no need for me to explain who they are.

My goal was to make you look only at the mask and nothing else in the photo — that's why everything else has been grayed out. That said, all the photos I'm using are game action photos and I'm still looking for better pictures of some goalies. I'll post a list here when I get a chance if anyone wants to help out.

Apologies for the small images. You'll be able to click through to larger versions when the tournament actually begins.

Let me know what you guys think of these graphics. I encourage feedback!

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!