LACEY ARTEMIS I first got into hockey back in the mid 90s. My dad watched a few different sports, but hockey was the one that caught my attention and it was only as an adult that I figured out really why. This was the first hockey player to really catch my attention: That is Trevor Kidd, who was drafted by, and started his career with the Calgary Flames of the NHL. Despite being drafted in the first round, 11th overall, Kidd was not the calibre of goalie that Calgary’s scouts and management ultimately thought and hoped he would be. In fact, the mention of his name to hockey fans these days yields one of two responses: a sigh/groan/shaking of head, or a “who?” He was chosen ahead of someone you might actually know, someone who just retired last year (2015). In the same draft as Kidd was selected, only 9 spots later, Martin Brodeur was drafted The Art of Hockey – A Fandom In Four Parts (www.curiosityguides.com) by the New Jersey Devils. Brodeur would go on to become a legendary goaltender, holding the records for both most career regular season wins (692) and shut-outs (125) by a goaltender. Both are records that will probably never be surpassed as few goalies nowadays have careers as long as Brodeur’s — 23 seasons, over half of which he played in 70 or more of the 82 regular season games. So, why did Kidd catch my attention and become my favourite goalie and not the legendary Brodeur? The main reason was his pads. Those glorious flame-covered pads. (apologies for the low quality images here, Kidd retired in 2004 so there aren’t really a lot of high-res images of him available anymore, let alone from his time with the Flames pre-1997) The Art of Hockey – A Fandom In Four Parts (www.curiosityguides.com) You see, goalie equipment in the NHL had usually tended to be pretty boring, it was originally just plain brown leather: “old school” goalie gear It has in the modern era become a major way for goalies to showcase their personalities. Goalies are already known for being “just a little bit weird,” after all, they’re the ones willing to stand in front of 90+ mph slapshots for 60 minutes a night. Kidd may not have been the most technically skilled goalie, but he was athletic, and flashing glove saves with a flame-covered glove was exciting for young me. Once something catches my attention, I tend to obsess over it. The Art of Hockey – A Fandom In Four Parts (www.curiosityguides.com) Part 1: The Art of Pads The Art of Hockey – A Fandom In Four Parts (www.curiosityguides.com) Kidd wasn’t the first to have some kind of design or colouring on his pads, but his design was one of the more attention grabbing designs, and I noticed it. I have thought to myself “what if he had been drafted by a different team?” Maybe he wouldn’t have had as interesting pads, maybe I would have noticed a different goalie, maybe not. This is Sean Burke, another goalie from around that time who had a custom pad design. Burke played for the Hartford Whalers and you can see a whale tail sticking up out of water on his pads. Kidd wore Brian’s brand goalie pads, and at the time they were the only goalie pad manufacturer that did custom designs (to the best of my knowlege). Sean Burke (above) was another goalie that used their gear. As I was searching for images of Kidd for this post, I stumbled across an article where I learned that Brian’s nearly went out of business at one point, which I found shocking. They made the coolest goalie pads (in my opinion), yet not enough goalies were buying them for Brian’s to stay competitive with more well established brands like Vaughn or Bauer. The Art of Hockey – A Fandom In Four Parts (www.curiosityguides.com) For a time more recently, plain white pads had seemed to become very popular with goalies. Tim Thomas during a brief stint with the Florida Panthers There was a semi-debate on internet forums about the idea that white pads potentially create an optical illusion trick on shooters, blending in with the white ice making it harder for the shooter to know where the pad ends and the opening begins. So it would make sense that more goalies would try it as goalies are always looking for such advantages. You can kind of see this to the left of the blocker in the image above. Hockey is a fast game and shoots don’t always get a lot of time to decide where to aim. Prior to the all-white pad craze, a few goalies had worn all black pads, the idea there being that if a puck was loose in the crease, it would be harder for opposing players in front to see where it was to jam it past the goalie (but by the same logic, would make it harder for the goalie to find in a scrum as well). The consensus on the white pads ultimately seemed to be that there was no consensus, that this optical effect probably made minimal difference and was just a matter of preference. The Art of Hockey – A Fandom In Four Parts (www.curiosityguides.com) Eventually goalies started getting designs on their pads again, and other companies besides Brian’s began offering pads with designs. The designs ranged from simple: Josh Harding of the Minnesota Wild The Art of Hockey – A Fandom In Four Parts (www.curiosityguides.com) To more complex: James Reimer with the Toronto Maple Leafs I am personally more a fan of the latter, as they’re interesting to look at. They’re a mixture of function and artistry. The Art of Hockey – A Fandom In Four Parts (www.curiosityguides.com) A few more examples: Jaroslav Halak’s claw marks pad design Jake Allen’s Blues pads The Art of Hockey – A Fandom In Four Parts (www.curiosityguides.com) Chris Mason’s Jets pads. The Art of Hockey – A Fandom In Four Parts (www.curiosityguides.com) And then there’s stuff like this (all Brian’s designs): Fun fact — back in 1989, retired NHL goalie Grant Fuhr struck a deal with Pepsi to have their logo on his pads as a promotion/endorsement deal, but the league stepped in and said no. Fuhr was so mad about it he staged his retirement. With cool pad designs, I feel like goalies become almost like a sculpture between the pipes. I love that hockey ended up being a sport with so much visual expression. The jerseys (and logos) in the National Hockey League (in my opinion) are more visually interesting than in any other sport. Hockey is the one sport that really puts some great visuals on display. Of course, there are arguments about this on internet forums as well. Lots of people swear by “the classics” (like Boston or Toronto’s logo/jersey), but I find many of those ‘classic’ logos and jerseys so painfully boring. The Art of Hockey – A Fandom In Four Parts (www.curiosityguides.com) I also find it disappointing that so few teams deviate from primary colours (Red, Blue, Yellow) in their colour schemes. If a team actually uses a secondary colour (Green, Orange, Purple) I’m much more likely to like them just because of that. I am among the minority of hockey fans who likes what some would call “complex” logos/designs. What can I say, I like having something interesting to look at. A prime example is when the Winnipeg Jets (1.0) relocated to Arizona to become the Phoenix Coyotes in the late 90s, this was their official jersey: The Phoenix Coyotes “kachina” jersey. Most people seem to agree this is an “ugly” jersey, but I loved it. It was unlike anything else in the league. And that logo is pretty unique! I admit I’m less fond of it now, but I still like it better than many “classic” jerseys (and better than the team’s current jersey). The fact that this logo and jersey looked “on drugs” probably helped inspire the Coyotes starting goalie Nikolai Khabibulin’s mask design: That’s right! A glow in the dark goalie mask! The Art of Hockey – A Fandom In Four Parts (www.curiosityguides.com) But this logo and jersey design didn’t last, and the team (now the Arizona Coyotes) now uses a much more generic logo and jersey (as most teams inevitably seem to). The Art of Hockey – A Fandom In Four Parts (www.curiosityguides.com) Part 2: The Art of Logos The Art of Hockey – A Fandom In Four Parts (www.curiosityguides.com) Let’s talk logos for a second. As I said, most teams have pretty simple logos. Understandably, you don’t want them to be too detailed/busy because you can’t see that well from a distance or when it’s shrunk down, but at the same time, you want at least a little bit of creativity in a design. You can have a simple logo that is still creative. A great example of this was the logo of the Hartford Whalers (who relocated in the late 1990s to become the Carolina Hurricanes): This logo is famous for use of “negative space.” You can see the W for Whalers, and you can likely see the blue whale tail, but in between them, the negative space forms an “H” for Hartford.