Talking about masks ...

... why don't you check out these designs. Some are cool. Some are scary. And some are simply out of this world.

Any way you look at it, though, the work being done on today's goalie masks, which show they've come a long way since Montreal Maroons goalie Clint Benedict, at left, first donned one, makes them true pieces of art. Enjoy!

Don McClelland Designs, where you'll see masks for Boston's Tim Thomas and Atlanta's Kari Lehtonen, when he played for the Chicago Wolves.

EYECANDYAIR, where you'll see some truly remarkable work, including another of Tim Thomas' mask, by airbrush artist Steve Nash. Sources tell me that Nash is working on Thomas' mask for the 2006-07 season.

Image Airbrush, which, in addition to goalie masks, designed a 9/11 memorial catchers mask for then Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Chad Kreuter.

Miska Designs, which has designed masks in the past for Eddie Belfour, Manny Fernandez and Steve Shields.

Myers Mask Design, where you'll see masks for Washington's Olaf Kolzig and Edmonton's Dwayne Roloson, when he played for the Buffalo Sabres.

If you have any artistic talent at all, print this sheet and you can design your own mask.

If you're really adventurous, enter EYECANDYAIR's contest. If your design is picked (I submitted a Florida beach motif), you'll win your very own custom-painted goalie mask. Good luck.

And in the interest of full disclosure, no, I'm not getting any money, artwork or masks (unless I win the contest, of course) for promoting these sites. In fact, you'll now find these links in the sidebar.