The mother lode of masks

Maybe it’s become an obsession of mine, but I can’t get enough of looking at goalie masks. I’ll Google all kind of word combinations looking for new galleries to enjoy and share.

I believe I hit a gold mine last night, coming across Marlene Ross Design.

Some of her clients, get this, include Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, Grant Fuhr and Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Can you imagine painting not just one mask, but multiples, for these goalies? Unbelievable, I tell you, just simply flippin' unbelievable.

Over the past 17 years, Ross has created “Mask Art” for more than 50 NHL goalies. She also created the mask worn by Manon Rheaume, the first woman to play in the NHL.

Not only was her work seen during the Olympics and on game nights across the league, but she’s also painted masks for the Mighty Ducks and Sudden Death movies.

Blankety-blank, blank, blank

If you think you’re having a bad day, be thankful you’re not Florida goalie Alexander Auld. Despite stopping 39 shots and keeping Montreal off the scoreboard during regulation, Auld took the loss, via the shootout, against the Canadiens last night.

Auld, who notched his second career shutout, gave up shootout goals to Alex Kovalev and Saku Koivu. Oh yeah, Montreal’s Cristobal Huet was perfect, stopping 36 shots in regulation and two shootout attempts, in picking up the win and the game’s first star.

Also posting shutouts last night were San Jose’s Vesa Toskala and Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo.

Where’s your sense of humor?

You know, I thought I’d get at least one response to last week’s Thanksgiving Day/hockey joke. No such luck, though. Maybe it was because of abnormally high levels of L-tryptophan pulsing through your blood, rendering you incoherent before slipping off into a food-induced coma.

But now, after all of the leftovers (including Aunt Maggie's "Brussel Sprouts Surprise") are gone, here it is again. And, this time, I want some answers:

Q: Why did the turkey ice the puck?
A: Because it wanted . . .

A little trivia, too

Can you match the following teams to their respective professional leagues? I've included links, too, to the leagues, making it even easier.

1.) Elmira Jackals
2.) Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs
3.) Pee Dee Cyclones
4.) Augusta Lynx

A.) UHL
B.) ECHL
C.) CHL
D.) SPHL

Congratulations to Tracy, or slegr_71, for her correct answers in last week’s trivia quiz.

Last week’s answers: 1-C; 2-B; 3-D; and 4-A.

The correct answers for this week's quiz will appear next week.