A newly-designed goalie mask for a Humboldt Broncos player will honour the 16 victims killed in the team’s April 6 bus crash.
Dane Dow, 19, was acquired from the AJHL’s Drumheller Dragons in June after goalie Parker Tobin was killed in the crash and Jacob Wasserman was paralyzed.
He wanted to honour the fallen members of his new team, so he contracted Lethbridge-based Schinny Designs to paint a new helmet for the 2018-19 season.
The mask features a large “H” on the forehead, mimicking one of the Bronco jersey designs with a green and gold stripe around the helmet. The team’s bucking Bronco logo is on the left side of the mask, while the right side prominently features the green and gold ribbon people wore after the tragedy.
The names of each victim and the words “Humboldt Strong” are in the lighter areas of the helmet, imprinted in a special paint that makes each name more noticeable depending which way Dow’s head turns.
“It’s a pearlized paint and it gives off the effect of being ‘ghosted’ in certain angles,” said Morgen Schinnour, the founder of Schinny Designs.
Video of the recent Humboldt Broncos mask I finished to help show the ghosted features. #HumboldtStrong pic.twitter.com/am6HyIaEP0
— Schinny Designs (@SchinnyDesigns) July 30, 2018
She said Dow presented her with some helmet designs, and the creativity flowed from there.
“I kind of made it into what I was thinking at the time,” Schinnour said.
The design has drawn praise from families affected by the crash.
“The helmet is beautiful,” wrote Carol Brons, who lost her daughter Dayna — the team’s trainer — in the crash.
“Thank you. #TheGirlOnTheBench.”
Laurie Thomas, whose son Evan died in the collision, was among several who asked Schinnour if she could make replicas or a player helmet with the same design.
“This Broncos mask is unbelievable and so awesome,” Thomas said on Twitter.
The Humboldt Broncos season begins Sept. 12, when they take on the Nipawin Hawks — the team they were supposed to play the night of the crash.