Miska and his Mask
Dec 22, 2019
Hunter Miska grew up watching his dad create legendary masks that displayed the creative personalities of each goaltender that wore them. So naturally, Hunter became a goaltender, and with him signing with the Eagles this season it gave him the perfect opportunity to recreate a mask he’s always admired.
“Yeah it's a pretty simple design. I don't know if a lot of people realize it, but it’s an Eddie Belfour replica with Eagles colors. My dad was fortunate enough to be able to paint his mask when he was playing, so I thought it was a pretty cool tribute to him and my dad, then also with Gary Warwick the maker of my goalie mask.
Eddie Belfour wore the same mask, and Gary passed away this past year so I wanted to do a little tribute to him too, that's why I have the MW here, for Miska Warwick. That's what my dad used do back in the day so we did like a little throwback. On the chin here I got the Colorado flag, I thought it fit in pretty cool with the design and to fill in some space on there.
I got the Eagles on both sides, then it actually says ‘Eagle’ inside the feathers towards the bottom of the Eagle head. On the back it's pretty simple, I got a northern Minnesota woods with a frozen lake. I like to be outside and fishing is a pretty big part of what I like to do. I also have two cardinals on the back by the lake for my my grandpa who passed away and then my aunt who passed away this past year of cancer, so I kind of have them there for a little tribute to them and recognize that they're there every day.”
What are some of the things that you guys walk through to get the design that you want?
“We just go through the team logo, as in the colors and look at the state and what's like in the area. Obviously, Colorado's got the mountains and big trees and stuff, so I like that a little bit of that in there.
Usually my dad's got a pretty good eye but I got a little art in myself too so I do most of designing. This one obviously was one of my dad's famous masks he painted back in the day, so there wasn't really too much thinking to do with this mask besides the back.”
People are used to seeing some creative goalies masks, but now you’re seeing that creative side come to life in their pads now too.
“Yeah I went simple this year, usually I go a little crazy with my pads but I wanted to go simple with this being a new team. For my next set here I got a pretty special pair of pads coming, but you'll have to wait to see the surprises.”
