\u201cSometimes he brings some ideas, sometimes it\u2019s us, and we work back and forth with him,\u201d Marsolais said of the design process. \u201cWe\u2019ll send him a sketch and he can change stuff if he wants or adjust different elements. He\u2019s really easy to work with, and he knows what he wants.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vasilevskiy came prepared for this mask, hoping to recognize his Russian roots and the cold winters in Russia since the game will be played outdoors. This mask\u2019s palm trees will add snow and icicles to fuel the Stadium Series spirit.<\/p>\n
Every Vasilevskiy mask is highlighted by one key element\u2014the lion, prominently featured as an homage to his nickname, \u2018The Big Cat\u2019, as well as palm trees and Lightning bolts.<\/p>\n
The Stadium Series lion will don a Russian hat with big ears in addition to sunglasses that can help fight off the lights at Raymond James Stadium, a feature Marsolais said is a nod to the fun, round sunglasses Vasilevskiy often wears to Lightning games.<\/p>\n
Marsolais said that\u2019s her favorite part of this design.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s the lion with the Russian hat and the Vasy sunglasses,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s different from his other masks, and it\u2019s unique and represents him very well.\u201d<\/p>\n
A pair of Russian monuments in the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman, as well as the Space Conquerors Monument, will also be on the mask. One represents space exploration, and another represents unity and hard work. Vasilevskiy first saw them after visiting the All-Russian Exhibition Center in Moscow a few years ago, “one of the best places he\u2019s ever been\u201d.<\/p>\n
The helmet also features a Russian nesting doll, another nod to Vasilevskiy\u2019s heritage.<\/p>\n
Marsolais operates Sylabrush along with Alexandre Mathys in Quebec. The duo first met Vasilevskiy in Boisbriand, a suburb of Montreal, during the 2012 Subway Super Series when the best young Russian players were playing against the top prospects from the QMJHL.<\/p>\n
Sylabrush painted their first mask for Vasilevskiy the following year while the goalie played professionally in Russia for the KHL\u2019s Ufa Salavat Yulayev. The company has painted more than 30 masks for Vasilevskiy over his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to pick a favorite because they\u2019re all special,\u201d Marsolais said. \u201cWe start them from scratch, and we build them from there. They\u2019re all custom paint jobs, so it\u2019s hard to choose one in particular.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both she and Mathys are goalies themselves, so they understand the responsibility placed upon them when designing a goalie\u2019s mask\u2014one of the few identifiable pieces of equipment on an NHL player.<\/p>\n
On Feb. 1, fans will be able to recognize The Big Cat by just that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will look really cool on that stage,\u201d Vasilevskiy said of the mask, \u201cAnd Sylvie never disappoints. I hope it will be one of my best masks yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marsolais and Mathys have seen their work displayed on NHL ice dozens of times before, but even they said this Stadium Series opportunity carries some extra pride.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, that’s going to be crazy,\u201d Marsolais said of knowing their work will shine under the bright lights at Raymond James Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause in Tampa Bay, to have an outdoor game? That’s pretty special. It’s kind of unbelievable just to achieve that, so to see it on the ice with that mask will be incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cSometimes he brings some ideas, sometimes it\u2019s us, and we work back and forth with him,\u201d Marsolais said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-139003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-tampa","9":"tag-tampa-headlines","10":"tag-tampa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}