{"id":298037,"date":"2025-11-18T00:18:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T00:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/298037\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T00:18:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T00:18:09","slug":"nhl-goalie-debuts-stunning-sonic-knuckles-hockey-mask","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/298037\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL goalie debuts stunning Sonic &#038; Knuckles hockey mask"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text-neutral-grey w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">Pro hockey goalie Elvis Merz\u013cikins has brought Sega\u2019s beloved Sonic franchise to the <a class=\"hover:text-vertical-primary underline decoration-2 underline-offset-4 decoration-vertical-primary\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dexerto.com\/nhl\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NHL<\/a> with his stunning new mask.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-neutral-grey w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">Merz\u013cikins debuted the mask for the Blue Jackets during warmup when his team faced off against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-neutral-grey w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">The mask was a huge undertaking and was designed by artists Jordon Bourgeault and Chris Moniz.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-neutral-grey w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">Bourgeault explained idea was to put movie-style <a class=\"hover:text-vertical-primary underline decoration-2 underline-offset-4 decoration-vertical-primary\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dexerto.com\/tag\/sonic\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sonic<\/a> and Knuckles on the mask, then switch to a 16-bit game aesthetic for the backdrop. If you look closely, the logos, chin section, numbers and even the clouds are all rendered in pixel art.<\/p>\n<p>Article continues after ad<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-neutral-grey w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">\u201cThere are also little pixelated Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Robotnik and even the CBJ\u2019s own stinger to complete the 16 bit video game look,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-neutral-grey w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">On the chin, \u201cElvis The Goalie\u201d is stylized the way \u201cSonic The Hedgehog\u201d would be in the classic games, giving it some added charm.<\/p>\n<p>Article continues after ad<\/p>\n<p>NHL goalie mask combines movie and 16-bit Sonic<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-neutral-grey w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">The decision to make a Sonic-themed goalie mask all came down to the Latvian goalie\u2019s son, who is a huge fan of the hedgehog.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-neutral-grey w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">\u201cElvis\u2019s son is a huge Sonic fan so he chose this theme for his son, but with the blending of <a class=\"hover:text-vertical-primary underline decoration-2 underline-offset-4 decoration-vertical-primary\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dexerto.com\/tv-movies\/sonic-4-title-rumor-2-fan-favorite-characters-3275446\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">new movie Sonic<\/a> and the OG video game Sonic, I think we got a little something in there for both generations of Merzly\u2019s!\u201d Bourgeault exclaimed.<\/p>\n<p>Article continues after ad<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-neutral-grey w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">The mask was a huge hit with the Blue Jackets\u2019 netminder, who was impressed with the paint job.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-neutral-grey w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">\u201cThank you for making Knox\u2019s dream come true!\u201d the goalie praised the artist on Instagram.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-neutral-grey w-full mb-4 text-body-6 md:text-body-5 font-body dark:text-neutral-white external:text-custom-content-text external:dark:text-custom-content-text\">It won\u2019t be long until Merz\u013cikins\u2019 new mask sees action. The 31-year-old is set to wear it as the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" class=\"hover:text-vertical-primary underline decoration-2 underline-offset-4 decoration-vertical-primary\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/fantasy\/hockey\/news\/blue-jackets-elvis-merzlikins-set-to-start-tuesday\/\">starter versus the Winnipeg Jets<\/a> on November 18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pro hockey goalie Elvis Merz\u013cikins has brought Sega\u2019s beloved Sonic franchise to the NHL with his stunning new&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-298037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}