NHL may well be the most metal of sports. There’s blood, and fighting, and many of it’s players are metalheads too. Among them is Montreal Canadiens goaltender Ben Scrivens, who unveiled his latest goalie mask this past Tuesday. The design features a photo of Lemmy inside a spade (of course) on one side of his helmet. The other side of the helmet pays tribute to Canadian hardcore band Alexisonfire and their “heart-skull” logo. The mask was created by Steve Nash of eyecandyair, the same dude that made the Iron Maiden one a few years back (and the other Iron Maiden one a year before), so it’s safe to say that the airbrush artist is a metal fan. This is what Scrivens says about his new mask:
“He’s a huge influence on not just me, but a lot of the bands that I listen to and a lot of the type of music that I listen to,” Scrivens said. “For me, he’s probably the epitome of heavy metal and rock music in terms of not just his music, but his attitude, his persona, his look. He’s an ugly guy, he’s got a gruff, ugly singing voice. He says what he thinks all the time, he’s swearing all the time, and it wasn’t an act. I think that’s the thing that came across from him, nothing was for show. You knew that when he went home and talked to his kid he was probably the exact same way.”
Scrivens says he wouldn’t call himself a metalhead because he doesn’t have long hair. No man, you’re a metalhead.