The methods behind the mask

CEDAR RAPIDS - Cody Campbell can't wait to get his mask back.

It's not that the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders goaltender is uncomfortable borrowing teammate Troy Grosenick's stuff. It's just that Campbell is juiced to see how cool his “new” mask looks.

He was traded last month from the USHL's Fargo Force and had it sent out to get, well, RoughRider-ized.

“On one side, it'll have a cowboy getting bucked off a horse,” Campbell said. “On the other side, there's two cowboys outside a saloon who are in a gunfight. That should be cool.”

If you didn't know, goalie masks at the junior hockey leavel cost big money. The RoughRiders, who pay for all player equipment, use Warwick Mask Company in Port Huron, Mich., which charges somewhere in the $1,000 range for a state-of-the-art, handcrafted carbon fiber-Kevlar mask.

Having it custom painted runs anywhere between $300 and $1,000.

“That really is unbelievable,” said Campbell, who estimates it takes between $3,000 and $4,000 to completely outfit a goaltender with masks, pads, etc. “But with the new sticks today, guys are bigger, faster and stronger, there's a lot that goes into that. When you've got a shot coming no less than 80 miles per hour that gets you between the eyes ... even with these masks, you catch one and your ears will still ring for a day or two.”

Campbell and Grosenick have carte blanche when it comes to the look of their masks. Artist Tom Miska of Stacy, Minn., gets RoughRiders business and said he can design about anything, though he requests as much detail as possible.

Miska paints around 100 masks a year and is working this week on a mask for Minnesota Wild goalie Josh Harding that reflects the team losing much of its gear in an equipment truck fire during a trip to Ottawa earlier this season. Think burning truck.

“There are so many cool masks out there,” said Miska, whose well-known eagle mask for retired NHL goalie Ed Belfour put him on the mask map.

Grosenick's masks the past two seasons have RoughRiders No. 27 sprint cars on each side and a checkered flag, representing his uniform number and love of racing.

"All my masks have had sprint cars on them, like going back to when I was 12 years old,” he said. “We have a neighbor back home that always raced them. That's what I probably want to be doing when I'm done playing hockey.”

A snarling RoughRiders horse in a No. 27 jersey and goalie equipment that Grosenick actually drew himself is on top of this season's mask.

“I always used to draw goalie masks when I was little,” he said.

The back of Campbell's new helmet will include a rose to honor his little sister, whose middle name is Rose. He'll also have crossing pickaxes with a small rose going through them to show ppreciation for his Midget team back home in Colorado - the Pikes Peak Miners.

Then there will be a Colorado flag with the name Brody in it to remember the family of one of his best friends in Colorado, who lost a baby recently to SIDS.

“(The mask) is pretty much me all the way,” he said. “I think they do reflect our personalities a little bit. I try to keep most of it team related. But I like to use the back as more of a personal tribute to different people and teams and stuff that mean a lot to me.”