#NYR Pavelec mask for the Classic pic.twitter.com/24NW8J42bh
— RangerProud (@RangerProud) December 31, 2017
On Saturday night, the bucket that will be worn by New York Rangers backup goaltender Ondrej Pavelec was released. The fresh design complements the “Winter Classic” jersey the Rangers will wear on Monday at Citi Field.
Though the New York Rangers backup goalie will only face shots during the teams warm up prior to the start of the 2018 Winter Classic at Citi Field, Ondrej Pavelec will look sharp in his new bucket.
The mask was designed by famed artist David Gunnarsson. The artist may be familiar to Rangers fans as he as designed almost every mask Henrik Lundqvist has worn.
Pavelec’s mask has the Rangers Winter Classic logo on both sides, with Rangers in white lettering trimmed in blue going across of the bucket.
On Gunnarsson’s Facebook page, he describes how the mask came about.
From Gunnarsson:
“It is clean, it is retro, it is 2-D. Ondrej Pavelec’s Winter Classic mask is here. A total retro design all built on the awesome New York Rangers Winter Classic logos. Ondrej and I brainstormed a lot how to create this design, we came up with a design solution and I made some sketches. The storytelling in this design is created in the details. Thanks, Ondrej, I am so proud to be our personal artist for so many years.”
Pavelec signed as a free agent with the Rangers this past summer. He has only played in nine games this season with a 3-4-1 record. Pavelec recorded his first shutout of the year and as a Ranger when he defeated the Washington Capitals 1-0 last Wednesday night. He made 30 saves in the shootout win.
The Rangers will battle the Buffalo Sabres on the Tenth Anniversary of the Winter Classic on Monday, Jan. 1, 2018. The game will be held at Citifield, home of the MLB New York Mets, located in Flushing, Queens, New York.
