With Dallas Stars goalie Jake Oettinger injured within minutes of Friday’s recreation towards the Ottawa Senators, Scott Wedgewood stepped up into the crease. Not solely did Wedgewood cease 25 of 27 pictures to assist the Stars win 5-4 over the Senators, however he debuted a particular new Mario Kart goalie masks.
As Wedgewood dives for pucks, he flashes the little particulars within the design, which was created by goalie mask artist Dave Gunnarsson. On one facet, Wedgewood’s bought child Peach to characterize his unborn daughter — anticipated subsequent 12 months — driving together with his two canines. (This was one thing of a gender reveal, too, he stated.) On the opposite, he’s included caricatures of fellow teammates Oettinger and Jason Robertson driving in a Mario Kart 8 Deluxe car. Slapped proper on the underside of the masks is the long-lasting Mario star — painted in inexperienced, the Dallas Stars’ foremost colour. There are a bunch extra particulars scattered across the masks, like extra stars and the black-and-white checkerboard banner to sign crossing the end line.
Wedgewood instructed Polygon he got here up with the thought after a number of gamers bought a bunch Halloween costume going: lifeless Mario Kart drivers who’ve “fallen off the course one too many occasions.” Including in his future daughter as child Peach made sense, too.
“The star is clearly the gold star in Mario,” he stated. “You may put that on the masks in inexperienced and tie it into the Stars in a manner that everyone understands.”
Whereas the remainder of the workforce wears helmets, goalies don masks — and it’s one among hockey’s most enjoyable traditions for these to be adorned. There’s been a ton of selection and popular culture references in goalie masks over time, like Henrik Lundqvist’s Back to the Future mask and John Gibson’s Pac-Man one. Wedgewood isn’t any stranger to such references, both: He’s had masks themed across the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in addition to Captain America and other Marvel characters. (Wedgewood stated the hockey tie-in for the TMNT masks was, after all, Casey Jones. As for the Marvel masks, he wished the Winter Soldier arm on his glove facet: “You consider your glove arm as your storm arm, for many goalies.”)
Goalies don’t have carte blanche almost about their masks designs; the NHL has a rule that gamers can’t put on theme night time gear for causes, like Pleasure occasions. Final month, the league threatened Minnesota Wild goalie Marc-André Fleury with a effective for sporting a Native American Heritage Night time masks to honor his spouse’s Indigenous ancestry. (He wore it anyway.)
“Within the place, we’re distinctive that we are able to get behind the artwork with a bit of bit extra of your character and your likes,” Wedgewood added.
Video video games have supplied a brand new manner for Wedgewood to work together with followers, too. Throughout the pandemic, when he performed for the American Hockey League’s Syracuse Crunch, he streamed video video games whereas enjoying with followers. However it’s additionally a pastime that has caught with him over time, since he was a baby.
“I performed quite a bit rising up,” Wedgewood instructed Polygon. “Being ’92 born, we grew up with the Nintendo, Sega Genesis, GameCube, Nintendo 64 — just about one among all the pieces. Final 12 months on Christmas, my spouse bought me a Nintendo Swap for the airplane rides, and a few guys had them. I’ve a gaming display screen I convey on the airplane, and also you plug within the Swap and we had 4 guys enjoying final 12 months. We’d get video games going.”
He continued: “Final 12 months, a pair guys introduced an N64 on the highway, and we’d play the old fashioned Mario Kart. [Games] are one among my larger pastimes.”
Naturally, he performs lots of NHL 24. “It was most likely my greatest recreation rising up,” Wedgewood stated of EA Sports activities’ hockey collection. “I used to be ranked eleventh on this planet in 2008 on-line.” He nonetheless performs, after all, generally with different Stars gamers, like defenseman Thomas Harley. They don’t play as themselves, he stated; as a substitute, they play the EA Sports activities Hockey League mode, the place you make your personal gamers. Their Xbox handles can generally give their id away, he stated: “We’ll be enjoying and we’ll get messages like, Are you really him? We should always most likely change our handles.”
Past NHL 24, Wedgewood stated he additionally performs Apex Legends, Fortnite, and a bunch of different shooters. However not too long ago he’s gotten into Ghost of Tsushima and completed Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. “If it doesn’t clarify itself, I’ve bought a PS5, an Xbox, a Nintendo Swap, and a gaming laptop computer,” Wedgewood stated. “The 5 choices every time I would like them.”