"Adorable" Mask in the KHL?

I ran across an article on PuckDaddy today about masks in the KHL. And here's an article about the CUTEST one.

Now I'm usually all about the fierce, vicious, scary, maybe even evil-looking masks. But I am still an animal lover, and a girl, and I love kitties. So this one struck my fancy.

Kittens: The key ingredient to any intimidating KHL goalie mask - Puck Daddy - NHL* - Yahoo! Sports

Laugh if you must, but come on!! The guy has some balls to put this kitten on his mask! It explains in the article that it was supposed to be a tomcat, but came out more like a kitten. And he "took a liking to it" so decided to keep it. He even named it. Awww....he says it's very bored having to be on the side of his mask all the time. I love this guy!


Fri Sep 03 07:52am PDT
Kittens: The key ingredient to any intimidating KHL goalie mask

By Greg Wyshynski
While we believe the KHL would be much cooler if all of its goaltenders wore Alexandre Dumas-inspired iron masks, the Russian league doesn't suffer from a lack of artistic achievements on its goalies' noggins.
Hot Ice, a Russian hockey site, featured the Top 20 goalie masks in the KHL, and some of them are simply awesome: No. 16 Vitaly Kolesnik (Salavat Yulayev) looks like the Crusades by way of The Matrix; No. 15 Martin Prusek (Dynamo Riga) has one that honors U2. But No. 1 on the list ... well, just look at it:

A kitten.
A sweet, loveable kitten on the side of Vasiliy Koshechkin's mask.
Koshechkin, currently with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL and a 2002 draft pick by the Tampa Bay Lightning, is a 6-foot-7, 231-pound man-mountain that nearly dwarfs the goal cage. So basically the last guy you'd expect would have kittens on his mask.
What's the deal with the cat fancy? Well, from the looks of things, his nickname may in fact be "The Cat," unless his mask signifies a personal achievement in spelling. But KK The Mook solves the kitten mystery via this info graphic created for yet another kitten mask he wore with the Russian National team:




Just so we're all clear here: He named the kitten on his mask, and believes it has feelings. Nah, goalies aren't a different breed at all, why do you ask?
Goalie masks can be intimidating, whimsical or odd windows into a goaltender's soul. Or they can look like a box of kitty litter. One of the two. Assuming he's still rocking the feline on his mask, we wish Vasiliy Koshechkin the best of luck in the 2010-11 KHL season ... until shooters figure out they can beat him cleanly by rolling a ball of yarn or a felt mouse through the crease.

lol@ "Unless his mask signifies a personal achievement in spelling"

I guess Russians are so badass that they don't need mean looking graphics. And if you laugh at them, they shoot you...cause in Communist Russia, mask laugh at YOU!

Yeah, I spit my Coke out all over my screen when I read that part about the spelling. And that guy doesn't need balls to put cuddly kitten on his mask. He's 6'7" mountain of a man. Nobody would mess with him. Not even Ivan Drago.

Hey now, if I learned how to spell "cat" in Russian, and I had a mask, I might be tempted to put in on there too. ;o)

Still love this mask.

he should've went with this pic on the top of his mask.

Haha, imperative! Because that's exactly what I thought of when I saw his mask! I even told my husband...looks like the sad-eyed cat from Shrek! ;o)

hah, ya he probably hasn't seen Shrek over there in russia

I bet Ron Hextall would square off with him

that is because hextall is a MONSTER!

Originally Posted by imperative

that is because hextall is a MONSTER!

I'm pretty sure Felix Potvin would disagree with ya...