Devin Cooley’s new mask is here, just in time for another start, and it’s full of personal touches.
Cooley is still waiting to replace his Buffalo Sabres’ royal blue pads, but the San Jose Sharks netminder’s custom mask has arrived. The mask, designed by DaveArt, features nods to his mom, dad, Bay Area upbringing, and love of music.
“The centerpiece is the treehouse from my dad’s house,” Cooley shared on the mask’s backplate. “It’s sick. It’s a two-story treehouse with two balconies, a glass roof so you can see the stars. It’s a tribute to home and where I grew up.”
At the top of the mask is a design of the Golden Gate Bridge, a nod to the Los Gatos native’s upbringing in the Bay Area. The bottom of the mask reads, “Cool For Days.”
“That’s the name of my dad’s boat that we grew up on,” Cooley said. “It’s also a play on our last name.”
Cooley’s mother’s piano is placed on the right.
“She got me into music and music is a huge part of my life,” he highlighted. “I play the piano, guitar, ukelele. It’s a tribute to my mom.”
Underneath the piano reads the acronym: I.I.A.S., representing “If It All Stops,” by Dirty South featuring ANIMA!
“It’s really meaningful to me because I wanna go into every single day and give it everything I have,” he said. “That way, if I had a catastrophic injury tomorrow, I just stopped playing–if it all stopped, could I say that I gave it everything?”
Cooley is an apparent fan of electronic music, as his mask also features the logo of his favorite artist ODESZA and symbols from Porter Robinson’s album “Worlds (Remixed).”
The top right corner of the mask features Cooley and his girlfriend’s rabbit, Tito.
Cooley said that he gave DaveArt freedom on the masks’ front. David Gunnarsson, the artist behind DaveArt, also designed the masks for Mackenzie Blackwood, Magnus Chrona, and Georgi Romanov this season.
“Just a couple Sharks logos, ‘Cools’ my nickname on the jawline,” Cooley noted. “But, the backplate is where it’s my personal touch.”
The brand-new mask should be in action this weekend, as Cooley is expected to start once during the Sharks’ upcoming back-to-back, per David Quinn.
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