The NHL introduced its Hockey Fights Cancer initiative 20 years ago and it has grown tremendously in recent years with teams and players going all in as of late when the special month rolls around.
In recent years we’ve seen teams and players honour cancer survivors and those fighting cancer in many ways, from special warm-up jerseys to custom goalie masks, and they aren’t showing any signs of slowing down. Braden Holtby and Louis Domingue are just two of the many NHL goalies who will rock special masks on Hockey Fights Cancer Night, and now you can add St. Louis Blues goalie Jake Allen to the list.
On Monday afternoon, the Blues goalie showed off his brand new mask and it includes an incredible tribute to his teammate Jaden Schwartz’s sister, Mandi, who passed away at the age of 23 in 2011 to acute myeloid leukemia.
Designed by Allen’s go-to mask artist David Gunnarsson, his new helmet includes a portrait of Mandi on the left side of the mask and features her favourite phrase, “Luctor Et Emergo”, which is Latin for “Struggle But Emerge”.
“I thought it would be nice to help a teammate out,” Allen told Chris Pinkert of stlouisblues.com. “I never got to meet Mandi, but I’ve heard all the great things Jaden says about her, and she obviously means a great deal to him. Putting Mandi on the mask was just an easy, simple thing to do.”
According to Pinkert, Allen first approached Schwartz about the idea at Kevin Shattenkirk’s wedding last summer and he was all for it.
“It was Jake’s idea, and Jake and his wife, Shannon, came and talked to me about it. I was pretty excited and pretty honoured,” Jaden said. “It was special that he thought of that, and seeing it now, they did a pretty cool job.
“Jake knows our family pretty well, and he knows our story,” Jaden added. “It’s pretty special that he’s doing that to support Mandi and our family. Obviously she had a big impact on me and our family and lots of other people. It’s hard to put into words, really, but it’s cool to see the impact she had.”
Allen will rock his new mask on November 24 when the Blues host the Winnipeg Jets for their annual Hockey Fights Cancer Night.
(H/T Instagram/stlouisblues)
