Just days after North American goaltender Matt Murray released a photo of his mask for the upcoming World Cup in Toronto, Michal Neuvirth who will be suiting up for the Czech Republic also had his mask unveiled by the design’s artist – David Gunnarsson.
The mask sports a the Czech Republic flag with two designs within the flag – one on each side of the mask. On the red side of the flag, Gunnarsson placed the country’s coat of arms with Strekov Castle placed on the white facing of the helmet.
For those who don’t know, Strekov Castle is one of the most recognizable landmarks from Neuvirth’s hometown of Usti Nad Labem in the Czech Republic.
It’s also worth noting that Neuvirth’s mask pays tribute to his current NHL team – the Philadelphia Flyers. On each side of the mask and combined into the helmet’s cage is the Flyers’ tailed logo outlined in white.
That being said, Neuvirth’s colleagues in the Czech Republic are Detroit’s Petr Mrazek and Winnipeg’s Ondrej Pavelec. While Neuvirth likely won’t get nod as the country’s starter, he will look quite fashionable backing up for the Czechs.
Neuvirth played 32 games for the Flyers in 2015-16 with a record of 18-8-4 sporting a 2.27 goals against average and .924 save percentage while notching three shutouts. He also saw three games for Philadelphia in the playoffs last season with a 2-1 record to go along with a 0.67 average and .981 save percentage.