Kristen Campbell's freshly painted new PWHL goalie helmet has personal meaning, and represents the city. Here's the meaning behind Campbell's mask.

For decades goalies have used their masks as a canvas to show off their personality to the world as they take their place in the blue paint.

PWHL Toronto’s Kristen Campbell has kept this tradition going as she donned her new Toronto-inspired mask during the inaugural PWHL game on New Year's Day in Toronto.

While not overly complex, the mask has many symbolic images to represent the city of Toronto and Campbell’s past.

The helmet you will see Campbell wear throughout the 2024 season was painted by renowned Calgary mask artist Dave Fried, who has worked with Campbell and the other goalies on the Canadian women’s Olympic roster in 2022 as well as many goalies in the NHL over his 10-year career.

"I was definitely pretty excited to hear from her because it's a new league... kind of a new kind of era for women's hockey. So to be a part of that was huge,” said Fried. “I saw it on TV for the first game and it was like 'oh yeah that's what we were going for.' It looks really cool.”

Looking at front of the mask you see a prominent blue maple leaf rising out of the cage of Campbell’s mask. Below it on her chin is her nickname “Soupy” curved around.

Soupy is in reference to Campbell's Soup, a nickname which started at a youth goalie camp when one of her instructors gave her the moniker.

The backplate of the mask features a base of blue bricks with the logos of Campbell’s university teams: the University of Wisconsin and the University of North Dakota. Underneath them is an image of Campbell as a child playing hockey.

The photo of her was from when she was nine years old and the number 77 was worn by her idol at the time.

“I would wear 77 for Cassie Campbell," said Kristen Campbell. "I always pretended I was her because I was a D to start out. It's pretty cool to have that on there because it was women like her that paved the way for us, so it's special to have that connection moving forward with this league”.

Rounding out the base plate is the October’s Very Own (OVO) owl symbol on the left side and wheat grains coming from the bottom corners of the plate to represent her hometown of Brandon, Manitoba.

Wrapped around the right side of the mask is a black outline of the iconic Toronto skyline with the CN Tower featured prominently at the top.

On the opposite side of the mask is the image of the Maple Leaf Gardens, now Mattamy Athletic Centre, the home for Toronto this season, with a moon and stars above the historic building.

“We did the Maple Leaf Gardens on the one side with starlight coming out of it and a moon signalling the breaking dawn of a new era in women's hockey.”

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