Featuring Dallas Stars goalie Jake Oettinger injured within minutes During Friday's game against the Ottawa Senators, Scott Wedgewood stepped into the crease. Wedgewood not only stopped 25 of 27 shots to help the Stars beat the Senators 5-4, but he also debuted a special new Mario Kart goalie mask.
As Wedgewood dives for pucks, he shows off the small details in the design that has been created by goalie mask artist Dave Gunnarsson. On the one hand, Wedgewood has baby Peach representing his unborn daughter (due next year) riding with his two dogs. (This was also a gender reveal of sorts, he said.) On the other hand, he has included caricatures of teammates Oettinger and Jason Robertson in a Mario Kart 8 Deluxe vehicle. Right in the center of the mask's pendant is the iconic Mario star, painted in green, the main color of the Dallas Stars. There are a lot of other details scattered throughout the mask, like more stars and the black and white checkerboard banner to signify that you're crossing the finish line.
Wedgewood told Polygon that he came up with the idea after several players purchased a Halloween costume for the group: dead Mario Kart drivers who have “fallen off the track one too many times.” Adding his future daughter as baby Peach also made sense.
“The star is obviously the gold star in Mario,” he said. “You can put that in green on the mask and tie it in the stars in a way that everyone understands.”
While the rest of the team wears helmets, the goalies wear masks – and decorating them is one of the funniest hockey traditions. There have been many variations and pop culture references in goalie masks over the years, such as Henrik Lundqvist Back to the future mask And John Gibson's Pac-Man version. Wedgewood is also no stranger to such references: he had masks themed around the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles like Captain America and other Marvel characters. (Wedgewood said the hockey tie-in for the TMNT mask was, of course, Casey Jones. As for the Marvel mask, he wanted the Winter Soldier arm on his glove side: “You think of your glove arm as your storm arm, because most goalies.” )
Goalkeepers do not have carte blanche regarding their mask designs; the NHL has a rule that players cannot wear themed night gear for charities such as Pride events. Last month the league threatened Minnesota Wild goalie Marc-André Fleury with a fine for wearing a Native American Heritage Night mask in honor of his wife's Native ancestry. (He wore it anyway.)
“Being in this position makes us unique because we can get behind the art with a little bit more of your personality and your preferences,” Wedgewood added.
Video games have also given Wedgewood a new way to communicate with fans. During the pandemic, while playing for the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League, he streamed video games while playing with fans. But it's also a hobby that has stuck with him over the years, since he was a child.
“I played a lot growing up,” Wedgewood told Polygon. “When we were born in 1992, we grew up with Nintendo, Sega Genesis, GameCube, Nintendo 64 – pretty much one of everything. Last Christmas my wife got me a Nintendo Switch for plane rides, and a few of the boys had them. I have a gaming screen that I take on the plane, and you plug in the Switch and last year four guys were playing. We would get the games going.”
He continued: “Last year some guys brought out an N64, and we played old school Mario Kart. (Games) are one of my bigger things.”
Of course he plays a lot NHL 24. “It was probably my biggest game growing up,” Wedgewood said of the EA Sports hockey series. “I was ranked eleventh in the world online in 2008.” Of course, he still plays occasionally with other Stars players, such as defenseman Thomas Harley. They don't play as themselves, he said; instead, they play the EA Sports Hockey League mode, where you create your own players. Their Xbox handles can sometimes give away their identity, he said: “We go to play and we get messages like: Are you actually him? We should probably change our handles.”
Past NHL 24Wedgewood said he plays too Apex Legends, Fortnite, and a lot of other shooters. But recently he got into it Ghost of Tsushima and finished Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. “If it doesn't explain itself, I have a PS5, an Xbox, a Nintendo Switch and a gaming laptop,” Wedgewood said. “The five options when I need them.”