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Backstrom Presented Mask By 15-Year-Old Fan

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Wild goalie Nicklas Backstrom is a busy man. As a result, he didn’t want to be distracted by designing an uber-cool goalie mask like all the other NHL netminders have. So, this past spring, a contest was put on the Wild’s official website allowing kids to design Backstrom’s new mask.

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The contest was won by 15-year-old Peter Best, and he was able to present Backstrom with his mask on Saturday. Here’s a description of the mask, some of it in Peter’s own words:

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His mask depicted the skyline of downtown St. Paul on the left, and downtown Minneapolis on the right. Rather than being separated by the Mississippi River, the two cities are divided by the shooting star that is such a popular element in the Wild logo. The lower portion of the mask incorporates the outdoors of Minnesota with a pair of wolves and pine trees, also derived from the club’s logo.

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“On one side, the wolf is howling and that depicts Nik’s more laid back, stealth side,” said Best, who obviously put a lot of thought into his work. “The other wolf is growling, and that’s the more fierce side of Nik.”

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For some of the backstory behind young Peter and the creation of the mask, check out the story at the Wild’s official website.

Photographs by Micah Taylor, clairity, and Fibonacci Blue used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.