NHL Goalie Sports Foo Fighters Mask to Honor His Father’s Favorite Band

Music and sports are two things that often tie fathers and sons together, and in the case of Philadelphia Flyers goalie Carter Hart, he has specific memories that link his father driving him to hockey practice with the Foo Fighters. So, in honor of that relationship with his father, Hart will start wearing a Foo Fighters-themed goalie mask as a nod to his father as well as to the late Foos drummer Taylor Hawkins who died earlier this year.

Hart, who recently debuted the mask, told NHL.com's Adam Kimelman, "Foo Fighters are a band that I really liked and it's my dad's favorite band. When we were going to hockey in the car when I was younger, he would blast the song 'The Pretender' in his truck, and so that would get me fired up before the game. So I wanted to do that obviously for him and then obviously with Taylor Hawkins passing away, I thought it'd be a nice tribute to the band and to Taylor."

The Flyers' goalie teamed up with Pennsylvania-based artist Franny Drummond to create the look for the mask, as the pair had worked together on previous music-themed masks honoring Tim McGraw and AC/DC.

"We were kind of contemplating on what to do, and him and his dad, his dad's a huge Foo Fighters fan, and they never got to see them [on tour] in 2019 because of COVID," Drummond said to NHL.com. "They never got to see them, then Taylor had passed away. So it was kind of a really cool idea. Carter and I got together, and it was like, well, now let's just make this a tribute to the Foo Fighters."

Hart's mask will have images of Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins on the two ear sides of the helmet, while the Foo Fighters logo also appears on the mask albeit in smaller sizing, as seen in the tweeted video below.

Hart was pleased with the results, saying that Drummond's artwork on the mask "blows everything out of the water."

When asked about his own Foo Fighters fandom, the goalie said that "Walk" was his favorite Foo Fighters song, while admitting that he also picked up the guitar and has learned to play "Learn to Fly."

While Hart has been dealing with a lower-body injury in the pre-season, it's his hope to be ready to play in the Flyers season-opener on Oct. 13 against the New Jersey Devils, with his mask on full display.