The Vancouver Canucks of the NHL put out a contest to design the mask of goaltender Curtis Sanford, a former Peoria Rivermen goalie. So, I took them up on the challenge. The main idea for this came from combining Curtis’ nickname, Sandman, and a current Canucks’ marketing effort, “We are all Canucks.” I wanted to represent that playing against Curtis is like being in a nightmare, so I created as frightening a figure as possible, with the backdrop being a lightning storm over the Vancouver waterfront. The waterfront was important to use, because it seems to be a common thread in Curtis’ career, from Owen Sound, to Peoria (on the Illinois River, where I watched him play), to Worcester (OK – just the lake there, but you get the idea), to St. Louis on the Mississippi River, to Vancouver. And the lightning obviously represents power, speed and that rather intangible quality of fear. Curtis’ Sandman character wouldn’t be complete, of course, without the sand, emanating from his hands. It follows the contours of the mask down the sides to the chin area, where “We are all Sandman” is located. While yes, that is normally grammatically incorrect, it was meant more as a tip of the hat to the fans, and hopefully represents the feeling that they support the team so closely as to be a very integral part of every player, and singularly so. Thanks to the Canucks for putting this contest on. I hope they compete well this year. I’ll enjoy watching them and looking for the winner of the contest, and hopefully, watching Curtis’ continued career success with the Canucks.