Behind The Mask: Behind The Man Who Paints The Vancouver Canucks Goalie Masks

Thatcher Demko likes to be hands-on when designing his goalie mask, at least according to Travis Michael. Michael, a Victoria, B.C., airbrush artist, paints goalie masks for netminders across all levels of hockey — including for the Vancouver Canucks.

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Michael paints cages for Demko, Artūrs Šilovs, Dustin Wolf, and other NHL goalies. He says Demko is in on the design process from start to finish, which he feels helps make their creations more unique.

"We've built up a relationship where you can tell one another if something's not working," Michael said. "He's got a pretty good artistic eye. Most of his ideas are pretty awesome — we're probably 50/50 [on the design process]."

Michael says he and Demko rarely have a game plan entering the design stage. Instead, it's a back-and-forth conversation that allows creativity to flow.

"A lot of a lot Demko's masks that we've done, I like them so much because a lot of them are out of the realm of how I would do stuff," Michael said. "His last one we encased in ice — which was entirely his idea — and it turned out so cool looking.

"It means more to the goalies when you get more say. It's not some random store-bought thing when you're wearing it."

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The Calgary Flames' Dustin Wolf is similar to Demko. Michael says the 23-year-old also likes to have a say in the design.

"I try and tell people to make their masks personal — some people don't want them to be — but I say to try and make it like a yearbook where you're going to look back in five years and be like, Oh yeah, I remember."

For Wolf, Michael added musician Post Malone on the front, and as they were workshopping, Wolf reached out with an idea for the backplate.

"We obviously got the tragic news [that Johnny Gaudreau passed away], but it just seemed like such a fitting thing to try and pay tribute to the guy," Michael said. "That was Dustin's idea to do that iconic photo — arguably one of the best photos of him with the stick in the air saluting the crowd — and Dustin came up with stuff that I didn't even know, like the purple Gatorade and the Skittles, and all that kind of stuff."

Before using the photo of Gaudreau, Michael and Wolf ensured they were doing things respectfully.

"Dustin had the team reach out to the family to see if they would be okay with it," Michael remembers. "In a time of grieving, you don't want to overstep your boundaries. Then they reached out, and they said we'd love for you to do that and love to see it.

"Something like this happens, and you forget about team rivalries and all this stuff. Everybody loved that design and tribute, and I know Dustin is stoked to wear it."

Picking Up The Brush

Michael's father was a sign painter growing up, and the now-Canucks mask artist was a goaltender in his youth. His dad painted his childhood equipment until he stopped playing hockey at around 16.

In his early twenties, Michael started lacing up his skates once again, this time to play beer league. In doing so, he dug out his dad's old paintbrush to paint his masks, and it started to snowball from there.

"It led to doing other people's stuff in the [beer] league, which led to doing stuff across the province," Michael said. "Then I was fortunate enough to land a gig with the [WHL's Victoria] Royals."

Matt Auerbach, the Victoria Royals equipment manager, contacted Michael in 2015.

"It was just a random email I sent to the team," Michael said. "I fired emails out to a bunch of teams, but I think this one was just local. They passed it through to him, and he said come on down and have a coffee."

Auerbach allowed Michael to paint for Royals netminder Griffen Outhouse, who was entering his rookie WHL season. Over the next few years, Michael continued to paint for Outhouse while growing his relationship with Auerbach. Eventually, Michael expanded South of the border.

Auerbach got Michael in touch with the Everett Silvertips, who had an emerging Dustin Wolf taking over as the junior team's starter. And when the Canucks held their training camp in Victoria ahead of the 2019-20 season, Auerbach helped Michael make contact with the Canucks head equipment manager, Pat O'Neill.

O'Neill put Michael in touch with Demko, and the two have been working together since.

Now, Michael is essentially the Canucks go-to guy. He's a quick ferry ride from Vancouver Island away should the Canucks need something hand-delivered. Michael estimates he's painted over 30 masks since his first with Demko.

"I'm eternally grateful for the opportunity the guys have given me there," Michael said. "There are people who come and go and use their guys. But I mean, I'm super grateful."

While a goalie may prefer a specific artist other than Michael, he works closely with Demko, Silovs and other goaltenders in the Canucks organization. For the Royals, he's approaching a decade with the club.

The One-Person Painting Team

Michael is a one-person team. He aims to paint one mask a week, but it all depends on the time of the year.

"The start of this season was crazy," Michael said. "I think I did 14 for the Canucks, Wolfy got three, there's all the junior teams. So they get crushed out a bit quicker. Some guys, like theirs super simple, some guys, like theirs super crazy."

While the start of the hockey season was hectic, Michael says business was fantastic. But with the addition of a furry friend thrown into the mix, time was more cramped than usual for the airbrush artist.

"I just got a puppy, too, so now you're working 15-hour days trying to keep on top of everything while training the dog," Michael said. "But it was good. You can never be too busy, right?"

As for seeing a goalie wear his mask in-game, Michael says the wow factor never fades.

"I mean, it's a trip. It really is," Michael said. "I remember the first time I streamed a WHL game and saw Griffen [Outhouse] wearing one — I remember that feeling. And then Dustin [Wolf] when he wore it at the World Juniors — a tournament you watched growing up your entire life — you're seeing a buddy wear it live on TV."

The first time he saw his work in the NHL was on a screen. Michael made his NHL goalie mask debut during the league's Covid bubble when Demko wore an airbrushed goalie-mask goalie courtesy of the Victoria artist.

"That was just that feeling. I made it to the highest point," Michael said. "There are many people who put a lot of work in, and stuff just doesn't go their way; breaks don't happen. But to get there and see your hard work pay off and make it to the show, so to speak, it's crazy to see.

It never gets old. Every time I turn the television on, it's pretty cool."