If you can tell a lot about a man by the hats he wears, then the masks of Air Force’s three goaltenders speak volumes. Each reflects its owner’s personalty and back stories.
Senior Austin Park, junior Maiszon Balboa and sophomore Guy Blessing each sat down with AFAFlightPath.com founder Chris Bayee earlier this month to talk about all of the features of their goaltending masks. What follows are the stories of the masks in the players’ own words.
Austin Park’s mask leans heavily on Air Force themes, particularly his passion for flying.
Austin Park
The senior drew most of his inspiration from the Academy for his current mask. Given that Park plans to fly for the Air Force, it’s no surprise he leans heavily on that passion.
“The wings, I took inspiration from a Red Wings helmet – which was my favorite team growing up,” Park says. “I saw the wings on a (Detroit goalie’s) mask and I thought how perfect that would look with Air Force blue. Everything else is about representing the Academy.”
Park also keeps a reminder of the grind to reach college hockey.
“The personal touches are on the back,” he explains. “The saying, ‘Path of Most Resistance’ is one my mom and I said when I was growing up, things always seemed to find a way to not work out the easy way. We always said to each other, ‘Always the hard way.’ We shrugged our shoulders over it, and over the years it changed to the path of most resistance. It’s just a motto and understanding that when hard times do come about, you’re going to be a stronger person from having gone through it. That’s where that comes from.
“The P-51 on the back is an homage to the heritage of the Air Force, and I just wanted to kind of touch on that with the F-16 on the top, too. Talking about modern aircraft as well as the history of the Air Force. Everything else is just logos and styling to either look good or represent the Academy.”
Park also has his number painted on the front of the mask.
“That comes from when I played in juniors and watched Carey Price, who played for the (Montreal) Canadiens,” Park adds. “His masks always had his number on the front, and I thought it looked super sharp. I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from him over the years.”
Maiszon Balboa brings back an old friend and a nod to his nickname on his mask.
Maiszon Balboa
Balboa, who is from Colorado Springs and once played youth hockey for the Jr. Falcons, likes to keep things simple and straight forward in every area of his life, and his helmet is no exception.
“This is the first real helmet I’ve ever gotten painted,” Balboa says. “It’s nothing real spectacular. I like to think I’m a meat-and-potatoes type guy.
“There was a goalie I used to watch when he played for the (Pittsburgh) Penguins named Matt Murray (now with the Toronto Maple Leafs). He had this really cool helmet with two big logos on the side and the racing stripe down the middle, which I thought was pretty cool. It just divides the helmet up really nicely.
“I’ve got the Air Force logo on one side and the muscle bird on the other. I grew up with (the muscle bird) logo, going to Air Force football games, and I hadn’t seen it in a long time, so I wanted to do something a little different, and I figured I might as well do that. I gave the guy who painted the helmet a lot of creative freedom. These big lightning bolts are like the ones on the side of our pants.
“On the back of I’ve got the boxing gloves for Rocky Balboa, kind of a tongue-and-cheek kind of thing to play off my last name. I had one helmet sort of amateur painted when I was younger, and I had the same thing on it. So I figured I might as well keep the tradition going. … The (pink) ribbon is for certain family members. A couple of them have been diagnosed (with cancer), and luckily a couple of them beat it, but the ones who weren’t so lucky I try to keep them in my thoughts while I’m playing.
“Overall it’s nothing too crazy. I like the simple scheme.”
The Falcon on the top of Guy Blessing’s mask is one of its most compelling components.
Guy Blessing
Like Balboa, this is the first mask Blessing has had professionally painted. He had no shortage of material to squeeze on it.
“It was like Christmas when it came in,” Blessing recalls. “There’s a lot of Air Force stuff, including a big AF logo, so I figured I had to throw that on there. I’ve got “Fly High” on the other side, it was something we said a lot in basic (training). I put the design in for this right after acceptance day, so that was a cool think to throw in there.”
The most compelling part of the helmet is top.
“The artist did a fantastic job with the Falcon up top,” Blessing says. “The drawing I sent him wasn’t nearly this good, but he took it and ran with it. It just turned out fantastic.”
As with Park and Balboa, Blessing pays tribute to several topics on the back, including his home state.
“I put an Arizona flag in the middle,” Blessing explains. “There’s not a lot of guys coming out of there yet. It’s cool to see that and pay tribute to the growing hockey community down there. There’s just fantastic programs down there, doing a great job. I’ve got a cross on one side and put a logo of my prep school on the other side, Lake Forest Academy. I can’t say enough good stuff about those guys, Darren and Tyler down there. They were a huge part about getting me here, so I definitely wanted to pay tribute to those guys.”
In addition, the Air Force Chapel serves as a backdrop for the palette. “I didn’t know if he was going to be able to squeeze that on there, but he did a fantastic job. It’s just really cool.”
So the next time you wonder what is on the masks of the Falcons’ goaltenders, they’re happy to tell you.
©First Line Editorial 2022
