PensTV: NHL Winter Classic Feature

The Penguins will go retro for the NHL Winter Classic.

That includes the goaltenders.

Dany Sabourin will wear retro-themed pads at the NHL Winter Classic.

While the entire team will wear throwback uniforms, goaltenders Dany Sabourin and Ty Conklin will add their own touches as well with new customized masks.

Sabourin will take it a step further with retro-looking equipment, which will appear like the old brown gear goaltenders wore.

“I called Sherwood and asked them to make some brown pads and a blocker with some holes in it to look like a waffle pad,” Sherwood said. “The tough part was to try to find the leather, since they don’t do brown anymore. It looks pretty good.”

Sabourin was excited to see the custom equipment for the first time, especially the blocker, which had holes cut in it to look like the old “waffle” style.

“That’s awesome. When I saw it, I was pumped,” he said. “When you look at this old waffle pad blocker, it brings back some good memories of playing outside when I was a kid. I have to give some credit to Max Talbot, who told me to go with the retro look.”

Sabourin wore the pads for the first time Friday and he was pleased.

Dany Sabourin's Winter Classic mask

“I think I felt better with these pads than the old ones,” he said with a laugh. “They are the same size, but the look is different. With the all brown, maybe they look a little bigger. If I get a win with them, I may keep wearing them.”

The players enjoyed Sabourin’s retro look.

“This is great,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. “You look at Sabourin’s gear and it’s pretty cool he has the opportunity to do that.”

The paint job on Sabourin’s mask resembles the mask Michel Plasse wore with the Penguins during the 1975-76 season, combined with the paint job Sabourin wore on his old mask.

“I thought it was pretty cool,” Sabourin said. “I called Ray Bishop, the guy who painted my mask, and asked him to paint an old style mask. He found someone who played for the Penguins before and that’s what he did. It’s nice.”

Conklin did not have a chance to give any input on the design of his mask. That’s because he was called up to Pittsburgh when Marc-Andre Fleury was injured earlier this month. So, a Winter Classic mask had to be rushed into production for him. The mask features the old Penguins logo and some snowflakes.

“It actually looks good. It has the old Penguins logo on it with the scarf. Hopefully, it snows. I will blend right in,” he said. “I had no idea what they had made up. It happened pretty quickly and they had to get something rushed together. It’s the same type of mask I wear anyway and all they had to do was fire some paint on there. It looks good.”

Conklin was not able to have any retro equipment built in time for the event.

“All my stuff is the same,” he said. “Dany’s stuff looks good. I am definitely a little bit jealous.”