Connor Hellebuyckplayed the game of his life on Sunday.
The Winnipeg Jets goalie recorded a whopping 41 saves and held Team Canada to just one goal en route to Team USA's gold medal win at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina. With that sort of domination, it's only appropriate that Hellebuyck rocked the most American facemask of all time.
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The custom-painted mask featured Team USA's shield on the chin and Stars and Stripes across the top. The right side pictured a swooping bald eagle, and the backplate showed off his home state of Michigan. But the best part — at least in the humble opinion of OutKick Outdoors — was the large-mouth bass plastered across the left side of Hellebuyck's bucket.
Hockey fans know this isn't new for Hellebuyck, as the facemask he wears for the Jets also features fish. But in case you didn't know, now you know: Connor Hellebuyck lives for the lake.
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It started when he was a kid in Michigan, "dropping worms" and catching bass with his grandpa. Once he got to Winnipeg, he picked up ice fishing, too.
"There’s always that void of winter months and not being able to fish and always thinking about it and talking about it. [Former Jets teammate] Dustin Byfuglien started getting into ice fishing, and he was trying to get me into it and was telling me how awesome it is and how good Lake Winnipeg is," Hellebuycktold Major League Fishing in a 2020 interview.
"So, finally, I decided to go with him, and when I went with him, I enjoyed myself a ton. We caught some really big walleye — I think I caught a 29-incher that day — and from there I was hooked."
A love forfishingruns in the Hellebuyck family.
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