Ben Bishop has glow in the dark TRON goalie mask (Photos)

Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Ben Bishop had a challenge for designer Dave Gunnarsson: Create a goalie mask that had lightning on it.

Not just airbrushed bolts. Actual, luminescent lightning.

As we’ve seen through the years, few designers answer a challenge like Dave Gunnarsson, and he created a new mask to Bishop’s specifications. You can even say it glows …

“That is what we call a true Tampa Bay Lightning mask,” said Gunnarsson. “The design is created to be an adventure both in light as in dark.”

The trick to the mask is something called DAVEART G.L.O.W. Tech FX, which is a special paint that gives the mask its lightning glow, “shining as it is made of neon.” It also has "all the other DAVEART Trademark Super FX´s, such as Hologram FX." 

The "lightning" on the mask will look cool during the game, but will only glow when the lights are down in the arena -- a bit of a "hidden" feature on the mask. 

As the mask took form, Gunnarsson took inspiration from a specific source: The classic sci-fi film “TRON,” in which the characters (trapped inside of a computer program) had glowing neon costumes. (And, specifically, from the 2010 sequel TRON LEGACY.)

“I made some sketches and a design emerged in front of our eyes,” he said.

The result is, frankly, unlike any other mask we’ve seen. Gunnarsson has toyed with glow-in-the-dark material before, like on Peter Budaj's ode to "Big Trouble In Little China" mask. But nothing like this.

So enjoy tracking Bishop around the ice during the darkened arena player intros. And don’t be surprised when he reaches to his back and fires a glowing disc at an attacking opponent, dematerialized him. Because Ben Bishop fights for the users…

(This post may or may not have been written while listening to the TRON LEGACY soundtrack.)

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