With the smoke still lingering in the air from blowing up the goalie community with our first-ever Medieval Mask Design Contest, we decided to honor and thank our sponsors by nominating Ryan Leets as this week’s winner!

Leets was born in Flint, MI and resides in Kentwood, but is currently in his Freshman year playing NCAA hockey for Army. Ryan is a 2008 graduate of Jefferson Senior High and a member of the National Honor Society. Before attending Army, Ryan starred in goal for the Alexandria Blizzard of the North American Hockey League (NAHL) and was voted to the league’s Central Division Top Prospect Team.

And just like our mask contest’s winner Aaron Camponi will now be receiving, Leets’ mask was custom made for him by Masked Marvel goalie helmets and painted by Taylor-Made Graphics very own Jim Keserich.

We love how this mask has many different images and themes incorporated into the design, but without it having too cluttered of a look. It’s not difficult to comprehend even though there are many sharp, defined lines combined with some quality shading throughout.

To be brief about the design, the Army logo covers the left side, the Army Mule (thanks for the heads up Brad!) covers the right side and a menacing Uncle Sam covers the front.

So there’s simplicity on the surface, but at a closer look, there’s even more elements that attract the eyes. You have the ghostly glow of the Knight’s red eyes, the old-school goalie mask on Uncle Sam’s face, and of course his pair of brass knuckles.

Talk about in your face – this mask has a ton of attitude, flair and quality color. And we also have to state that the chin drop with Steel across it reveals one of the best nicknames we’ve seen in a very long time. Think about it for a second.

Yep, it’s awesome.

Congratulations to Ryan and continued success during his first year at Army!