Ernie Higgins, the little old mask-maker
If Ernie Higgins had known the man in the iron mask, the long-suffering prisoner might have been a standout in the National Hockey League.
Alexander Dumas, of course, knew nothing about ice hockey, fiberglass or frozen pucks that travel at 120 miles per hour, but Higgins is an expert.
"I stand behind the glass at a rink," he says with a shudder, "and watch that puck flying at a goalie I wonder what in the name of God I'm trying to do."
What he's aiming for is preservation of a goalie's skull.
Higgins, working feverishly in a tiny factory west of Boston, makes hockey masks — 3.000 since 1964 — and has equipped 60 percent of the goalies in the NHL.
The creations look somewhat ghoulish, but they serve a purpose.
For a price of $185 to $250. the pound-and-a-half fiberglass masks "have prevented a lot of careers from being ended," says Higgins.
His business started when Higgins' son Neil was a 12-year-old goalie whose plexiglass mask shattered.
"I bought him a fiberglass mask," Higgins says, "but I took one look at it and decided I could do better."
That ended Ernie's career as a plumber and launched an enterprise that has taken him all over the United States and Canada and taught him to "put a skull together blindfolded, although I can't name a single bone."
Higgins, 62, a native of Prince Edward Island, Canada. spends 16 hours on each mask, starting with a plaster face mold and finishing with a shell covered with holes and vents and lined with styrofoam padding.
"You could wear a half inch of stainless steel and still feel the impact of that puck," Higgins says. "The face just doesn't have enough flesh to protect it."
Higgins claims there never has been a serious injury to a goalie wearing one of his creations. The worst scares, however, come not during games but in practices and pregame warmups.
"Something comes over them at those times when the players just can't help clowning around," Ernie said. "They start firing pucks from all angles and it's a wonder goalies don't get killed."
The first of the breed to wear a mask is said to have been Clint Benedict of Montreal in 1920. Others followed, but the trend didn't develop fully until 40 years later.
"The pros just don't want as good a mask as I can make," Higgins says. "They want them light. They won't take too much protection."
There's something about the masks that make nongoalies giddy and Higgins does his fitting for out-of-town professionals in hotel rooms, where teammates can't poke fun.
Sometimes, face molds are sent to Higgins who then makes a mask without ever meeting the goalie. In his storage room, he has molds for Finnish National team goalies, but no names, because he doesn't know them.
Higgins' business is generated by word-of-mouth, originally spread by friends of his son, college players and later the professionals.
(All articles originally published in the Norwood Messenger)
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