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Saskatchewan is showing up in an unexpected place at the Olympics this year — on the side of Team Canada’s goalie masks.
A Calgary-based mask painter with deep Saskatchewan ties, Dave Fried of Friedesigns, designed and painted six Olympic goalie masks for Canadian netminders, including one for Saskatoon’s Darcy Kuemper that leans fully into Prairie imagery.
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“He asked for a wheat field that’s kind of all he asked for,” Fried said.
“I made the wheat field coming up front, had a bit of an old country road coming in behind, and then I have a grain elevator in the back, just that kind of iconic Saskatchewan kind of look.”
The other side of Kuemper’s mask pays tribute to another familiar Canadian image.
“He wanted it to look like the loonie scene from our dollar loonie with the loon on the lake,” Fried said.
“We did that whole scene with the loon on the lake. There are a lot of lakes in Saskatchewan, so I wanted that kind of vibe.”
For Saskatchewan viewers tuning in, it isn’t just generic Prairie art. Fried said authenticity matters.
“I grew up in Swan River, Manitoba, it’s really close to the Saskatchewan border. My mom’s from Yorkton, Saskatchewan, so I spent a lot of time in Saskatchewan,” he said. “I was really excited to do that work for him.”
Kuemper’s mask was one of six Fried completed for the Olympics. He also designed the men’s mask for Logan Thompson, built around Calgary imagery, including the Calgary Tower and the Rocky Mountains.
“Logan wanted it based off of Calgary kind of imagery,” Fried said. “So I put the Calgary Tower in the background, and then behind that with the mountains.”
Thompson’s design included kids playing shinny on a frozen pond and a bear “catching a trout in his mouth,” tying it back to the Rocky Mountain region.
Beyond the two men’s masks, Fried also painted masks for two Canadian women’s goalies and two Paralympic sled goalies — six Canadian netminders in total — along with one for a member of Italy’s women’s team.
The workload created an unexpected sprint.
Fried said Olympic approval rules are stricter than in the NHL, requiring sign-off beyond the goalie and equipment staff.
“We have to send them to the Olympic Committee,” he said. “They’re pretty picky where brand logos are, and you can’t do anything connected to pop culture or a brand.”
Approval came later than expected.
“They didn’t give us thumbs up for most of them until about two weeks before the Olympics,” he said. “So it was kind of panic mode.”
Fried said he, his wife Tasha, and paint helper Brendan went “all hands on deck” to meet the deadline.
“We got five masks out in about a week and a half,” he said. “We pulled it off by the skin of our teeth.”
The process itself included layered digital design mockups, goalie and team approvals, hand-painting with airbrush and brush techniques, and automotive-grade clear coat to seal and protect the artwork.
But the payoff came when the masks hit the ice.
“With Team Canada, you feel really honoured,” Fried said. “To see your country’s team wearing your artwork it definitely warms your heart.”
He said he approached every Olympic design with the same philosophy: bold enough to read on television, detailed enough to reward a closer look.
“I want to make sure they’re really bold, so that from far away they look clean,” he said, “but when you get close, you can see those details with their hometown.”
For Saskatchewan fans watching the Games, that means wheat fields, a Prairie road, a grain elevator and a loon floating on a quiet lake all wrapped into one mask, worn for Canada on the sport’s biggest stage.
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