The city knows Carter Hart as the young and promising goaltender of the Philadelphia Flyers, but fans have also noticed the creativity of his goalie mask paying tribute to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.
Hart caught up with an MMR digital producer about the music themes for his goalie masks and the story behind the Taylor Hawkins tribute.
“My Foo Fighters one (mask), that’s my dad’s favorite band. We would always listen to The Pretender in the truck going to games, so with Taylor passing this year, their drummer, I thought it would be cool to get a tribute for the Foo Fighters and for Taylor, so then I’ll give it to my dad after the season.”
-Carter Hart
Rock & Roll Fan Carter Hart
Hart went on about his love of rock music and how the passion has led him into the theme of his goalie masks.
“My first one was AC/DC last year. Me and my dad love AC/DC. We would listen to it in the truck going to hockey games and stuff. (We) listened to ‘Thunderstruck,’ ‘T.N.T.,’ ‘Heatseeker,’ so that was that one,” he said.
Hart’s second mask featured Tim McGraw, his favorite country singer. He joked that his native province of Alberta inspired his love for country music as “The Texas of Canada.”
The 24-year-old showed an impressive knowledge of past eras of Rock & Roll naming Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, and Creedence Clearwater Revival as some of his favorite bands from the 1970s.
He also mixes in punk rock from Green Day and blink-182.
He shared a story about a night backstage at the Fillmore last year after a Sum 41 and Simple Plan show. Both bands are made up of all Canadians, and Hart called them all huge hockey fans.
Hart has taken over as the top goaltender for the Flyers for the past four seasons. He’s closing in on 200 career starts at a younger age than some other NHL goaltenders made their debuts.
With the help of Paint Zoo, he’s also paid a thoughtful tribute a rock legend Taylor Hawkins and revealed a great taste in music.
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