When Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen returns from hip surgery sometime between late October and mid November he’ll be sporting a beauty of a helmet with a Rochester Americans themed paint job on it. David Gunnarsson (artist behind the best masks in hockey) wrote on his Instagram post, “A design which really lives and breath Rochester Americans in every detail.”
Luukkonen was drafted in the second round (54th overall) by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2017 draft. Last season with the Sudbury Wolves he was the recipient of the OHL goaltender of the year award. He finished the regular season with 38 wins, 2.50 GAA, a .920 SV%, and six shutouts. His GAA and SV% set established new Sudbury Wolves franshise records and helped lead them to their most successful season since 1994-1995. He was also the recipient of the Red Tilson Trophy awarded to the OHL’s Most Outstanding Player of the Year as voted by the writers and broadcasters that cover the league. The last Sudbury Wolves player to win the Red Tilson trophy was Mike Foligno who won it in 1979.
The picture speaks for itself:
He’ll be sharing duties in net with Andrew Hammond who’ll play the role of veteran goaltender in Rochester this season. We haven’t seen a full image of the lid for Hammond yet but it looks like he’s going with the blue and gold Sabres theme along with the hamburglar persona. If anything changes or there’s a part of Rochester featured I’ll make sure to give him his own post.
