Penguins' prospect honors friend with cartoon mask

Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Tristan Jarry honored the nickname given to him by a fallen former teammate by having it brought to life on his new goaltender's mask.

Dubbed "Tom and Jarry" by ex-teammate Kristian Pelss, the 20-year-old Jarry made certain to have the legendary cartoon cat and mouse playing pond hockey on a mask painted by artist Jason Bartziokas.

"'Jars' wanted to keep his a Tom and Jarry theme but have them playing outside," Bartziokas wrote in an email to InGoal. "When I mentioned the mask I was about to work on, my nephew suggested I watch 'The Penguins of Madagascar'. I did and thought the characters would make perfect reinforcements for Tom and Jerry's pick-up game."

While the cartoon cat and mouse are wearing home-and-away Pittsburgh jerseys, the Penguins of Madagascar are in their more natural black-and-white attire. Jarry will have the mask in tow in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton when he serves as the backup to Matt Murray, who was named the American Hockey League Goaltender of the Year Award last season.

A second-round pick of the 2013 draft, Jarry posted a 44-14-3 mark with a 2.24 goals-against average with the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League in 2013-14. The British Columbia native was a teammate of Pelss before the latter passed away in his native Latvia in 2013.

(h/t InGoal Magazine)