Mask for hockey helmet cage- similar to CCM Style

So here in Michigan, it has become mandatory that if you are working out or playing certain sports you have to wear a mask. Now my sons play hockey, lacrosse and soccer. 2 of those sports require a helmet. Now imagine trying to wear a helmet, mouth guard, mask and play the sport you love? I designed this mask to mimic the CCM one that is coming out in a few weeks.

Disclaimer: Now this mask is not medical grade and is not intended to prevent infection of the user. 

I purchased this mask pre-made at Meijer. I used size Large. They are 90% Polyester and 10% Polyurethane. I used this style because it mostly holds its own shape and I thought it would help it stay up in the cage on it’s own. First step was to hold it up to the cage and figure out the size.

Now my son has a size small cage. So this might need to be changed a bit if you have a different size cage.

First step is to cut through the loops where the ear holes are.  This will make the straps that you can use to hook around the cage.  Then I trimmed the bottom section so it went over the chin strap area inside the mask.

Once I did that, I opened up the mask flat and a piece of webbing to use at the bottom to hook around the bottom of the cage.

I then sewed the webbing and velcro pieces to the mask itself.

Once I did this, I then kinda held it up to the mask and marked where I thought I needed to put the velcro for the top sections that will go around the cage.  Now this is probably the part that will vary from cage size to cage size.

Once this was done, I trimmed the longer pieces of the ear loops and it was ready to hook into the helmet.

The following pictures are of my son modeling his mask inside his helmet.  Now I sewed the top edge of the mask down a little bit on his because I thought that it was too high and would block his view, but again, this might all just depend on the person wear it.  I am also not claiming this will work for everyone, each person will have a different style of mask that they want to wear.  I just thought I’d help by keeping it off his face a bit more like the CCM style ones that are coming out this month.  This way he could still have his mouth piece in and it wouldn’t be so against his face.

These photos show how it’s hooked onto the cage.

I hope this helps some of you.   We all want our kids to play the sports they love but in the most safest way possible!