Ducks goalie auctions November mask for cancer charity

Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal will wear a custom purple mask for every game this November, then auction the helmet to benefit Children's Hospitals of Orange County. The team revealed the design before facing the Ottawa Senators on Sunday, coinciding with the league's annual Hockey Fights Cancer Month campaign.

The mask features the Ducks logo alongside personal photographs and symbols dedicated to individuals affected by cancer. Dostal stated that he intends to wear the gear for every single game in the month. He said the battle with cancer is very important to him and sometimes means more than the hockey. After the month concludes, the team will put the mask up for auction with proceeds going to the hospital network.

The front of the helmet displays a picture of Dostal's grandmother, who died of pancreatic cancer when he was a teenager. The back features a pink ribbon listing names of people in the Ducks organization who have battled the disease. Below the names, the phrase nothing is impossible is printed. Dostal described this phrase as his personal motto.

The left side of the mask includes a photo of Dostal with Sudarshan Maharaj, the Ducks director of goaltending. Maharaj is a survivor of pancreatic cancer. Dostal noted that Maharaj's survival is a massive achievement and expressed happiness that he can still be with the team. Below that image is a photo of Dostal with Paddy O'Donnell, a former collegiate goalie who died at age 23 from brain cancer. Dostal called O'Donnell an amazing human being and said it was a pleasure to know him.

The right side features a photo of Dostal with his grandmother and another image of him with Veronika. Dostal met Veronika in the summer while she was making a movie for the Czech women's national team while battling cervical cancer. He described her as super inspirational and someone who became a very important person to him during that time.

The Ducks finished their first month of the season with a 5-7-1 record, totaling 11 points. The team is looking to improve its performance in November. The club is one year removed from advancing past the second round of the NHL playoffs and holds the same goals for this campaign.