Feb. 17, 2013
Chicago, Ill. – When the Notre Dame Fighting Irish take the ice to face the Miami RedHawks at 12:05 p.m. (CT) this afternoon at the OfficeMax Hockey City Classic, they will be sporting bright, new gold helmets that will have the same bright gold appearance as that of the Golden Dome on the Notre Dame campus.
Jeff Jackson’s team wore their old gold helmets on Friday night at Miami and then for practice on Saturday at Soldier Field but will be donning the new gold lids for the second game of their series with Miami.
The helmet’s color also matches the same style of gold that the Irish football team debuted during the 2011 season on their football helmets.
The new “Gold Standard” finish to the helmets was done by Hydro Graphics Inc.(HGI), of Newburg, Ore. Through HGI’s close work with the Notre Dame football program and equipment manager Ryan Grooms, HGI was introduced to David Gilbert of Notre Dame hockey with the goal of bringing the same Fighting Irish HydroSkin® helmet finish from the field to the ice.
Notre Dame Hockey’s new helmets received the same illustrious finish as their football counterparts through HGI’s HydroSkin® process, which begins with a custom gold material that has been developed solely for Notre Dame to promote a high level of reflectivity. Through HGI’s HydroSkin® process, a thin layer of translucent material is applied that allows the custom gold base material to take on a bright gold appearance.
While incorporating HGI’s HydroSkin® technology, the new helmet carries on the traditions from Notre Dame as well. Each helmet still contains 23.9 karat gold flake in the final clear coat and paint. And this gold is unique, having been collected from the 2007 re-gilding of the golden dome atop Notre Dame’s Main Building.
The new helmets will become the standard helmet worn by the Notre Dame hockey team the remainder of the 2012-13 season and in future seasons to come.