Peter Best, a 10th-grader at Benilde-St. Margaret School in St. Louis Park, presented Minnesota Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom with his new mask for the coming season Sept. 18 at the Xcel Energy Center. Best submitted the design for the mask in a contest sponsored by the Wild’s official website. Out of more than 500 submissions, Best’s artwork was chosen as one of five finalists. Backstrom himself chose it as the winner. A close-up of the mask shows a silhouette of the St. Paul skyline and a growling wolf. “That’s the more fierce side of Nik,” Best said. The other side features a howling wolf, “and that depicts Nik’s more laid back, stealth side,” he said.
