Perrone Goes the Retro Route, Honors Home & Family

Who doesn’t love customized goalie gear? The Long Island University Men’s Ice Hockey team has three goaltenders rostered, with all three putting a unique spin on their helmet and pad designs.

NYI Hockey Now caught up with LIU Senior goaltender Brandon Perrone to discuss his retro look and the cool features on his bucket.

Brandon Perrone, a Smithtown native, idolized former New York Islanders netminder Rick DiPietro, who always went vintage when he could.

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Perrone’s current pads are all yellow, with trims of white and blue, and also have a unique feature that is mesmerizing to look at. They have the retro pad design painted within them.

Perrone’s mask is pretty unique as well.

Starting with the front of the mask, you can see he has his initials “BP” along with the Shark design on the left with a ‘Danger, Shark Zone’ sign on the right.

The back of his helmet shows off even more creativity with fine detail of the New York City skyline.

“I think Long Island as a whole, I know, it’s a little different than New York City, but a way to represent that and have something I [can] look at and think of home,” Perrone said as the reason for the New York City detail. “So, to put that skyline on my helmet meant a lot for me.” 

As you can see, there are three different colored ribbons on the back of his helmet. Michelle, Brandon’s mom, had both breast and ovarian cancer previously, while his grandmother had breast cancer. In addition, the LIU senior has a Mulitple Sechrosis ribbon for his fiance’s father.

One final touch to his mask was a religious stamp right above the Statue of Liberty, which Perrone shared was his favorite part of his customized helmet.

“My favorite thing is a ‘St. Michael Protect Us [stamp],” Perrone shared. “Before every period, I just tap the post and say, ‘Saint Michael, protect me.'”

“So I’ve always done that, and that makes me think of my mom and home.”

You can catch Brandon Perrone’s equipment in action this weekend as the LIU Sharks battle Stonehill and Quinnipiac.