{"id":1408527,"date":"2026-02-27T09:24:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T15:24:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/?post_type=article&p=1408527"},"modified":"2026-02-27T09:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T15:24:07","slug":"daily-limit-team-usa-goalie-hellebuyck-a-real-bass-head","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/opens\/news\/daily-limit-team-usa-goalie-hellebuyck-a-real-bass-head\/","title":{"rendered":"Daily Limit: Team USA goalie Hellebuyck a real bass head"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Connor Hellebuyck, the goalie who led Team USA to Olympic hockey gold on Sunday, has the fishing world abuzz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foremost was his spectacular play, but Hellebuyck is literally a bass head. His love of fishing is displayed in a leaping largemouth on his mask, and anglers have taken notice. There are numerous stories on him and his featured artwork, and posts have gone viral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bass pictured on Hellebuyck\u2019s masks are nothing new, said his older brother, Chris Hellebuyck<\/a>, who has fished Bassmaster Opens the past few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris, 33, said he loved the Olympic design, but he was more impressed with how well Connor, 32, played in Milan. In the gold medal game, Connor stopped 41 Team Canada shots, including a head-turning, behind-his-back stick save in a 2-1 overtime victory.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve played hockey my whole life growing up and played with him, and that was an amazing game,\u201d Chris said. \u201cOutside of everything else, that was my first thought, just what an amazing game he played.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was just watching him like, \u2018Holy crap!\u2019 This is Connor, you know? You don\u2019t even think that much of what came after.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What came after was a hero\u2019s welcome. With America celebrating its first hockey gold since the 1980 \u201cMiracle on Ice,\u201d President Trump quickly invited Team USA to the White House, and the team was introduced at Tuesday\u2019s State of the Union address before Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Jack Hughes, with a bloody mouth and teeth knocked out from a high stick, scored the game-winning goal in OT, many say Team USA would not have won without Connor\u2019s outstanding play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Connor and Chris Hellebuyck brought in the winning bag in last year’s season opener on Kent Lake.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Trump gushed about Connor and, after a team vote, awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation\u2019s highest civilian honor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s cool seeing him on TV and shaking the President’s hand,\u201d Chris said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No doubt Connor has been in a whirlwind, but all the Hellebuycks are dazzling in the excitement. The family group chats are \u201cgoing crazy,\u201d said Chris, who\u2019s congratulated Connor and enlightened their father on his impact in bass fishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’ve been in touch a little bit \u2014 definitely had to let Connor know that we’re all proud of him,\u201d Chris said. \u201cI’ve tried to give him some space because if my phone has been this out of control, I can’t even imagine his. It’s been pretty, pretty hectic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’ve talked to my dad, describing that Connor has really gotten a lot of traction in the fishing community. Obviously, we’re taking this phone call right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd I just think it’s funny. He goes out and plays a hockey game, but he puts a big largemouth on the side of his helmet and gets linked up with all the fishing stuff, too. So, that’s been pretty amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hellebuycks were raised on the water northwest of Detroit in Commerce Township, slinging pucks on the frozen stuff and bass lures into the lakes. They are Michigan bass heads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe grew up fishing with my grandpa. We were just always interested in bass,\u201d Chris said. \u201cWe’ve got a whole bunch of lakes here in Michigan. We had access to a lake called Commerce Lake. We had a couple public docks on the lake we could go out and fish from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Connor is captured fishing from a canoe about a decade ago. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNaturally, it was always a competition, even on the dock, for who could catch the bigger bass or who could catch more bass. We’d go out fishing on a canoe, stuff like that. I think he got a Bass Tracker first actually.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About a decade ago, Connor, who now runs a 21-foot Vexus, entered the brothers in a local bass trail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI swear, as soon as we finished that first one, I think it was kind of it for both of us,\u201d Chris said. \u201cWe knew that that’s just what we wanted to do \u2014 tournament bass fish.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hellebuycks played junior hockey together before Connor left to play in college, which led to an award-winning NHL career that began in 2015. Chris, who played his last season of hockey around that time, moved all-in to fishing while running a business producing custom video game controllers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris admits his brother is the superior hockey player, and most might assume he\u2019s the better angler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Hellebuyck brothers show their stuff in a Lake St. Clair derby.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that’s usual consensus, but no, he’s a good fisherman,\u201d said Chris, noting Connor won last year\u2019s Angler of the Year in the Southeast Michigan division of U.S. Angler\u2019s Choice. \u201cThat was really cool to see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, Chris was the state\u2019s top angler in the Phoenix Bass Fishing League, and he\u2019s fished Opens since 2022 in hopes of qualifying for the Elite Series. Last year, Chris easily reached the Elite Qualifiers before slipping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want another shot at those EQs so bad because it was a good season, just two frustrating tournaments came at a bad time,\u201d he said. \u201cWe’re going to do everything we can to take another shot at that this year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris started this year well, finishing 23rd in the Division 2 opener on Sam Rayburn last Friday. He was on his drive home when the gold medal game aired Sunday morning. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat overtime was so hard to watch,\u201d he said. \u201cOh my gosh, it was terrifying and exciting and just crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hellebuyck name will long live in hockey lore, and having bass artwork so prevalent on his helmet put the fishing world behind him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConnor likes to put that bass on there,\u201d Chris said. \u201cI texted him at the start of the Olympics that this was his best helmet. I just love how big he made the bass on the side of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connor designs his helmets and works closely with airbrush artist Steve Nash, who runs Eyecandyair out of Toronto. Over the past decade, Connor has had Nash paint images of smallmouth bass, walleye, himself reeling in a bass and ice fishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
One helmet Steve Nash painted shows Connor holding a bass.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done all kinds of different versions of fishing,\u201d Nash said. \u201cThere’s always a lot of little ghosted details in his mask that people can’t really see, but they’re more personal for him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the Olympics, Connor planned a bald eagle grasping a bass opposite the leaping largemouth with flag images and the USA shield on the chin. Nash said that got pushback from the International Olympic Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe made a bunch of drafts, sent them in,\u201d Nash said. \u201cHe really wanted the eagle on there but the IOC, believe it or not, did not want any eagles. But he didn’t take no for an answer. They finally approved it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then it took Nash about a week to paint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s all automotive paint and we lock it down in with clear coat,\u201d he said, \u201cso if he takes an 80-mile-an-hour shot, it’ll hold up to that. It won’t just crack off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Canadian, Nash was proud of his connection to Hellebuyck and his elevated fame in hockey and fishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf anybody’s deserving of it, it would be Connor,\u201d Nash said. \u201cHe’s a really good guy, a good family guy. He loves fishing. He lives on the water. He’s either playing on frozen water or he\u2019s out on the water fishing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Chris Hellebuyck shows off his best on Day 2 of the Sam Rayburn Open, where he finished 23rd.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Chris said he can\u2019t wait until to personally congratulate his brother. When things calm down, the family might take another trip to Winnipeg, or see him play nearby in Detroit, or it might not be until the NHL regular season ends in April. Of course, that\u2019s when fishing season in Michigan ramps up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris said he\u2019s sure they\u2019ll fish together at the first opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs soon as he gets home, we usually are on the lake, and we’ll practice together and fish tourneys together,\u201d he said. \u201cJust fish as much as we possibly can with this short summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt looks like they\u2019ll probably miss the playoffs this year. Typically, when his season ends, he gets back pretty quickly. I think he wants to get home and fish.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Connor Hellebuyck, the goalie who led Team USA to Olympic hockey gold on Sunday, has the fishing world abuzz. 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