Connor Hellebuyck, the goalie who led Team USA to Olympic hockey gold on Sunday, has the fishing world abuzz.
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.
Bass pictured on Hellebuyck’s masks are nothing new, said his older brother, Chris Hellebuyck, who has fished Bassmaster Opens the past few years.
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.
“I’ve played hockey my whole life growing up and played with him, and that was an amazing game,” Chris said. “Outside of everything else, that was my first thought, just what an amazing game he played.
“I was just watching him like, ‘Holy crap!’ This is Connor, you know? You don’t even think that much of what came after.”
What came after was a hero’s welcome. With America celebrating its first hockey gold since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice,” President Trump quickly invited Team USA to the White House, and the team was introduced at Tuesday’s State of the Union address before Congress.
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’s outstanding play.
Trump gushed about Connor and, after a team vote, awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
“It’s cool seeing him on TV and shaking the President’s hand,” Chris said.
No doubt Connor has been in a whirlwind, but all the Hellebuycks are dazzling in the excitement. The family group chats are “going crazy,” said Chris, who’s congratulated Connor and enlightened their father on his impact in bass fishing.
“I’ve been in touch a little bit — definitely had to let Connor know that we’re all proud of him,” Chris said. “I’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.
“I’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.
“And 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.”
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.
“We grew up fishing with my grandpa. We were just always interested in bass,” Chris said. “We’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.
“Naturally, 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.”
About a decade ago, Connor, who now runs a 21-foot Vexus, entered the brothers in a local bass trail.
“I swear, as soon as we finished that first one, I think it was kind of it for both of us,” Chris said. “We knew that that’s just what we wanted to do — tournament bass fish.”
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.
Chris admits his brother is the superior hockey player, and most might assume he’s the better angler.
“I think that’s usual consensus, but no, he’s a good fisherman,” said Chris, noting Connor won last year’s Angler of the Year in the Southeast Michigan division of U.S. Angler’s Choice. “That was really cool to see.”
In 2021, Chris was the state’s top angler in the Phoenix Bass Fishing League, and he’s fished Opens since 2022 in hopes of qualifying for the Elite Series. Last year, Chris easily reached the Elite Qualifiers before slipping.
“I want another shot at those EQs so bad because it was a good season, just two frustrating tournaments came at a bad time,” he said. “We’re going to do everything we can to take another shot at that this year.”
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.
“That overtime was so hard to watch,” he said. “Oh my gosh, it was terrifying and exciting and just crazy.”
The Hellebuyck name will long live in hockey lore, and having bass artwork so prevalent on his helmet put the fishing world behind him.
“Connor likes to put that bass on there,” Chris said. “I 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.”
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.
“We’ve done all kinds of different versions of fishing,” Nash said. “There’s always a lot of little ghosted details in his mask that people can’t really see, but they’re more personal for him.”
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.
“We made a bunch of drafts, sent them in,” Nash said. “He 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.”
Then it took Nash about a week to paint.
“It’s all automotive paint and we lock it down in with clear coat,” he said, “so if he takes an 80-mile-an-hour shot, it’ll hold up to that. It won’t just crack off.”
Although Canadian, Nash was proud of his connection to Hellebuyck and his elevated fame in hockey and fishing.
“If anybody’s deserving of it, it would be Connor,” Nash said. “He’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’s out on the water fishing.”
Chris said he can’t 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’s when fishing season in Michigan ramps up.
Chris said he’s sure they’ll fish together at the first opportunity.
“As soon as he gets home, we usually are on the lake, and we’ll practice together and fish tourneys together,” he said. “Just fish as much as we possibly can with this short summer.
“It looks like they’ll 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.”
