Dallas Stars goalie Richard Bachman didn’t want just another cowboy mask.

After some back-and-forth brainstorming with famous Swedish painter David Gunnarsson of DaveArt, the Stars’ second-year stopper ended up with something entirely different, a chilling play on his name, which famous author Stephen King once used as a pseudonym to publish extra books, that also paid tribute to the movie The Shining.

“I wanted to do something that was different than just cowboy and Texas themes,” Bachman told InGoal Magazine late Sunday night of a genre that has been done many times – and done well – by his predecessors, including one raging bull theme and another Tombstone tribute by DaveArt for playing partner Kari Lehtonen.

“I told him I was originally from Colorado and that Stephen King used Richard Bachman as a pseudonym,” Bachman continued. “Once I told him that he responded that The Shining was one of his favourite movies and that he has been wanting to do a mask with it on it for years. It worked well for me as the movie was filmed in Estes Park, CO and the name fit great.”

So while the theme may not fit Dallas, it sure fits Bachman – or at least his name. The Stars backup, who signed his first one-way contract this summer, may not be the most physically intimidating presence at 5-foot-10, but his new all-black mask might scare off a few shooters. Gunnarsson stuck with one color to produce what he said, “may be one of the most scary mask I´ve ever created … We wanted the mask to have the same uncomfortable feeling you have when you just wake up after a nightmare.”

In addition to the more easily recognizable characters from The Shining, including Jack Nicholson, on the mask’s right side, Gunnarsson integrated more subtle references on the left portion of the mask, even working the patterns from the carpet in the hotel featured in The Shining with the star of the Dallas Stars logo to create a “sinister feeling.”

“It is all painted in a scary mix of calm paint and an uncomfortable feeling all over the mask,” Gunnarsson wrote on his Facebook page. “It is all created with old school airbrush paint mixed with oil paint tech.”

Bachman, who was working with Gunnarsson for the second time, was impressed with the process and ecstatic about the result.

“The work he did surpassed all of my expectations, the attention to detail is what really makes the mask look great and turn heads,” Bachman said. “The white and black also makes a statement in itself, and I am thinking of adding a gold cage to really get a cool effect. I’m not worried about the ‘darkness’ of the mask as the white and black calm the scary aspect. The part I like most is all the little details throughout, such as the carpet that was in the hotel in the movie inside the Stars logo.”

Bachman said he kept the backplate, which isn’t pictured, really simple, with a similar overall theme and a horseshoe “for good luck” with the American and Texas flags coming out each side.

“The horseshoe is something I have had on my last three masks and will continue to have for the rest of my career,” he said.

As for any lack of size on the ice, Bachman makes up for it with more aggressive positioning and great skating, as well as active gloves. Bachman shared some of his secrets to the latter in the April 2012 Edition of the magazine with specific goaltending exercises for training hand-eye coordination.