JOFA Helmets | Halos of Hockey

Gretzky, Lemieux, Jagr, Selanne, Savard, Sundin, Forsberg, Fleury, Kurri, Housley, Palffy, Salming and Stastny are some of the NHL greats who have worn the JOFA emblem proudly upon their foreheads during some of the highest scoring and most important seasons and careers in NHL history. This blog discusses the JOFA helmet, the different models, who men who wore them, their significance, where to buy and sell them, how to fix and modify them, and why they are icons of hockey excellence.

May 3, 2011

Mario Lemieux's JOFA 66


Undeniably one of the greatest players to ever play the game, Mario Lemieux wore a JOFA 366 helmet during the best seasons of his career; sharing credit for making the JOFA 366 a hockey icon. However, there is a twist. He would scratch the "3" off of the "366" bumper to make the helmet his own number, "66".  


Pretty clever. Also interesting, is that the chin strap has snaps at both sides, resulting in a pivoting chinstrap which increases the helmet's fit and comfort, while also allowing complete removal of the chin strap during practices. I found these photos at Classic Auctions, which auctions off lots of rare sports equipment, and also provides great pictures of JOFA helmets worn by the pros.


Here's a picture of Lemieux wearing his home helmet. Notice his KOHO gloves and stick from his KOHO Revolution line of equipment. What a throwback; the first stick I ever owned was a KOHO Revolution! I will discuss the relevance of KOHO amongst pros who wore JOFA helmets, and KOHO's relationship to JOFA in another post.

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