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It takes a special kind of person to willingly step into the path of a slapshot fired off the stick of an NHL player, but goalies sign up to do exactly that on a nightly basis. Netminders in this day and age obviously benefit from the equipment they rock on the ice, and it’s hard to believe there was once a time when they willingly stepped onto the rink without a mask—an era that came to an end thanks to a man who had to fight for the right to wear one.
Guys in the NHL are known for their toughness thanks to their almost superhuman ability to brush off the kind of injuries that would knock the average person out of commission for an extended period of time.
Of course, hockey has come a long way since the early days. The NHL didn’t require players to wear helmets until 1979 (although Craig MacTavish played without a bucket until 1997 thanks to a grandfather clause in the rulebook), and the padding that’s used today is wildly more advanced than protective equipment that used to leave plenty to be desired.
Goaltenders were also permitted to play without a mask until that aforementioned regulation was put into place, but that practice had already become the norm by that point thanks in no small part to Jacques Plante, who turned the sport on its head after falling victim to a gnarly injury a couple of decades before.
How Jacques Plante’s goalie mask became a good luck charm that changed hockey forever
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Jacques Plante would always have a place in hockey history even if he hadn’t played a major role in revolutionizing the sport.
The goaltender made his NHL debut with the Montreal Canadiens in 1953 and quickly earned the starting job. By the time he was traded to the Rangers in 1963, the franchise had won six Stanley Cups (including five in a row between 1956 and 1960) on the back of his performance in net.
Plante occasionally grappled with medical issues stemming from his asthma, and in 1956, he missed more than a dozen games after undergoing surgery to fix a sinus issue. From that point on, he routinely used a mask he fashioned out of fiberglass to protect his face during practice, but Canadiens coach Toe Blake refused to let him wear it during games due to fears it would hinder his vision.
However, that all changed when a maskless Plante was struck in the face by a puck during a game against the Rangers on November 1, 1959. He was stitched up in the locker room before returning to the bench with his mask in tow, and while Blake attempted to prevent him from wearing it onto the ice, he was forced to accept his goalie’s ultimatum due to a lack of a serviceable backup.
The Canadiens ultimately walked away with a 3-1 victory to extend an unbeaten streak stretching back to October to eight games. Plante told Blake he was going to keep wearing the mask, and the coach begrudgingly allowed him to use it while making it clear he expected him to stow it away once the injury was fully healed.
However, fears that it would negatively impact his goalie’s play became increasingly unfounded thanks to what transpired in the ensuing weeks. The team stretched its unbeaten streak to 18 games by going 10-0-1 over the course of November, and Blake was all but forced to admit the mask didn’t appear to be an issue at all.
The magic eventually wore off a bit by the time December rolled around, but the Canadiens were still sitting at 37-14 when Blake asked his goalie to forgo the mask during a showdown with the Red Wings on March 8, 1960. However, Detroit walked away with a 3-0 victory, and after Plante helped the team secure a 9-4 victory over the Maple Leafs the following night with the mask on, it was officially there to stay.
When the NHL season wrapped up, Plante was awarded his fifth consecutive Vezina Trophy (he’d win two more by the time he retired). He technically wasn’t the first goalie to wear a mask (Clint Benedict had donned a leather one with the Montreal Maroons in the 1930s), but he was far and away the most successful.
By that point, other goalies began to realize wearing a mask couldn’t be that bad if the best netminder in the league was rocking one, and it quickly became the norm (Penguins goaltender Andy Brown has the distinction of being the last person at the position not to wear a mask until his time in the league came to an end in 1974).
Plante also carved out a nice side hustle for himself by helping other players design their masks, and while playing for the Blues in the Stanley Cup Finals in 1970, he inadvertently gave his business a ringing endorsement after a deflected shot struck him in the face (he was knocked out of the series and spent a few days in the hospital, but a doctor who treated him said the mask likely saved his life).
You have to imagine someone else would’ve led the charge if Plante hadn’t insisted on masking up, but every goalie who’s been hit in the face has him to thank for literally saving their skull.