Home · On This Day · Nov. 1, 1959
Plante ushers in masked goalie era
Broadcast Date: Feb. 27, 1986
He wasn't the first goalie to wear one, but on Nov. 1, 1959, Jacques Plante of the Montreal Canadiens broke with 70 years of hockey tradition and became the first professional netminder to don a goalie mask as a regular part of his uniform. After a shot from Rangers centre Andy Bathgate opens an inch-long gash from Plante's upper lip into his left nostril, he returns to the ice with seven stitches – and a mask. This retrospective CBC-TV clip looks back at Plante's innovation on the occasion of his death in 1986.Plante ushers in masked goalie era
• Shaken, and bleeding badly from the cut, Plante was helped from the ice by a pair of teammates, his face buried in a darkening towel as the league-prescribed 20-minute goalie injury clock ticked down.
• After receiving the stitches, Plante took to his net again to the organ swells of For He's a Jolly Good Fellow. Crossing the ice to the Habs' dressing room, he disappeared momentarily before reemerging with a mask he had recently taken to wearing during often-injurious team practices.
• As the capacity crowd surveyed the novel spectacle, the masked Plante all but slammed the door on the New York players, conceding just a solitary rebound goal late in the third period.
• The Canadiens proceeded to post the first win of an ensuing 18-game unbeaten streak. The string of success silenced most goalie-mask skeptics, while prompting several other NHL goaltenders to follow Plante's lead.
• Goalie masks are now considered an essential part of hockey, but are not actually mandatory in the NHL. The league's rules regarding goalie masks are: "Protective masks of a design approved by the League may be worn by goalkeepers. Protective masks deemed to be worn only to increase stopping area will be considered illegal."
• Plante was born Jan. 17, 1929, in Mont Carmel, near Shawinigan, Quebec. As a youngster, he loved all sports, but hockey was his favourite, and he always tended goal. He turned professional in 1953.
• One of hockey's greatest goaltenders, Plante revolutionized the position – roving out of the crease, skating behind the net, and passing the puck to his team-mates. His book, The Art of Goaltending, solidified his pre-eminent place in the game.
• Plante died of stomach cancer on Feb. 27, 1986, in Sierre, Switzerland, where he had been living with his wife.
Plante ushers in masked goalie era
Medium: Television
Program: CBC Television News
Broadcast Date: Feb. 27, 1986
Reporter: Terry Walker
Duration: 0:55
Last updated:
Aug. 17, 2010
It's not totally accurate to call Plante's mask "the first." Like the clip says, he was the first to wear it on a regular basis, several people wore them before Plante. You should clarify that. I hate to "wiki" you, but: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goaltender_mask
Submitted by: Tyler
Thanks for writing, Tyler. We had a couple of different versions of this clip, and have since changed the text everywhere so that it's accurate. Cheers.
Submitted by: Elizabeth, CBC Archives writer