Sporting News

For today's goalies, it's not a matter of toughness. It's a matter of sanity. November 1 marks the 50th anniversary of the night when Montreal legend Jacques Plante refused to re-enter a game until he was allowed to wear a protective mask.

Half a century later, NHL goalies wouldn't even consider going near a sheet of ice without a mask. Playing without one is unfathomable.

"I can't imagine," Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo told Sporting News. "That's pretty crazy. Obviously the shots were not what they are today, but still. There was a lot of stuff going on around the crease. I don't know how those guys did it."

Said Anaheim goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere: "It's actually crazy. I'm sure the shots weren't the same, the sticks weren't the same, but still crazy. Stupid crazy."

Jacques Plante and the goalie face mask celebrate their golden anniversary Nov. 1.

Before Plante, several other players tried rudimentary forms of the mask. Most notably, Clint Benedict in 1930 wore a mask for five games. But it was generally frowned upon and Plante's decision set the tone for goaltenders from then on.

The craziness ended on Nov. 1, 1959. The Montreal Canadiens were playing the New York Rangers, when an Andy Bathgate shot hit Plante in the face in the first period. Plante had his face stitched up and when he returned to the game, this time he was masked.

It was finally a moment of sanity even though Plante's coach Toe Blake was dead set against the idea. Charlie Hodge was Plante's backup in Montreal. When they made a goalie mask for Plante, the second one went to Hodge.

During a phone conversation with Sporting News, the 76-year-old former Montreal goalie said Blake's anti-mask stance was the only reason Montreal goalies didn't wear one earlier.

"He was from the old-school. Let's face it," said Hodge, who won the Vezina Trophy in 1964. "Jacques put it on and Blake screamed a lot about it but Jacques put it on anyway. That was where that was at."

Hodge's reaction to the introduction to the mask in games?

"I didn't mind it. I didn't mind it at all," he said. "It as a case where I was a slow learner. (Without a mask) I nearly lost an eye, had a broken nose, broken cheek bone and broken jaw."

The new masks didn't solve everything. Hodge remembers taking a shot off the mask that took a chunk out of his mask, and got his head pretty good too. The solution by the Montreal trainer was to tighten the straps on Hodge's mask so his head wouldn't swell up.

"Things were a little different then," he said.

A little.

By the time Hall of Famer Tony Esposito made his NHL debut during the 1968-69 season, goalie masks were the norm in the NHL. But the Blackhawks legend didn't wear one regularly until he was 18 years old, which led to a frequent battle with his mother, who wasn't crazy about Esposito manning a goal without head protection.

It didn't help that he'd often sprint home after playing hockey at the rink by his school, with snow pressed against his head to help slow the bleeding caused by a puck to the head.

He was more than happy to wear a mask in the NHL, but life without one wasn't going to stop him from being a goalie.

"If they didn't have masks, I would have played anyway," said Esposito, who still has his first goalie mask in his home office in Florida. "That's how my mentality was. I was used to it, a few cuts here and there didn't seem to bother me."

The first generation of hockey masks were nothing like the complete protection today's masks offer. They were protection against something catastrophic, but a puck off the mask still did damage.

Esposito described the feeling as a suckerpunch.

It was typical to get serious cuts anywhere bone pressed against the mask, like above the eyebrows. But it was a smooth cut, and that was better than the alternative.

"If you had a good surgeon, he could sew you up and you didn't notice anything," Esposito said.

It was an improvement and the goalies of that era appreciated it.

"It took a special person in Plante," Hodge said. "I don't know how long it would have taken to bring the mask in had it not been for him."

First the mask, then the design

Timeline of the Goalie Mask

February 20, 1930: Clint Benedict of the Montreal Maroons wears a flat, leather mask used by boxers in sparring. He used the contraption for five games, but said it obscured his vision. Later he tried a wire cage-style protector, but said it distracted him.

November 1, 1959: Jacques Plante is generally considered to be the first goalie to wear a modern style, fiberglass mask in an NHL game.

1968-69 Season: Boston Bruins goaltender Gerry Cheevers became the first goaltender to decorate his mask. Cheevers was struck in the mask during practice and had trainer John Forristall draw stitches on his mask with a black marker.

October 31, 1972: Doug Favell of the Philadelphia Flyers had his mask painted orange, resembling a pumpkin for a Halloween game against Los Angeles.

April 7, 1974: Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Andy Brown was the last goaltender to appear without a mask, playing with his face unprotected in a 6-3 loss to Atlanta.

1976-77 Season: Glenn "Chico" Resch of the New York Islanders is credited as the first goaltender to have an artistic design cover his full mask. Resch's design had the Islanders' logo at the top and it now resides in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Evolution of the goalie mask with Canadiens goalies, beginning with Plante:

Staff writer Craig Custance covers the NHL for Sporting News. E-mail him at ccustance@sportingnews.com.