On This Day: Montreal’s Jacques Plante becomes first NHL goaltender to wear facemask


On November 1, 1959, the day after Halloween, Jacques Plante of the Montreal Canadiens revolutionizes hockey by donning a facemask, the first NHL goaltender to do so in a regular-season game. Plante wears the custom-made fiberglas mask after suffering a badly cut nose and lip on a first-period shot by the New York Rangers’ Andy Bathgate. The Canadiens win, 3-1, and Plante decides to use the facemask regularly.

“It’s the coming thing in the game,” said Montreal coach Toe Blake. “The time will come when they’ll have an even better mask than Plante’s and it’ll be standard equipment for goalies.”





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