Ice Hockey Goalie Masks
It might seem crazy now, but up until about 50 years ago the ice hockey goalie mask was not yet used regularly or even accepted for that matter. Even though in the 1920’s Clint Benedict used a goalie mask for one game, the next time a professional goalie attempted to wear a mask again was during the 1959-60 season when Montreal Canadiens goalie Jacques Plante made a goalie mask that he used in practice, but had not yet worn in a game until he broke his nose during a game. When he went to the locker room for repairs to his damaged nose he decided that he would not go back out and play the rest of the game unless he was allowed to wear the mask. The Canadiens head coach, Toe Blake was a hard nosed “old time hockey” coach that did not support his goalie wearing a mask up until this point really had no choice and reluctantly allowed Plante to wear one of the first goalie masks. This day is unofficially known as a ground-breaking day for goaltenders and got the ball rolling with the long over-due convention that hockey goalies should in fact wear goalie masks to protect their face and head.
I am shocked that it took so long for hockey goalies to embrace wearing masks, but hockey was so different back then that I suppose I can see why it hadn’t happened sooner. Hockey has evolved so much over the last 50 years, if you consider the fact that the sport was still relatively new and technology and training had not yet been close to as developed as it is today. This meant that hockey players could not shoot the puck as hard or as high because they simply did not know how. Curved hockey sticks were not yet introduced and in the early 1900’s I’m assuming most of the shots were placed right along the ice. But, it still does not make that much sense that the goaltender mask was not introduced earlier simply because shots could get deflected up into the face of the goalie, or sticks could come up and hit them in the face.
Hockey has a tradition of players who take pride in being tough and able to get injured and bounce back right away. Hockey back in the day was a much tougher version of the sport than it is today and the number of incidents where players would get injured was much higher than today. This pride in being tough is really the only reason that I can see that hockey goalies would hesitate to wear goalie masks up until that historic day when Jacques Plante took a stand and said that he would not continue playing in the game unless he were allowed to wear his homemade face mask. It was a day that has gone down in the history books as forever changing the position of goaltender and the game of hockey.
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