Plante, "Jacques" (Joseph Jacques)
Hockey
b. Jan. 17, 1929, Shawinigan Falls, Quebec
Montreal goaltender Gerry McNeill was having a bad time in the 1953 semi-final Stanley Cup series against Chicago. Trailing three games to two, the Canadiens called Plante up from the minors to replace McNeill. He claimed he was so nervous he could hardly tie his skates, but he gave up just one goal in two games as Montreal won the series. Plante and McNeill split the job in the final series against Boston, and the Canadiens won in five games.
The following season, McNeill was in the minor leagues and Plante was Montreal's goalie. An excellent skater, he pioneered the technique of roaming far out of his net to get the puck and pass it to a teammate to start a rush. After his nose was broken by a shot on November 1, 1959, Plante began wearing a face mask for protection. He had previously used a mask in practice, as other goalies often did, but he was the first to wear one regularly during games.
The mask was ridiculed by some, but Plante gave up just thirteen goals in the first eleven games. "I had to show good results to keep the mask," he explained. Within a few years, every goalie in the NHL was wearing a face mask patterned after Plante's.
Plante was traded to the New York Rangers in 1963. He retired after the 1964/65 season, but returned to hockey with the expansion St. Louis Blues in 1967. The Blues traded him to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1970 and he finished his NHL career with the Boston Bruins in 1972/73. He played briefly with the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association in 1974/75.
Plante won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's best goaltender five years in a row, from 1956 through 1960, and in 1962. He and Glenn Hall shared the award with St. Louis in 1969. Plante won the Hart Trophy as the league's most valuable player in 1962; he's one of only four goalies to win the award.